Juan Alberto Barbas (born 23 August 1959 in

San Martín San Martín or San Martin may refer to: People Saints * Saint Martin (disambiguation)#People, name of various saints in Spanish Political leaders *Vicente San Martin (1839 -1901), Military, National hero of Mexico. *Basilio San Martin (1849 ...

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

) is a retired

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 ...

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as an attacking or defensive midfielder. He played for a number of clubs in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

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

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

before turning his hand to management in 2009 with Racing Club de Avellaneda.

Club career

Barbas started his career in 1977 at Racing Club de Avellaneda in the

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; en, "First Division"), known officialy as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Binance for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in Argentina, organised by the Argentine Football Association (AFA). Th ...

. He then went on to play for

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. Zaragoza holds its home games at La ...

in Spain, U.S. Lecce in Italy, FC Locarno, and FC Sion in Switzerland. Barbas was a part of the Sion team that won the 1991–1992 Swiss Championship. After another spell at Locarno, Barbas returned to Argentina where he had a short spell with Club Atlético Huracán before dropping down to the lower leagues to play for

Alvarado de Mar del Plata Alvarado may refer to: Places * Alvarado, Tolima, Colombia *Alvarado (canton), Costa Rica *Alvarado, Veracruz, Mexico * Alvarado (municipality), Veracruz, Mexico * Alvarado, Extremadura, Spain ** Alvarado I solar thermal power station, in Alvarado, ...

and then All Boys, where he retired in 1997.

International career

Barbas was part of the Argentina Under-20 squad that won the 1979

FIFA World Youth Championship 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 when ...

, he went on to play for

33 times including appearances at the

1982 FIFA World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain between 13 June and 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy national foo ...

Style of play

An offensive minded midfielder, with an eye for goal, Barbas's main traits as a footballer were his excellent vision and accurate striking ability from outside the area; he was also a good free kick taker.

Coaching career

On 13 October 2009, Racing Club de Avellaneda officials hired their former player as their caretaker coach, replacing

Ricardo Caruso Lombardi Ricardo Daniel Caruso Lombardi (born 10 February 1962 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine football manager, currently in charge of Deportivo Español, and former footballer. He is best known for saving teams from being relegated to second division. ...

.“Espero poder devolverle al club lo que me dio”
/ref>

Honours

Club

; FC Sion *

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

: 1991–92

International

;

Under-20 *

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barbas, Juan 1959 births Living people Sportspeople from Buenos Aires Province Argentine footballers Argentine expatriate footballers Racing Club de Avellaneda footballers Real Zaragoza players U.S. Lecce players Club Atlético Huracán footballers FC Locarno players FC Sion players Argentine Primera División players La Liga players Serie A players Serie B players Swiss Super League players Swiss Challenge League players Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Switzerland 1979 Copa América players 1982 FIFA World Cup players Argentina youth international footballers Argentina under-20 international footballers Argentina international footballers Argentine football managers Racing Club de Avellaneda managers Association football defenders Association football utility players