César Luis Menotti (; born 5 November 1938), known as ''El Flaco'' ("Slim"), is an Argentine former

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 ...

manager and player who won 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 ...

as the head coach of the Argentina national team. During his playing days, he played as a striker, most notably for Argentine clubs

Rosario Central Club Atlético Rosario Central () is a sports club based in Rosario, Argentina, that plays in the Argentine Primera División. The club was officially founded on December 24, 1889, by a group of railway workers, taking its name from the English- ...

and

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 ...

Playing career

After playing some games for the reserve team, Menotti debuted in Primera División playing for

in 1960. His first professional match was on 3 July versus

, a 3–1 victory.A la carta: Menotti 100x100
''El Gráfico'', 2014 Menotti remained four seasons in Rosario Central prior to be transferred in 1964 to

Racing In sport, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific goa ...

, then moving to Boca Juniors in 1965, where he would win his first title as player, the 1965 Primera División. Two years later Menotti arrived to the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

to play for the

New York Generals The New York Generals were an American professional soccer team based in New York City that competed in the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) in 1967 and the North American Soccer League (NASL) in 1968. Founded as charter members ...

. In 1968 Menotti was traded to

Santos FC Santos Futebol Clube (), commonly known simply as Santos or Santos FC and nicknamed the ''Peixe'' (; "fish"), is a Brazilian sports club based in Vila Belmiro, a '' bairro'' in the city of Santos. It is also the team with the most goals i ...

where he was teammate of Pelé and won the

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian"), and also known as Brasileirão Assaí due to sponsorship with Assaí Atacadista, is a Br ...

Intercontinental Supercup The Intercontinental Champions' Supercup, commonly referred to as the Intercontinental Supercup or Recopa Intercontinental, was a football competition endorsed by UEFA and CONMEBOL, contested by the past winners of the Intercontinental Cup. Th ...

and

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional association football, football league in the Brazilian States of Brazil, state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo. Run b ...

all in 1968. After his tenure with Santos, Menotti signed with

Clube Atlético Juventus Clube Atlético Juventus (Latin for ''Youth''), commonly referred to as Juventus da Mooca or simply Juventus, is a Brazilian professional football club in the district of Mooca, São Paulo, that competes in Campeonato Paulista Série A2, the ...

, where he retired from football in 1970.

Early managerial career

After retiring from play, Menotti became friends with coach Miguel "Gitano" Juárez, with whom he traveled to the

1970 FIFA World Cup The 1970 FIFA World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's senior national teams. Held from 31 May t ...

in Mexico. Fascinated by the Brazilian style of play led by his friend Pelé, he decided to become a coach himself. Menotti worked as coach assistant of Juárez in

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 ...

.Huracán 73
''El Gráfico'', 16 January 2008 As manager, Menotti won his first title with Huracán, the 1973 Torneo Metropolitano with a side that included notable players such as

Carlos Babington Carlos Alberto Babington (born 20 September 1949) is an Argentine former football attacking midfielder. He represented the Argentina national team at the 1974 World Cup. Biography Babington (nicknamed "El Inglés" – ''The Englishman'') was ...

Miguel Brindisi --> 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 (disamb ...

, Roque Avallay and the outstanding

René Houseman René Orlando Houseman (19 July 1953 – 22 March 2018), nicknamed ''Loco'', was an Argentine footballer, who played as a winger (association football), right winger. At the beginning of his career, Houseman was considered successor of legendary ...

. That squad was widely praised by the media due to their style of playing, being considered one of the best Argentine teams of all time. Huracán played 32 matches, winning 19 with 5 loses. The squad scored 62 goals and received 30.

Argentina national team

Menotti was appointed the head coach of the Argentina national team in October 1974.

1978 World Cup

Menotti was the coach of Argentina when they won their first

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 1978, defeating the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

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 ...

Between 1978 and 1982

In 1979, Menotti led the Argentina U20 national team to success in the World Youth Championship in Japan, 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 ...

the team's star player.

1982 World Cup

At the 1982 World Cup, Argentina lost to

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

in their opening match. The team started with Fillol; Olguin, Galván, Passarella, Tarantini; Ardiles, Gallego, Maradona; Bertoni, Díaz, and Kempes. Argentina then defeated

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

and

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

, and met

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

in Group 3 of the second round, although they lost both matches.

Later career

Menotti was appointed

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

head coach in 1983, helping them to win the

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...

, 1983 Copa de la Liga and the 1983 Supercopa de España before leaving in 1984. On 3 February 2017,

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...

made a formal offer to sign him on as their academy director. In January 2019, Menotti was named as the director of the Argentina National Teams.

Personality, influence and political views

Menotti always displayed a rebellious streak and cultivated an image of coolness. He wore long hair, dressed casually, and used to drop references to cultural icons in his conversations, from writer

Ernesto Sabato Ernesto Sabato (June 24, 1911 – April 30, 2011) was an Argentine novelist, essayist, painter and physicist. According to the BBC he "won some of the most prestigious prizes in Hispanic literature" and "became very influential in the literary w ...

to singer

Joan Manuel Serrat Joan Manuel Serrat i Teresa (; born 27 December 1943) is a Spanish musician, singer and composer. He is considered one of the most important figures of modern, popular music in both the Spanish and Catalan languages. Serrat's lyrical style ...

. He was opinionated on politics, projecting a left-wing

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

image that contrasted with his holding a very visible post during the right-wing military dictatorship.Jonathan Wilson, Inverting The Pyramid: The History of Soccer Tactics, page 335 Menotti famously proclaimed:

Honours

Player

Boca Juniors * Primera División:

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...

Santos *

: 1968 *

: 1968 Argentina *

Copa América The Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...

third-place: 1963

Manager

Huracán * Primera División: 1973 Metropolitano Barcelona *

: 1982–83 * Copa de la Liga: 1983 *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España or the ''Spanish Super Cup'' is a super cup tournament in Spanish football. Founded in 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2019–20 by four teams: the winners and runners-up of ...

: 1983 Argentina Youth *

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 whe ...

: 1979 Argentina *

: 1978

Individual

* World Soccer 22nd Greatest Manager of All Time: 2013

References

External links

Todo-Argentina biography

of "El DT del Proceso", a book strongly critical of Menotti's ethics and his links to the military regime * {{DEFAULTSORT:Menotti, Cesar Luis 1938 births Living people Footballers from Rosario, Santa Fe Argentine footballers Argentina international footballers Rosario Central footballers Boca Juniors footballers Racing Club de Avellaneda footballers Santos FC players Clube Atlético Juventus players Argentine Primera División players Argentine expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Brazil Expatriate soccer players in the United States National Professional Soccer League (1967) players New York Generals players New York Generals (NPSL) players Argentine football managers Argentina national football team managers Argentina national under-20 football team managers 1978 FIFA World Cup managers 1982 FIFA World Cup managers 1975 Copa América managers 1979 Copa América managers FIFA World Cup-winning managers Mexico national football team managers Newell's Old Boys managers Club Atlético Huracán managers Boca Juniors managers Club Atlético River Plate managers Club Atlético Independiente managers Rosario Central managers La Liga managers FC Barcelona managers Peñarol managers Club Puebla managers Tecos F.C. managers Argentine expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Italy Expatriate football managers in Mexico Expatriate football managers in Spain Argentine socialists Association football forwards Argentine people of Italian descent Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Argentine expatriate sportspeople in the United States Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy