Américo Rubén "El Tolo" Gallego (born 25 April 1955) is an Argentine football coach and former player. As a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, he played 73 times for the Argentina national team during his playing career.

Playing career

As a player, Gallego debuted in the Argentine league in 1974 as a midfielder for

Newell's Old Boys Club Atlético Newell's Old Boys () is an Argentine sports club based in Rosario, Santa Fe. The club was founded on 3 November 1903, and is named after Isaac Newell of the English county of Kent, one of the pioneers of Argentine football. A ...

. After a rookie season in which he saw little action, he quickly made a name for himself and was given a starting spot and regular playing time during the 1975 season. Gallego played for Argentina at the

1975 Pan American Games The 1975 Pan American Games were held in Mexico City, Mexico, from October 12 to October 26, 1975, exactly twenty years after the second Pan American Games were held there. It was the third major sporting event held in the Mexican capital in se ...

. After being part of the Argentina national team that won the 1978 FIFA World Cup, Gallego stayed on at Newell's for three more years before being transferred to one of the two biggest teams in his country: River Plate. Gallego played at River until the end of his career. He played for the "Millonarios" for seven years before retiring at the conclusion of the 1987/88 season. He is hailed as a legend at River, as he was the captain during the team's achieving their first Copa Libertadores, Intercontinental Cup and

Copa Interamericana The Copa Interamericana ( en, Interamerican Cup) was an annual club football competition contested between a representative from North America (CONCACAF) and South America (CONMEBOL). Established in 1969, it was discontinued in 1998 after CONCACA ...

's in their rich history. Nicknamed "El Tolo," Gallego's career ended with a total of 440 Argentine league appearances and 35 goals in a span of 14 years.

Coaching career

After retirement, Gallego turned his attention towards coaching. In 1994 Gallego was chosen to manage his former team, River Plate. In his first tournament as head coach, his ''Millonarios'' went undefeated to win the championship. The following year, he served as an assistant coach under

Daniel Passarella Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength"), ...

, the Argentine national team's head coach, for the three-year tenure. After his experience with the national team, El Tolo returned to coach River Plate, with whom he won another championship, this time in 2000. In 2002, he coached Independiente to a championship, ending the team's 8-year drought. In 2004, he returned to the Newell's Old Boys organization after a 23-year hiatus, and once again proved his worth as a head coach, winning a championship that very same year. With that, he became only the second coach ever to win the

Argentine Primera Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish ( masculine) or ( feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, ...

championship with three different Argentine clubs (along with

José Yudica José Antonio Yudica (February 26, 1936 – August 23, 2021) was an Argentine football player and manager. Yudica had limited success as a player, winning only two titles during his brief spell at Deportivo Cali. After retirement as a player he ...

, who did the same with

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

Quilmes Quilmes () is a city on the coast of the Rio de la Plata, in the , on the south east of the Greater Buenos Aires. The city was founded in 1666 and it is the seat of the eponymous county. With a population of 230,810, it is located south of the ...

and Newell's). His success attracted attention from teams in other countries, notably from Mexico. After leaving Newell's Old Boys, Gallego was sought after by a myriad of clubs, including

San Lorenzo de Almagro Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro, commonly known as San Lorenzo de Almagro or simply San Lorenzo (in English: ''Saint Lawrence''), is a sports club of Argentina in the Boedo district of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its football team ...

, but chose

CD Toluca Deportivo Toluca Fútbol Club S.A. de C.V. (), commonly known as Club Deportivo Toluca, is a Mexican football club, playing in the Primera División de México, the top-flight of Mexican football. Toluca's stadium, Estadio Nemesio Díez Riega is ...

in Mexico. Despite being overtly criticized by the media and his team's own fans for his defensive style and benching of established players in favor of younger, inexperienced players – his scheme paid off and Toluca won the Apertura 2005 championship in Mexico, and was named Best Coach of the championship. In 2007 Gallego resigned as coach for Toluca and said he wanted some time off to be with his family and be away from soccer for a while. His time off did not last long, as a juicy offer from

Tigres UANL Club de Fútbol Tigres de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, simply known as Tigres UANL or Tigres, is a Mexican professional football club based in San Nicolás de los Garza, a city in the Monterrey metropolitan area, Nuevo León. Found ...

made him change his mind and take over for

Mario Carrillo José Mario Carrillo Zamudio (born 1 February 1956) is a Mexican former professional footballer and manager, and a commentator for television sports channel ESPN Deportes. He also assisted head coach Javier Aguirre with the Mexico national te ...

as coach. After an unsuccessful spell and a streak of bad results he was sacked in February 2008. In March 2009 he returned to Independiente to take over from

Miguel Santoro --> Miguel is a given name and surname, the Portuguese and Spanish form of the Hebrew name Michael. It may refer to: Places * Pedro Miguel, a parish in the municipality of Horta and the island of Faial in the Azores Islands * São Miguel (disam ...

, and signed until June 2010, but did not end up winning any championships nor renewing his contract. In February 2011 he began a new tenure in

Colo-Colo Club Social y Deportivo Colo-Colo () is a Chilean professional football club based in Macul, Santiago. Founded in 1925 by David Arellano they play in the Chilean Primera División, from which they have never been relegated. The team has pla ...

of Chile, which finished on August of that same year.

Career statistics

Player

International career

Manager

Honours

Player

;River Plate * Argentine Primera División (2): Nacional 1981, 1985–86 * Copa Libertadores (1):

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

(1):

* Intercontinental Cup (1):

;Argentina *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

(1): 1978

Manager

;River Plate * Argentine Primera División (2): Apertura 1994, Clausura 2000 ;Independiente * Argentine Primera División (1): Apertura 2002 ;Newell's Old Boys * Argentine Primera División (1): Apertura 2004 ;Toluca * Mexican Primera División (1): Apertura 2005 *

Campeón de Campeones ''Campeón de Campeones'' ( es, Champion of Champions) is an annual Mexican football competition established in 1942. In its current form, the winner of the Apertura season faces the winner of the Clausura season, for both Liga MX and Liga MX Feme ...

(1): 2006

References

External links

* * * * * * * * *
Estadisticas de Futbolistas Argentinos de Todos los Tiempos
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gallego, Americo 1955 births Living people Argentine footballers Argentina international footballers 1978 FIFA World Cup players 1982 FIFA World Cup players 1975 Copa América players FIFA World Cup-winning players Argentine Primera División players Newell's Old Boys footballers Club Atlético River Plate footballers Argentine football managers Club Atlético River Plate managers Club Atlético Independiente managers Newell's Old Boys managers Deportivo Toluca F.C. managers Tigres UANL managers Colo-Colo managers Panama national football team managers Expatriate football managers in Chile Expatriate football managers in Mexico Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Chile Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Association football midfielders Pan American Games bronze medalists for Argentina Pan American Games medalists in football Footballers at the 1975 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1975 Pan American Games Sportspeople from Córdoba Province, Argentina