Alberto Mario Jorge Espósito (born 1 January 1950) is an Argentine

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

manager and former player. He spent most of his career in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, where he arrived in 1975 to play with León. As a manager, he won a Primera División title with

Toluca Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the States of Mexico, state capital of the State of Mexico as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. With a population of 910,608 as of the 2020 census, Toluca is the fifth most populous city in M ...

caretaker Caretaker may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''The Caretaker'' (film), a 1963 adaptation of the play ''The Caretaker'' * '' The Caretakers'', a 1963 American film set in a mental hospital * Caretaker, a character in the 1974 film '' ...

, coaching the team in the last four games of the tournament (the two legs of the playoffs semi-finals and the two legs of the final). Jorge is the only caretaker manager to have won a league title in the

Liga MX The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in a ...

so far.

Club career

Jorge started his professional football career with

Racing Club de Avellaneda Racing Club de Avellaneda, officially known as Racing Club or shortened to just Racing, is an Argentine professional sports club based in Avellaneda, a city of the Buenos Aires Province. Founded in 1903, Racing has been historically considered o ...

in 1970 as a midfielder. During his spell with Racing, Jorge played 167 matches and scored 39 goals. At some point, Jorge was considered by

César Luis Menotti César Luis Menotti (; born 5 November 1938), known as ''El Flaco'' ("Slim"), is an Argentine former football manager and player who won the 1978 FIFA World Cup as the head coach of the Argentina national team. During his playing days, he pl ...

in his preliminar lists for the

1978 FIFA World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June. The Cup was won by t ...

Argentine squad, despite this, knowing that his chances to make it to the World Cup were remote, he decided to continue his career in

. Alberto Jorge arrived to Mexico in 1975, where he would spend most of his career as footballer. He first played for León from 1975 to 1980, a club that paid US$12,000 for his transfer. In five seasons with the club, he played in 168 matches and scored 52 goals. Jorge then moved to Atlante, where he played from 1980 to 1982, having 44 appearances and scoring three goals. He was part of the squad that were runners-up to UANL in the 1981–82 season. In the last stage of his career, Jorge played for

Oaxtepec Oaxtepec is a town within the municipality of Yautepec and the Cuautla metropolitan area in the eastern part of the Mexican state of Morelos. Its main industry is tourism, mostly aimed at the inhabitants of nearby Mexico City, and the town posses ...

from 1982, the team's first season in the

Mexican Primera División The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in al ...

, till 1984. As a player for Oaxtepec, Jorge made 52 appearances and scored 23 goals, 21 in the 1982–83 season, including a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

against

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geographic ...

. Also, he was the runner-up top scorer for the

that season, second to América's

Norberto Outes Norberto may refer to: *Norberto Alonso (born 1953), former Argentine football midfielder *Norberto Araujo (born 1978), Argentine football central defender * Norberto Aroldi (1932–1978), Argentine film actor and screenwriter *Norberto Barba (born ...

, who scored 22 goals, only one more than Jorge.

Managerial career

Toluca

Jorge was appointed as interim head coach of

in the playoffs of the Apertura 2002, after Uruguayan

Wilson Graniolatti Wilson Edelber Graniolatti Cha (born July 13, 1962 in Nueva Palmira, Uruguay), known as Wilson Graniolatti, is a former Uruguayan footballer that played for clubs of Uruguay, Chile and Mexico. Teams (Player) * Nacional 1985-1986 * Toluca 1986-1 ...

resigned as manager of the team. For the Apertura 2002 tournament,

Ricardo La Volpe Ricardo Antonio La Volpe Guarchoni (; born 6 February 1952) is an Argentine former professional footballer and manager. He is a World Cup-winning goalkeeper who played for most of his career in Argentina and Mexico. As a coach, La Volpe was in ...

was the manager of the club for the regular part of the tournament, but was called to manage

Mexico national football team The Mexico national football team () represents Mexico in international football and is governed by the Mexican Football Federation (). It competes as a member of CONCACAF. Mexico has qualified to seventeen World Cups and has qualified conse ...

just before the beginning of the playoff round of the tournament. La Volpe's assistant coach, Wilson Graniolatti was then promoted to head coach. Claiming differences with Toluca's management after they tried to bring La Volpe back to the team, Graniolatti resigned as head coach after the quarterfinal round of the playoffs, despite winning and qualifying to the semi-final. Alberto Jorge, then head of the Reserves and Academy was appointed as manager of the team for the semi-finals round of the tournament. Toluca won at the semi-finals and advanced to the final against

Morelia Morelia (; from 1545 to 1828 known as Valladolid) is a city and municipal seat of the municipality of Morelia in the north-central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. The city is in the Guayangareo Valley and is the capital and larg ...

, which they won, becoming champions of the Primera División. Managing Toluca for only four games (the two legs of the semi-final and two legs of the final), Alberto Jorge became the first

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 (association football), manager is dismissed or leaves for a ...

, and as of today the only one, to win the Primera División title. Jorge was re-signed for the Clausura 2003 tournament, but was ceased in October 2003 and

Ricardo Ferretti Ricardo Ferretti de Oliveira (born 22 February 1954), also known as Tuca Ferretti, is a Brazilian-Mexican professional football manager and former player. As a player, Ferretti was an attacking midfielder known for his mobility, powerful rig ...

took his position for the rest of the tournament, despite of winning the Primera División title the previous tournament and leading Deportivo Toluca the

2003 CONCACAF Champions' Cup The 2003 CONCACAF Champions' Cup was the 38th edition of the annual international club football competition held in the CONCACAF region (North America, Central America and the Caribbean), the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. It was won by Club Toluca aft ...

final.

Xelajú

Jorge arrived to Guatemalan football for the 2009–2010 season as manager of

Club Xelajú MC Club Social y Deportivo Xelajú Mario Camposeco, commonly known as Xelajú MC or just ''Xela'' and nicknamed ''Superchivos'' is a Guatemalan professional football club competing in the Liga Nacional, the top tier of Guatemalan football. They are ...

. He resigned from the position in March 2010 and was succeeded by Argentine

Horacio Cordero Horacio Raúl Cordero Vásquez (born 22 May 1950 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine football manager and former player. Playing career Cordero played for a number of clubs in Argentina including Argentinos Juniors, Racing Club, Unión de Santa ...

Honours

Managerial

Toluca * Primera División: Apertura 2002

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jorge, Alberto 1950 births Living people Argentine footballers Association football midfielders Racing Club de Avellaneda footballers Club León footballers Atlante F.C. footballers C.F. Oaxtepec footballers Sportspeople from Buenos Aires Province Argentine football managers Expatriate footballers in Mexico Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Deportivo Toluca F.C. managers Club Xelajú MC managers Expatriate football managers in Mexico