Claudio Daniel Borghi Bidos (; born 28 September 1964), nicknamed ''Bichi'', is an Argentine naturalized Chilean football manager and former player who played as an

attacking 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 has been active as a player and coach mostly in Argentina and Chile, and also played in Italy, Switzerland, Brazil and Mexico; and coached in Ecuador.

Biography

Club career

Borghi started his career as an

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 football team, which currently plays in the Argentine Primera División, and was recognized as one of the ...

in the early 1980s. He was considered a bright young star for Argentina and tipped by many to be on a level with

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 F ...

. Borghi's exceptional performance in the

1985 Intercontinental Cup The 1985 Intercontinental Cup was an Association football match played on 8 December 1985, between Juventus, winners of the 1984–85 European Cup, and Argentinos Juniors, winners of the 1985 Copa Libertadores. Recognised as the best edition in ...

final (Argentinos Juniors lost to Juventus on penalties) drew the attention of

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...

president

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies f ...

, and Borghi was signed for the club in 1987. Borghi was drafted in alongside Dutchmen Marco van Basten and

Ruud Gullit Ruud Gullit (; born Rudi Dil; 1 September 1962) is a Dutch footballer and subsequent manager who played professionally in the 1980s and 1990s as a defender, midfielder or forward. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all ...

, but, since teams were allowed on only two foreign players, he was loaned out to

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label= Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and to the Alps h ...

for the 1987–88 season. The next year the maximum number of foreign players was increased to three, but Milan coach

Arrigo Sacchi Arrigo Sacchi (born 1 April 1946) is an Italian former professional football coach. He has twice managed AC Milan (1987–1991, 1996–1997), with great success. He won the Serie A title in his 1987–88 debut season and then dominated European ...

– who had won respect by securing the Scudetto a few months earlier – asked his team to sign another Dutch player,

Frank Rijkaard Franklin Edmundo Rijkaard (; born 30 September 1962) is a Dutch former footballer and former manager who played as a defensive midfielder. Rijkaard played for Ajax, Real Zaragoza and AC Milan and represented the Netherlands national team side ...

, instead of bringing Borghi back, as Berlusconi wished. Afterwards Borghi left Italy and tried his luck in Switzerland with

Neuchâtel Xamax , neighboring_municipalities= Auvernier, Boudry, Chabrey (VD), Colombier, Cressier, Cudrefin (VD), Delley-Portalban (FR), Enges, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Hauterive, Saint-Blaise, Savagnier , twintowns = Aarau (Switzerland), Besançon (F ...

, before returning to South America where he played for River Plate,

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football ...

and Independiente. Eventually he wound up in Chile, winning the Recopa Sudamericana 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 ...

with

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 ...

in 1992, and concluded his playing career with

Santiago Wanderers Club de Deportes Santiago Wanderers is a football club based in Valparaíso, a founding member of the Chilean Football Federation. Their home ground, Estadio Elías Figueroa Brander, is in the north-west of the city. Wanderers have played thei ...

in 1999.

International career

Borghi was called up to the Argentina national team for the 1986

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 ...

in Mexico, where he won the World Cup with Argentina and played alongside Diego Maradona at his peak.

Managerial career

After retiring as a player, Borghi started a career as a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

in Chile, between 2004 and 2005 he worked as the coach of Audax Italiano. In 2006 Borghi was appointed as the coach of

. He led the team to four consecutive league championships between 2006 and 2007. He also led the club to the final of the 2006 Copa Sudamericana and received the

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 ...

award in 2006. In June 2008, Borghi returned to Argentina to become the 19th coach of Independiente in the last 10 years. Borghi was unable to accomplish a winning campaign and resigned from the position on 5 October 2008 following, a 1–0 loss to Huracán. While at Independiente, Borghi managed the team for 17 matches, winning 4, drawing 9, and losing 4. In June 2009, he returned to

as their new manager following their dismal 2009 Clausura campaign, which had seen the club finish 20th (last) in the table, with only 2 wins from their 19 games. After leading the club to a 6th-place finish in the 2009 Apertura championship, Borghi and the Argentinos Juniors directors set the target of surpassing the 61 points from the 2007–08 season to avoid dropping further down the relegation table. In the 2010 Clausura championship, Argentinos recorded a 6–3 win against

