Carlos Salvador Bilardo Digiano (born 16 March 1938) is an Argentine former physician,

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player, and manager. Bilardo achieved worldwide renown as a player with

Estudiantes de La Plata Club Estudiantes de La Plata ( lit. "Students from La Plata"), simply referred to as Estudiantes de La Plata , is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Plata. The club's football team currently competes in the Primera División, wh ...

in the 1960s, and as the manager of the Argentina side that won the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial 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-team format. Colombia ha ...

and came close to retaining the title in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

, where they reached

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. As manager of Argentina, he was renowned for successfully employing the 3–5–2 formation at the highest level; this formation has been in use for decades, but has never achieved mainstream status. He is known by fans and the media as ''el narigón'' ("the big nosed one").

Early life

Bilardo was born in the Buenos Aires

La Paternal La Paternal or Paternal ( en, The Paternal) is a ''neighborhood'' or district in the centre of Buenos Aires city, Argentina. It was founded in 1904 by a city decree (''decreto'') and was named 'La Paternal' after the train station in the neighbour ...

neighbourhood to Sicilian immigrants from Mazzarino. He was drawn to football from his childhood, but did not neglect study or work. On school vacations, he would get up before dawn to haul produce to the

Abasto The Abasto Shopping is one of the biggest shopping mall centers in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The building was the central wholesale fruit and vegetable market in the city ("Mercado de Abasto") from 1893 to 1984. Since 1999, it has served as a shop ...

market in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. Bilardo was a promising prospect in the youth divisions of major Buenos Aires club

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 ...

, and he was drafted to the junior

Argentina national football team The Argentina national football team represents Argentina in men's international football and is administered by the Argentine Football Association, the governing body for football in Argentina. Nicknamed ''La Albiceleste'' ('The White and S ...

that obtained the 1959 Pan-American title and took part in the

1960 Summer Olympic Games The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. In 1961, Bilardo was transferred to second-division side

Deportivo Español Club Social, Deportivo y Cultural Español de la República Argentina (commonly referred to as Deportivo Español) is an Argentine sports club from the Parque Avellaneda district of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its football team, wh ...

, where he became the team's top scorer, but he slowly gravitated to the position of

defensive 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 ...

. In parallel, he continued his studies in the Faculty of

Medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

of the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires ( es, Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Established in 1821, it is the premier institution of higher learning in the country and one o ...

Club career

In 1965, Bilardo was transferred to

, where manager

Osvaldo Zubeldía Osvaldo Juan Zubeldía (24 June 1927 in Junín – 17 January 1982 in Medellín) was a football player and an influential Argentine coach. Playing career Zubeldía had a respectable playing career with Vélez Sársfield, Boca Juniors, Atlanta ...

built a team based on the ''Killer youth divisions'' (''la tercera que mata'') and thought of using Bilardo as a more mature anchor for the midfield. Bilardo became Estudiantes' inside-the-pitch tactician. Over a four-year span, the team won one

Metropolitano Metropolitano S.A. was a privately owned consortium formed in 1994 to take over concessions granted by the Argentine government as part of railway privatisation during the presidency of Carlos Menem for the operation of commuter rail services i ...

title (1967), three

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

titles (1968–1970, defeating

Palmeiras Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes. Palmeiras is one of the most popular clubs in South America, with around ...

Nacional Nacional, the Portuguese and Spanish word for "national", may refer to: Airlines * Nacional Transportes Aéreos, a Brazilian airline defunct in 2002 * Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Brazilian airline defunct in 1961 Bank * Banco Nacional, a ...

and

Peñarol Club Atlético Peñarol (; English: ''Peñarol Athletic Club'') —also known as ''Carboneros'', ''Aurinegros,'' and (familiarly) ''Manyas''— is a Uruguayan sports club from Montevideo. The name "Peñarol" comes from the Peñarol neigh ...

respectively at the finals) and one Intercontinental Cup in 1968 against

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. After graduating as a physician (together with fellow player

Raúl Madero Raúl Horacio Madero (21 May 1939 – 24 December 2021) was an Argentine sports physician and football player. He served two terms as the physician of the Argentina national football team. Sporting career As a teenager, Madero was drawn initi ...

), Bilardo retired from play and accepted the job of Estudiantes coach in 1971. For the next years, he divided his time between managing, his family (he married in 1968 and fathered a daughter), and helping manage his father's furniture business. He even found time to research

rectal cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of th ...

and practice as a

gynecologist Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined area ...

(Bilardo finally retired from the practice of medicine in 1976, feeling that being a physician requires a full-time commitment that he was unable to provide).

