Jorge Alberto Francisco Valdano Castellanos (born 4 October 1955) 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 ...

player, coach, and the former general manager of

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 ...

. He is currently working as a commentator for

beIN Sports beIN Sports ( ) is a global network of sports channels owned and operated by the Qatari media group beIN. It has played a major role in the increased commercialization of Qatari sports. Its chairman is Nasser Al-Khelaifi, and its CEO is Yousef O ...

. Nicknamed "The Philosopher of Football", he played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. With the Argentina national team, Valdano took part at the 1975 Copa América as well as the

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

and

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

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 ...

s, the latter of which Argentina won. He had a major influence in the 1986 win, scoring four goals in the tournament, including Argentina's second goal against

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

in 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 ...

. In total, he earned 23

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for his nation between 1975 and 1990, scoring seven goals. Although he initially played for

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 ...

, Alavés and

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 ...

, his most successful period at club level was at Real Madrid, where he won

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

twice, the Copa de la Liga and two

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

s. As a manager, he coached Spanish sides

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...

, Real Madrid and

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

. Considered a benchmark for the way he addressed various football clubs, Valdano participated in 2013 at the World Leadership Forum and in the World Business Forum in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

, where he associated the world of sports and business behind it, where he listed the 11 powers of leadership, based on his last book.

Playing career

Club

Valdano started playing when he was 16 years old for Rosario's club

, where he also started playing professionally, as well as with the Argentina national football team, in 1972. In 1975, he was transferred to Alavés of the Spanish

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

, where he played until 1979. In that year, he moved to

of the Primera División, and then to

in 1984, playing with the ''

Quinta del Buitre is the moniker given by Spanish sport journalist Julio César Iglesias to the five homegrown Real Madrid players who were at the core of the team that dominated Spanish football in the 1980s. The name ("Vulture's Cohort") was derived from Emili ...

''. He helped them win the

in 1985 and

, scoring once in the 1985 final and twice in the 1986 final. Stricken by

hepatitis Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice), poor appetite, vomiting, tiredness, abdominal pa ...

, he decided to retire in 1988 and became a sports commentator.

International

Valdano played 23 times for the Argentina national team between 1975 and 1990, scoring seven goals, four of them in the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia ha ...

, including one against

in the

, which Argentina went on to win. Other than the 1986 triumph, he also took part in the 1975 Copa América and the 1982 World Cup, but missed most of the latter tournament after being injured in Argentina's second game, against

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 ...

Managerial career

Valdano began his management career as the Real Madrid youth team coach. In April 1992, just before the end of the 1991–92 season, he became head coach of

, replacing fellow Argentinian

Jorge Solari Jorge Raúl Solari, (born 11 November 1941) is a former Argentine football player and manager. Playing career Solari, nicknamed ''"El Indio"'' ("The Indian"), played as a midfielder for several clubs in Argentina, he started his career with Ne ...

. He helped Tenerife avoid

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

at the end of 1991–92, and then the following season helped them qualify for the UEFA Cup. He also twice led Tenerife to final day victories that denied his former club Real Madrid winning the La Liga title (Barcelona winning it instead on both occasions). He then returned to Real Madrid in 1994, now as a coach, and led them to the 1994–95 Liga title. He finally coached

in 1996–97 before becoming Real Madrid's sporting director until his resignation in June 2005. In June 2009, he again returned to Real Madrid as director general and presidential aide. He was sacked from the position on 25 May 2011, however, after his relationship with the coaching staff, particularly head coach

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 ...

, had deteriorated.

Personal life

Valdano wrote the book ''Sueños de fútbol'' ("Dreams of football") and edited the book ''Cuentos de fútbol'' ("Football short stories") by diverse authors. Real Madrid's former captain

Raúl Raul, Raúl and Raül are the Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Galician, Asturian, Basque, Aragonese, and Catalan forms of the Anglo-Germanic given name Ralph or Rudolph. They are cognates of the French Raoul. Raul, Raúl or Raül may re ...

named his first-born son in honour of Valdano.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Player

Newell's Old Boys *

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 ...

: 1974 Real Madrid *

: 1985–86, 1986–87 * Copa de la Liga: 1985 *

: 1984–85, 1985–86 Argentina *

Individual

Awards * La Liga Foreign Player of the Year: 1985–86

Manager

Real Madrid *La Liga: 1994–95

Quotes

* Football is beginning to be a lie well documented by the media. *

iego The fictional universe of the '' Star Wars'' franchise features multiple planets and moons. While only the feature films and selected other works are considered canon to the franchise since the 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm by The Walt Dis ...

Maradona has no peers on the pitch, but he has turned his Life into a show, and is now living a personal ordeal that should not be imitated. * The coach proposes and the player disposes, but the limits that the tactics impose on us are every day obfuscating more the expression of new talents. A pity. * Every team that is good to the ball, is also good to the whole public. * The bacillus of efficiency has also attacked football, and some dare to ask what's the point in playing well. I feel tempted to tell about the time they dared to ask

Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known bo ...

what is poetry for, to which he answered: "What is a sunrise for? What are caresses for? What is the smell of coffee for?" Each question sounded like a sentence: they are for pleasure, for emotion, for living. * Football is made up of subjective feeling, of suggestion - and, in that,

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...

is unbeatable. Put a stick with shit hanging from it in the middle of this passionate, crazy stadium and there are people who will tell you it's a work of art. It's not: it's shit hanging from a stick ..if football is going the way

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

are taking it, we had better be ready to wave goodbye to any expression of the cleverness and talent we have enjoyed for a century. * Football is an excuse to make us happy. *When the new Santiago Bernabéu is finished, Anfield is what will look like a training ground.

References

External links

* *
Q & A with Valdano
at

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valdano, Jorge 1955 births Living people People from Belgrano Department, Santa Fe Argentine football managers Argentine expatriate football managers Argentine footballers Argentine people of Spanish descent Newell's Old Boys footballers La Liga managers Real Madrid CF managers Valencia CF managers CD Tenerife managers La Liga players Real Zaragoza players Real Madrid CF players Deportivo Alavés players FIFA World Cup-winning players 1982 FIFA World Cup players 1986 FIFA World Cup players 1975 Copa América players Argentina international footballers Argentine expatriate footballers Argentine Primera División players Expatriate football managers in Spain Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Association football forwards UEFA Cup winning players Sportspeople from Santa Fe Province

Playing career

Club

International

Managerial career

Personal life

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Player

Individual

Manager

Quotes

References

Further reading

External links