Lanús Lanús () is the capital of Lanús Partido, Buenos Aires Province in Argentina. It lies just south of the capital city Buenos Aires, in the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area. The city has a population of 212,152 (), and the Partido de Lan� ...

in their second fixture of the campaign, but after five games this was their only win, with two draws and two defeats. Subsequently, Argentinos won their 6th fixture against Estudiantes de La Plata, which was the start of a 14-game unbeaten streak that saw Argentinos finish 1 point ahead of Estudiantes at the end of the season. The most significant result in this 14-game run was in their penultimate fixture against title challengers Independiente, which saw Argentinos come back from 1–3 down to win 4–3, which featured two goals in the final minutes of the game to seal the win and leave Argentinos top of the table with one game to play. They sealed their first domestic championship in 25 years with a 1–2 away win against Huracán in the

Estadio Tomás Adolfo Ducó The Estadio Tomás A. Ducó is a stadium in Argentina, located in the Parque Patricios neighborhood of Buenos Aires. The stadium is the home ground of Club Atlético Huracán and has a capacity of 48,314. Inaugurated in 1924 and totally refurbishe ...

. This championship was Borghi's fifth title with the club, considering the four he had won as a player in the mid-1980s. Borghi achieved a great turnaround in the fortunes of the team that had finished in last place only one year previously and the successful Clausura championship campaign secured qualification for the

2010 Copa Sudamericana The 2010 Copa Sudamericana de Clubes (officially the 2010 Copa Nissan Sudamericana de Clubes for sponsorship reasons) was the 9th edition of CONMEBOL's secondary international club tournament. The winner qualified for the 2011 Copa Libertadores, ...

and the

2011 Copa Libertadores The 2011 Copa Libertadores de América (officially the 2011 Copa Santander Libertadores de América for sponsorship reasons) was the 52nd edition of the Copa Libertadores de América, South America's premier international club football tournamen ...

. However, he decided to leave Argentinos at the end of the tournament. On 21 May 2010 Boca Juniors signed Borghi as their new head coach. His period in Boca was short however, as he resigned on 17 November, after obtaining 17 points over 42 possible in his 14 official games. His departure was subsequent to a 0–1 defeat to River Plate in the 2010 Apertura's '' Superclásico'', that left Boca in the 15th league table position. On 24 February 2011, he was presented by the

Chilean Football Federation The Football Federation of Chile ( es, Federación de Fútbol de Chile or ) is the governing body of football in Chile. It was founded 19 June 1895, making it the second oldest South American association football federation, and is a founding mem ...

as the new coach, in replacement of

Marcelo Bielsa Marcelo Alberto Bielsa Caldera (, nicknamed ''El Loco Bielsa'' , meaning "The Crazy Bielsa"; born 21 July 1955) is an Argentine professional football manager who was most recently the head coach of Premier League club Leeds United. He is a forme ...

, under a contract of US$1.5 Million per year until the end of the 2014 FIFA World Cup playoffs, to be extended automatically in case of qualification. On 14 November 2012, Borghi was sacked after poor performances, including five straight losses, three in the World Cup qualifiers, and two in international friendlies.

Managerial statistics with Chile

Personal life

His son, Filippo Borghi Pagnuco, was with the

Unión Española Club Unión Española S.A.D.P. is a professional football club based in the Independencia neighborhood, commune of Santiago, Chile. They currently participate in the Primera División de Chile. It has a branch of women's football, and competes ...

youth ranks as a striker, but he switched to the

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

when he was a student of Redland School, representing Chile at international tournaments.

Honours

Player

Club

;Argentinos Juniors *

Primera División Argentina 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, c ...

(2):

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

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 ...

* Copa Libertadores:

;Colo-Colo *

: 1992 * Recopa Sudamericana: 1992

International

;Argentina *

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 ...

Manager

Club

;Colo-Colo * Torneo Apertura (2): 2006, 2007 * Torneo Clausura (2): 2006, 2007. ;Argentinos Juniors * Torneo Clausura: 2010

Individual

Manager

: 2006

References

External links