Managerial career

After retiring as a player, Bilardo became Estudiantes coach in 1971 and managed to get the squad into the

1971 Copa Libertadores The Copa Libertadores 1971 was the 12th edition of the Copa Libertadores, CONMEBOL's annual international club tournament. Nacional won the competition. The participating teams were divided into five groups, in which teams of the same country we ...

final but lost to

. In 1976, he became manager of

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

Deportivo Cali Asociación Deportivo Cali, best known as Deportivo Cali, is a Colombian sports club based in Cali, most notable for its football team, which currently competes in the Categoría Primera A. Deportivo Cali is one of the most successful footba ...

and after a 2-year stint he managed to get the squads into the

Copa Libertadores Finals Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Computer Operator Programming Assistant. trade of ITI * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Asso ...

but once again failed to win the title. After failing in the

1978 Copa Libertadores Finals The 1978 Copa Libertadores Finals was the final two-legged tie to determine the 1978 Copa Libertadores champion. It was contested by Argentine club Boca Juniors (which had entered directly to semifinals as 1977 champion)Colombia national team's trainer. When the team failed to qualify for the 1982 World Cup, he was fired from his position, and Estudiantes arranged for his return to Argentina. Bilardo mexico 86

The club was enjoying healthy finances due to the transfer of

Patricio Hernández Patricio Hernández (born 16 August 1956) is an Argentine football coach and former player. Hernández started his career in 1974 at Estudiantes de La Plata, a club that he would later manage. He soon earned a reputation as a skillful attacki ...

, and accommodated Bilardo's request for reinforcements. The team made the semi-finals of the 1982 ''Nacional'' and went on to win the same year's ''Metropolitano'' title. Bilardo's scheme was based on Zubeldía's tactics, and its attacking might (fueled by players like

Sabella Sabella may refer to: * Sabella (surname), a name of Italian origin * ''Sabella'' (annelid), a genus of marine polychaete worms * Oh! Sabella ''La nonna Sabella'' (internationally released as ''Oh! Sabella'') is a 1957 Italian comedy film directe ...

, Trobbiani, Gottardi and Ponce) earned the attention of the media—and of the top brass of the

Argentine Football Association The Argentine Football Association ( es, Asociación del Fútbol Argentino, ; AFA) is the governing body of football in Argentina based in Buenos Aires. It organises the main divisions of Argentine league system (from Primera División to Torn ...

, who offered him to manage the Argentina national team. He held the post from 1983 until after the

1990 World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial 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 time (the first being M ...

. Under his watch,

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

became the most dominant player of his age, and Argentina enjoyed their best international harvest, winning the 1986 edition and reaching the 1990 final. Bilardo wrote a book called "Así Ganamos" ("How we won", Editorial Sudamericana Planeta) retelling the story of Argentina's 1986 FIFA World Cup win.

After 1990

From 1990 and onwards, Bilardo alternated teaching and journalism stints with managing. He would reunite with Maradona in

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville, the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It plays in Spanish football's top flight, La Liga. Sevilla have won the UEFA Euro ...

and later in

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in the A ...

, and have a brief term as the national coach of

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

. Bilardo returned to Estudiantes for the 2003–2004 season. In a publicised episode during that season, Bilardo sat next to the pitch during a game against

Club Atlético River Plate Club Atlético River Plate, commonly known as River Plate, is an Argentine professional sports club based in the Núñez, Buenos Aires, Núñez neighborhood of Buenos Aires. Founded in 1901, the club is named after the English name for the city ...

and drank from a bottle of

champagne Champagne (, ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, that demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, spe ...

. When confronted by media, he maintained that the bottle actually contained

Gatorade Gatorade is an American brand of sports-themed beverage and food products, built around its signature line of sports drinks. Gatorade is currently manufactured by PepsiCo and is distributed in over 80 countries. The beverage was first develop ...

; the contents of the bottle were analysed by a forensic lab, confirming Bilardo's version. Within that season, results improved, and several young players were promoted to the first team, including

José Ernesto Sosa José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...

, who would later help Estudiantes become a contender; three years later, the team won the League title under coach

Diego Simeone Diego Pablo Simeone González (; ; born 28 April 1970, nicknamed El Cholo (), is an Argentine professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder; he has been the manager of Atlético Madrid since December 2011. In his cl ...

