Jorge Alvial is a Chilean

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 ...

coach/sports manager and current head of scouting for

FC Cincinnati Football Club Cincinnati, commonly known as FC Cincinnati, is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Cincinnati. The club plays in the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The ...

. Previously, he had been an international

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, sectio ...

for

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 ...

, and for Chelsea for over nine years.

Career

He had a career as a football player with Deportes Iquique in his country of birth and with American clubs such as

Washington Stars The Washington Stars were an American soccer team established in 1987 as F.C. Washington. The team entered the American Soccer League in 1988 under the name Washington Stars and merged with the Maryland Bays in 1990. History Founded in the sprin ...

, where he coincided with Mark Pulisic, the father of

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

. In 2006, Alvial was the

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 o ...

of the

USL The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, p ...

Puerto Rico Islanders Puerto, a Spanish word meaning ''seaport'', may refer to: Places *El Puerto de Santa María, Andalusia, Spain *Puerto, a seaport town in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines *Puerto Colombia, Colombia *Puerto Cumarebo, Venezuela *Puerto Galera, Orient ...

, recruiting players such as three-time Argentine national title winner Gustavo Barros Schelotto and Chilean international

Arturo Norambuena Arturo Andrés Norambuena Ardiles (born 22 November 1971), commonly known as Arturo Norambuena, is a retired Chilean footballer who played as forward and current manager. He previously played in his homeland with Universidad Católica. Norambuen ...

to join his team. However, during his 2006 undefeated season, however, he left the team to be chief scout of the Americas for Chelsea alongside Hans Gillhaus and world-known scout Piet de Visser. From when he joined Chelsea in 2006, Alvial has worked with Chelsea managers

José Mourinho José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix GOIH (; born 26 January 1963), is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Italian Serie A club Roma. Once dubbed "The Special One" by the British ...

, Carlo Ancelotti, André Villas-Boas,

Guus Hiddink Guus Hiddink (; born 8 November 1946) is a Dutch former football manager and professional player. He enjoyed a long career playing as a midfielder in his native Netherlands. Retired as player in 1982, Hiddink went into management, leading both c ...

Luiz Felipe Scolari Luiz Felipe Scolari (; born 9 November 1948), also known as Felipão ("Big Phil"), is a Brazilian football manager and former player. He is the current manager of Athletico Paranaense. Scolari was a defender during his playing days, and notab ...

and

Avram Grant Avraham "Avram" Grant ( he, אברהם "אברם" גרנט; born Avraham Granat; ) is an Israeli professional football manager. He has spent the majority of his career coaching and managing in Israel, winning a number of national league and cup ...

. On 11 January 2008, though still hired at Chelsea, Alvial joined the

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). The franchise be ...

coaching staff for a short period of time to evaluate players at the

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

(MLS) level. Alvial, however, returned to Chelsea to continue his position as chief scout for the Americas the same year. Alvial did not work in the MLS very long. He was linked to convincing the Argentine Legend of

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 ...

, Guillermo Barros Schelotto to the Columbus Crew for only a salary cap of only $150,000 the first year. With Schelotto, Columbus won their first ever

MLS Cup Playoffs The MLS Cup Playoffs is the annual postseason elimination tournament of Major League Soccer. The final match of the tournament is the MLS Cup, the league's championship game. Under the current format adopted for the 2019 season, 14 teams qualif ...

. Alvial was also linked to getting Marcos González and three-time Chilean national title champion

Milovan Mirošević Milovan Petar Mirošević Albornoz (; born 20 June 1980) is a Chilean football manager and former footballer. He spent the majority of his playing career as an attacking midfielder for Universidad Católica. He is also commonly known as Milo Mi ...

to sign for the Crew. During his short spell at FC Dallas, Alvial discovered

Brek Shea Dane Brekken "Brek" Shea (born February 28, 1990) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a winger or left-back for Major League Soccer club Inter Miami. Shea began his career with Major League Soccer team FC Dallas after pla ...

at the

MLS Combine The Major League Soccer Player Combine used to be a four-day annual showcase, occurring every January. For 2020 it will not happen. It seems that individual teams will be doing their own trials instead. Format The present Player Combine featur ...

and twins Rogelio and Ramiro Funes Mori at the

Sueño MLS The Sueño MLS program is a Major League Soccer scouting program that looks for undiscovered talent. This program gives players the opportunity to be selected to join the elite Youth Academy System of a host Major League Soccer club. Synopsis S ...

. FC Dallas first round pick was Shea at the

MLS SuperDraft The MLS SuperDraft is an annual college draft for teams of Major League Soccer in the United States and Canada. It takes place in January and is used by teams to select players who have graduated from college or otherwise been signed by the le ...

; Shea later went to play for the

United States national team The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

and signed for a fee of $3.8 million in

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

. Before Alvial went back to scout for Chelsea, he discovered the Funes Mori twins at MLS Sueño. The twins did not end up signing in FC Dallas and instead signed for a bigger and more world-known club River Plate – Ramiro, the defender, won the national title and

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, named as ''Copa Sudamericana'' (; pt, Copa Sul-Americana ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club competition in South American ...

with River Plate while Rogelio, the forward, soon signed at Benfica for €2 million.

Personal life

Alvial has one daughter, Isabel Alvial, and three sons named Jorge, Greyson, and professional footballer Javier Alvial.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alvial, Jorge 1959 births Living people People from Iquique Chilean footballers Chilean expatriate footballers Deportes Iquique footballers Washington Stars players Chilean Primera División players American Soccer League (1988–89) players American Professional Soccer League players Expatriate soccer players in the United States Association football goalkeepers Chilean football managers Chilean expatriate football managers Puerto Rico Islanders coaches USL First Division coaches Chelsea F.C. non-playing staff Manchester United F.C. non-playing staff FC Cincinnati non-playing staff Chilean expatriate sportspeople in the United States Chilean expatriate sportspeople in England