Alberto Horacio Suppici (20 November 1898 – 21 June 1981) was a Uruguayan footballer and coach who won the first ever

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 ...

, leading the

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

team in the 1930 tournament on home soil. Suppici is known as el Profesor (the Professor).Prof. Alberto Suppici
/ref> His cousin was the professional driver Héctor Suppici Sedes.

Biography

On 22 April 1917, Suppici founded the football club

Plaza Colonia Club Plaza Colonia de Deportes, or simply Plaza Colonia, is a Uruguayan professional football club from Colonia del Sacramento, that competes in the Uruguayan Primera Division. Founded in 1917, the club plays its home games at the 3,000 seater ...

Colonia del Sacramento , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = Basilica del Sanctísimo Sacramento.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = Basílica del Santísimo Sacramento , pushpin_map = Uruguay , subdivisio ...

, his hometown. The club's 12 000-capacity home ground has been named

Estadio Profesor Alberto Suppici Estadio Profesor Alberto Suppici is a multi-use stadium in Colonia, Uruguay. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium holds 6,500 people. The stadium is named after Alberto Suppici, coach of Uruguay national football team du ...

in his honour. As technical director of

, Suppici coached the side to third in the

1929 South American Championship The twelfth edition of the South American Championship was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina from 1 to 17 November 1929. The 1928 edition was postponed due to the participation of Chile, Uruguay and Argentina in the 1928 Summer Olympics held in A ...

, the precursor to the modern Copa América. At the inaugural FIFA World Cup in his home nation of

, Suppici dropped goalkeeper

Andrés Mazali Andrés Mazali Gini (22 July 1902 – 30 October 1975), nicknamed as El Buzo (The Diver), was a goalkeeper who played for the Uruguay national team. He spent his entire club career with Nacional. He was a twice Olympic gold medalist for Urugua ...

, who had won a gold medal in the 1928 Olympic final, from the national team after he was caught breaking curfew and failing to arrive at the team hotel in time in Montevideo prior to the tournament. Suppici led the side to victory in the final over

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 ...

Estadio Centenario Estadio Centenario is a stadium in the Parque Batlle of Montevideo, Uruguay, used primarily for football. The stadium was built between 1929 and 1930 to host the inaugural 1930 FIFA World Cup, as well as to commemorate the centenary of Ur ...

in Montevideo, masterminding a second-half comeback from 2 to 1 down to win 4–2 in front of 93,000 people. Suppici's technical staff at the tournament included Pedro Arispe, Ernesto Figoli, Luis Greco and Pedro Olivieri. He is the youngest ever coach to win a World Cup, aged only 31.

Honours

Manager

Domestic

; Peñarol *

Uruguayan Primera División The Liga Profesional de Primera División (American Spanish , en, First Division Professional League, local: , ''First Division''), named "Torneo Uruguayo Copa Coca-Cola" for sponsorship reasons, is the highest professional football league in Uru ...

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which Nuclear weapon, nuclear weapons Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, have been used in combat. Events Below, ...

International

Uruguay *

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will b ...

* Copa América runner-up: 1941; third place:

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

, 1937

References

1898 births 1981 deaths People from Colonia del Sacramento Uruguayan footballers Uruguayan people of Italian descent Club Nacional de Football players Uruguayan football managers 1930 FIFA World Cup managers FIFA World Cup-winning managers Uruguay national football team managers Association football defenders {{Uruguay-footy-defender-stub