, and in 2009, Estudiantes won the Copa Libertadores again, with Bilardo attending the final in

Belo Horizonte Belo Horizonte (, ; ) is the sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population around 2.7 million and with a metropolitan area of 6 million people. It is the 13th-largest city in South America and the 18th-largest in the Americas. The metropol ...

and receiving a gift from coach Sabella—his "lucky" beige coat. Bilardo covered the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

for Argentine TV station Canal 13 as a commentator. In the aftermath of the tournament, Argentine manager

José Pekerman José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...

renounced the post, and Bilardo's name was floated as a possible substitute. The job eventually went to

Alfio Basile Alfio () is an Italian given name. Notable people with the name include: * Alfio Basile, Argentina football coach * Alfio Bonanno, Australian tenor * Alfio Caltabiano, Italian actor * Alfio Contini, Italian cinematographer * Alfio Fazio, Italian c ...

, who had earlier succeeded Bilardo as national coach after the 1990 World Cup. Following the 2007 gubernatorial election, Bilardo was named Secretary of Sports of

Buenos Aires province Buenos Aires (), officially the Buenos Aires Province (''Provincia de Buenos Aires'' ), is the largest and most populous Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of th ...

under governor

Daniel Scioli Daniel Osvaldo Scioli (, ; born 13 January 1957) is an Argentine politician, sportsman, and businessman. He was Vice President of Argentina from 2003 to 2007 and Governor of Buenos Aires Province from 2011 to 2015. From 2020 to 2022 he was Argen ...

General Manager

A new generation of Bilardo-influenced coaches has taken over many key positions in Argentine and South American football:

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model used ...

, Pumpido, Burruchaga,

Batista Batista is a Spanish language, Spanish or Portuguese language, Portuguese surname. Notable persons with the name include: * Batista (footballer, born 1955), Brazilian football player * Dave Bautista, American actor and professional wrestler, also ...

Russo Russo may refer to: *Russo (surname) * Russo (footballer, 1915–1980), full name Adolpho Milman, Brazilian football forward and manager * Russo (footballer, born 1976), full name Ricardo Soares Florêncio, Brazilian football defender *Russo brothe ...

, and

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

. When Maradona was named as national team coach in October 2008, Bilardo was tapped for the post of Argentina General Manager. After the designation, Bilardo agreed to quit his Secretary post.

Honours

Player

;

San Lorenzo San Lorenzo is the Italian and Spanish name for Lawrence of Rome, Saint Lawrence, the 3rd-century Christian martyr, and may refer to: Places Argentina * San Lorenzo, Santa Fe * San Lorenzo Department, Chaco * Monte San Lorenzo, a mountain on t ...

Primera División Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

; Estudiantes *

1967 Metropolitano Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

* Intercontinental Cup:

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 ...

: 1968 ;

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

* Pan American Games Gold Medal:

Manager

; Estudiantes *

: 1982 Metropolitano ;

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 ...

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 ente ...

; runner-up:

Individual

South American Coach of the Year The South American Coach of the Year ( es, Entrenador del año en Sudamérica) is an annual association football award presented to the best coach of a club or national team in South America over the previous calendar year. The award has been prese ...

: 1986, 1987 *

Konex Award Konex Foundation Awards, or simply Konex Awards, are cultural awards from the Konex Foundation honouring Argentine cultural personalities. History and purpose Konex Awards are granted by the Konex Foundation, created in 1980 in Argentina. The pur ...

: 1990 * ''World Soccer'' 29th Greatest Manager of All Time: 2013

References

External links

* *
Bilardo returns to Manchester
*
Estudiantes » Squad 1970/1971
at WorldFootball.net * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bilardo, Carlos Salvador 1938 births Living people Association football midfielders Argentine footballers Olympic footballers of Argentina Footballers at the 1960 Summer Olympics Argentine Primera División players San Lorenzo de Almagro footballers Deportivo Español footballers Estudiantes de La Plata footballers Footballers from Buenos Aires Argentine journalists Male journalists Argentine gynaecologists Argentine people of Italian descent Argentine people of Sicilian descent Argentine football managers Estudiantes de La Plata managers San Lorenzo de Almagro managers Boca Juniors managers Deportivo Cali managers Colombia national football team managers Argentina national football team managers Sevilla FC managers 1986 FIFA World Cup managers 1990 FIFA World Cup managers 1983 Copa América managers 1987 Copa América managers 1989 Copa América managers FIFA World Cup-winning managers University of Buenos Aires alumni Argentine expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Colombia Expatriate football managers in Guatemala Expatriate football managers in Libya Expatriate football managers in Spain Guatemala national football team managers Libya national football team managers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Guatemala Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Libya Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Colombia Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain