Francisco Antonio Maturana García, also known as ''Pacho'' Maturana (born February 15, 1949) is a Colombian ex-football player and football manager. Under his management, Atletico Nacional was the first team of the nation to win the

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 ...

in 1989 and the

Colombia national football team The Colombia national football team ( es, Selección de fútbol de Colombia) represents Colombia in men's international football and is managed by the Colombian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Colombia. They are a member ...

to win Colombia's first ever national title: the Copa America in 2001. He is currently a member of the

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

Football Committee.

Career

Player

Born in Quibdó, Chocó, Francisco Maturana moved with his family at an early age to the city of

Medellín Medellín ( or ), officially the Municipality of Medellín ( es, Municipio de Medellín), is the second-largest city in Colombia, after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia. It is located in the Aburrá Valley, a central re ...

. Here he played professional football while attending the

University of Antioquia The University of Antioquia ( es, Universidad de Antioquia), also called UdeA, is a public, departmental, coeducational, research university located primarily in the city of Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia, with regional campuses in Amalfi, Andes ...

, where he later obtained a degree in dentistry. He began his professional career in 1970 at

Atlético Nacional Atlético Nacional S. A., best known as Atlético Nacional, is a Colombian professional association football, football club based in Medellín. The club is one of only three clubs to have played in every first division tournament in the countr ...

, where he became a starting defender until 1980. During his time in

he won two Colombian League Championships in 1973 and 1976. In 1981, he transferred to

Atlético Bucaramanga Club Atlético Bucaramanga S.A., better known as Atlético Bucaramanga, is a Colombian professional football team based in Bucaramanga. The club plays its home games at the Alfonso López stadium. The club was founded on 11 May 1949 by Rafael C ...

and also played 6 matches with the Colombia National Team during the qualifying matches for the 1982 World Cup. In 1982, he played his last year with

Deportes Tolima Club Deportes Tolima S.A., commonly known as Deportes Tolima, or simply as Tolima, is a Colombian professional football club based in Ibagué, Tolima Department that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. Founded in 1954, the club has wo ...

until he retired at the end of the season.

Manager

Motivated by Uruguayans Aníbal Ruíz and Luis Cubilla, he started managing the Colombian team

Once Caldas Once Caldas S.A., simply known as Once Caldas, is a professional Colombian football team based in Manizales, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the Palogrande stadium. They were the surprise winners ...

in 1986. The following year, the Colombian Football Federation hired him to manage the national team's youth squad and then was quickly promoted to manage the Senior Squad to compete in the 1987

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 ...

, where they reached third place by beating the host Argentina. During this time, he was also hired to manage his former team,

. Then, in 1989, he had his most successful year in his career. He led

, composed of many Colombian legends, to win the

for the first time for any Colombian club. Using

players as a base for the National Team, he qualified the team to the 1990 World Cup after 28 years of absence. In December, he lost the Intercontinental Cup to

AC Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 and 1982–83 seasons ...

at the last minute of overtime. An upset to what would have been the perfect season. The following year he led Colombia to its best performance in World Cup competition until 2014 by reaching the second round and losing to Cameroon. After the World Cup, he was hired as coach of Spain's

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid () or Valladolid, is a professional football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish league system. The club colo ...

. He was rumored to be the next

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

coach for the 1991–92 season. In 1993, he was voted as the South American coach of the year by El Pais and he was ranked third in Spanish Newspaper Marca's list of the world's greatest managers. He returned to Colombia in 1992. and got his team

América de Cali América de Cali S. A., best known as América de Cali or América, is a Colombian professional football club based in Cali. It competes in the Categoría Primera A, the top-flight league of Colombian football. The team plays its home games at ...

champion of Colombia. In 1993, he got Colombia qualified for a second time in a row to a World Cup, with a historic triumph over Argentina in Buenos Aires by 5–0. That score made Colombia a surprising favorite for the 1994 World Cup, but the performance there was disappointing, as the team was eliminated in the first round, being defeated by United States and Romania, although it was understood that the team's make-up had been heavily influenced by rampant threats from the cartel groups at the time. He later had a brief stint as coach of

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

and in 1995 he was hired as the trainer of Ecuador National Football Team. After failing to get Ecuador qualified for the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

, he returned to Colombia to coach

Millonarios Millonarios Fútbol Club is a professional Colombian football team based in Bogotá, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the El Campín stadium. Millonarios was initially created in 1937 by students f ...

. In 1999, he briefly coached Costa Rica, and in 2000 he also coached Peru for a few months. He would later return to coach Colombia for the 2001 Copa América, winning it for the first time. His latest jobs as a coach would include Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal, where he won the domestic league and the Asian Champions League and a new stint for Colombia and Argentina's

Colón de Santa Fe Colón may refer to: Places ;Argentina * Colón, Entre Ríos * Colón Department, Córdoba * Colón Department, Entre Ríos * Colón, Buenos Aires ;Colombia * Colón, Nariño * Colón, Putumayo * Colón Department (Colombia) ;Costa Rica * Ciu ...

. He worked for

as a technical adviser where he has held various coaching seminars around the world with the likes of

Fabio Capello Fabio Capello (; born 18 June 1946) is an Italian former professional football manager and player. As a player, Capello represented SPAL 1907, Roma, Milan and Juventus. He played as a midfielder and won several trophies during his career which ...

and Cesar Menotti. In April 2007 Maturana accepted an offer from

Argentine 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, s ...

Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata (; ''La Plata Gymnastics and Fencing Club''), also known simply as Gimnasia, is an Argentine professional sports club based in the city of La Plata, Buenos Aires Province. Founded in 1887 as "Club de Gimnasi ...

. He directed his first game on April 22, 2007, the derby against

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 August 2007 Maturana ended his relationship with

As of February 1 he took up the position of head coach of Trinidad and Tobago's National Team. His first game in charge was against Guadeloupe on February 6 at the Queens Park Oval in Trinidad. However, on April 8, 2009, Maturana was sacked as manager of Trinidad and Tobago. In June 2019, he was appointed as a technical advisor for the national team of

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

in the

2019 Copa América The 2019 Copa América was the 46th edition of the Copa América, the international men's association football championship organized by South America's football ruling body CONMEBOL. It was held in Brazil and took place between 14 June and 7 ...

.Francisco Maturana vuelve a la Copa América, pero con otra selección
eltiempo.com, 10 June 2019

Honours

Player

Categoría Primera A The Categoría Primera A (), commonly referred to as Liga BetPlay Dimayor (between 2015 and 2019 ''Liga Águila'') due to sponsorship by online betting company BetPlay, is a Colombian professional league for association football clubs. It is the ...

(2): 1973, 1976

Manager

Club

(1):

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

(1): 1992 Al-Hilal *

Saudi Premier League The Saudi Pro League (SPL for short) ( ar, دوري المحترفين السعودي, link=no, ''Dawriyy al-Muḥtarifayni as-Suʿūdī''), known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL for short) for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of associat ...

(1): 2001-02

International

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 ...

(1):

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maturana, Francisco 1949 births Living people People from Quibdó Colombian footballers Atlético Nacional footballers Atlético Bucaramanga footballers Deportes Tolima footballers Categoría Primera A players Colombia international footballers Colombian football managers Colombian expatriate football managers Colombia national football team managers Peru national football team managers Ecuador national football team managers 1987 Copa América managers 1989 Copa América managers 1990 FIFA World Cup managers 1993 Copa América managers 1994 FIFA World Cup managers 1995 Copa América managers 1997 Copa América managers 2001 Copa América managers 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup managers Club Atlético Colón managers Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata managers La Liga managers Atlético Nacional managers Real Valladolid managers Once Caldas managers América de Cali managers Millonarios F.C. managers Atlético Madrid managers Al Hilal SFC managers Trinidad and Tobago national football team managers Costa Rica national football team managers Expatriate football managers in Argentina Expatriate football managers in Costa Rica Expatriate football managers in Ecuador Expatriate football managers in Peru Expatriate football managers in Saudi Arabia Expatriate football managers in Spain Expatriate football managers in Trinidad and Tobago Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Costa Rica Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Ecuador Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Peru Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Trinidad and Tobago Al Nassr FC managers Association football defenders Pan American Games medalists in football Pan American Games silver medalists for Colombia Footballers at the 1971 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1971 Pan American Games Sportspeople from Chocó Department Royal Pari F.C. managers