Sergio Daniel "Checho" Batista (; born 9 November 1962) is an Argentine

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager and former international player for

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. As a footballer he played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Argentinos Juniors Asociación Atlética Argentinos Juniors is an Argentine sports club based in La Paternal, Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its association football, football team, which currently plays in the Argentine Primera División, and was reco ...

, River Plate, Nueva Chicago, Tosu Futures and

All Boys Club Atlético All Boys () is an Argentine sports club based in Floresta, Buenos Aires. The institution is mostly known for its association football, football team, which currently plays in the Primera B Nacional, the second division of the Arge ...

. He represented his national team 39 times from 1985 to 1990 where the team won the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-tea ...

. After retiring he moved into coaching with Bella Vista before returning to his former club Argentinos Juniors, as well as spells at Talleres, Nueva Chicago and Godoy Cruz. He led the Argentine Olympic team to the gold medal in the 2008 Olympics, which led to him being head coach of the

Argentina national football team The Argentina national football team (), nicknamed ''La Albiceleste'' (), represents Argentina in men's international Association football, football and is administered by the Argentine Football Association, Asociación del Fútbol Argentino ( ...

from July 2010 to July 2011.

Playing career

Club

Batista played youth football in

, and debuted with the first team in 1981. With Argentinos, he won the 1984 Metropolitano and 1985 Nacional of the

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; ), known officially as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Betano for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Argentina and the highest level of the Argentine football league system. Organ ...

, as well as the 1985 Copa Libertadores. In 1988, Batista moved to River Plate; they won the 1989–90 league title. In 1992, he moved to Nueva Chicago. In 1993, he moved to PJM Futures in Japan. He retired as a player in 1994 and for two years from 1995 served as an assistant coach of 2 Japanese clubs. In 1997, he returned to play for

in Argentina.

International

After his impressive displays for Argentinos Juniors in the 1985 Copa Libertadores, the Argentine coach Carlos Bilardo called Batista up for a friendly against

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

on 14 November 1985 in a game that ended in a 1–1 draw. With the

soon looming, Batista quickly went on to establish himself as a first choice player within the

. Despite his limited international experience, he played each tournament game, Argentina won. An established regular within the squad, Batista played in the 1987 Copa América, 1989 Copa América and

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

, which Argentina came runner-up in.

Managerial career

Batista started his managerial career with

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

an club Bella Vista in 2000. He then had two spells with

, one with

Talleres de Córdoba Club Atlético Talleres (; ), mostly known simply as Talleres ( in Rioplatense Spanish, Rioplatense accent and or in Cordobés Spanish, Cordobés accent; ), is an Football in Argentina, Argentine professional sports club based in the city of C ...

and one with Nueva Chicago. Between 2005 and 2006, he was assistant to Oscar Ruggeri in San Lorenzo. In October 2007, the former midfielder was appointed as the head coach of the Argentine U-20 national team, replacing Hugo Tocalli. He managed the gold medalist Argentina Olympic football team at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

. After the 2010 World Cup, Argentina national team manager

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona Franco (30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional association football, football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two ...

did not renew his contract, and Batista was appointed as

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular manager is dismissed or leaves for a different club. However, a caret ...

on 27 July 2010. In his role, Batista led Argentina to two wins (1–0 over

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and 4–1 over World Cup holders

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

) and suffered a defeat against

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

0–1. Three months later, he was named the official head coach of the Argentina national team. In his first match after being officialized as Argentina's coach, his team defeated

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

1–0, with a 90th-minute goal by

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (; born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Major League Soccer ...

. On 25 July 2011, the AFA announced that Batista had stepped down as manager of the Argentina national team after poor results in the

Copa América The CONMEBOL Copa América (; known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship), often simply called the Copa America, is the top men's quadrennial association football, football tournament contested among list of men's national ass ...

Honours

As a player

;Argentinos Juniors *

: 1984 Metropolitano, 1985 Nacional *

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

Copa Interamericana The Copa Interamericana () was an international association football, football competition endorsed by CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean) and CONMEBOL (South America). Established in 1969, it was discontinued in 1998 after CONCACAF ...

;River Plate *

: 1989–90 ;Argentina *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

: 1986; runner-up 1990

Individual

*South American Team of the Year: 1986, 1988, 1989

As a manager

;Argentina * Summer Olympics Tournament Gold Medal:

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Batista, Sergio 1962 births Living people Footballers from Buenos Aires Argentine men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Argentinos Juniors footballers Club Atlético River Plate footballers Club Atlético Nueva Chicago footballers Sagan Tosu players All Boys footballers Argentine Primera División players Primera Nacional players Japan Football League (1992–1998) players Argentina men's international footballers 1986 FIFA World Cup players 1987 Copa América players 1989 Copa América players 1990 FIFA World Cup players FIFA World Cup–winning players Copa Libertadores–winning players Argentine expatriate men's footballers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Japan Expatriate men's footballers in Japan Argentine football managers C.A. Bella Vista managers Argentinos Juniors managers Talleres de Córdoba managers Club Atlético Nueva Chicago managers Godoy Cruz Antonio Tomba managers Argentina national under-20 football team managers Argentina national football team managers Shanghai Shenhua F.C. managers Bahrain national football team managers Qatar SC managers Uruguayan Primera División managers Argentine Primera División managers Primera B Nacional managers Chinese Super League managers Qatar Stars League managers Olympic gold medalists for Argentina 2011 Copa América managers Argentine expatriate football managers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Uruguay Argentine expatriate sportspeople in China Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Bahrain Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Expatriate football managers in Uruguay Expatriate football managers in China Expatriate football managers in Bahrain Expatriate football managers in Qatar Argentine Internet celebrities 20th-century Argentine sportsmen