Jorge José Benítez (born 3 June 1950 in Gobernador Castro,

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 ...

) is an

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 ...

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 ...

player and coach. Nicknamed ''El Chino'' ("The Chinese"), Benítez started his career in Racing Club in 1969; in 1973 he was transferred to

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 ...

, where he stayed until retirement in 1983. A gifted midfielder, he played 305 league matches and scored 40 goals for Boca, being instrumental in achieving the

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 in 1976 and 1981, the

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 ...

in 1976, 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 1977 and 1978 and the

European/South American Cup The European/South American Cup, more commonly known as the Intercontinental Cup and from 1980 to 2004 as the Toyota European/South American Cup (abbreviated as Toyota Cup) for sponsorship reasons, was an international football competition end ...

in 1977. Since he shared Boca's midfield with talented players such as Trobbiani, Suñé, Potente, Ribolzi, Berta, Zanabria,

Brindisi Brindisi ( , ) ; la, Brundisium; grc, Βρεντέσιον, translit=Brentésion; cms, Brunda), group=pron is a city in the region of Apulia in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. Histo ...

, and Maradona, his place in the team was often compromised. After retirement, Benítez worked as junior division coach in Boca Juniors, and was offered the post of main coach in November 2004 upon the resignation of (former teammate) Brindisi due to poor results. Benítez's first achievement was to stabilize the team's performance, and indeed it went on to win the

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 ...

2004; management was convinced that he was the right man for the job, and extended the term of his contract, instead of going for a big-name coach. On 15 July 2005, Benítez was sacked from Boca Juniors, following a poor performance by the team in the

, and an incident in the quarterfinals match against Chivas de Guadalajara. A review of tape showed the manager spitting at Chivas player

Adolfo Bautista Adolfo Bautista Herrera (born 15 May 1979), also known as "Bofo", is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Bautista is remembered for his powerful shot, creative ball control, and acrobatic moves, as ...

. After being sacked, Benítez sought out Bautista to personally apologize by flying to a Chivas practice at Guadalajara. The apology was accepted but a personal meeting was rejected. Boca then proceeded to hire former

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

coach

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 ...

for the post.

References

External links

Statistics and profile
at Historia de Boca 1950 births Living people Sportspeople from Buenos Aires Province Argentine footballers Argentina international footballers Argentine football managers Argentine Primera División players Racing Club de Avellaneda footballers Boca Juniors footballers Boca Juniors managers Association football midfielders S.D. Quito managers {{Argentina-footy-midfielder-stub