Erwin Sánchez Freking (born 19 October 1969) is a Bolivian former

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 ...

who played as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

with scoring range, and is the current

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 ...

of Oriente Petrolero. Dubbed ''

Platini Michel François Platini (born 21 June 1955) is a French football administrator and former player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Platini won the Ballon d'Or three times in a row, in 1983, 1984 and 1985, ...

'',RELEMBRE O JOGADOR: Erwin Sánchez, o Platini dos Andes (REMEMBER THE PLAYER: Erwin Sánchez, the Platini of the Andes)
Trivela, 18 November 2011 (in Portuguese) most of his professional career was spent in Portugal, amassing

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal ...

totals of 288 matches and 59 goals over 13 seasons mainly in representation of Boavista and Benfica. Retiring in 2005, he subsequently became a coach. From 2006 to 2009, Sánchez managed the Bolivia national team after having appeared as a player in the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football, soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the countr ...

, the country's third participation.

Club career

Born in

Santa Cruz de la Sierra Santa Cruz de la Sierra (; "Holy Cross of the Mountain Range"), commonly known as Santa Cruz, is the largest city in Bolivia and the capital of the Santa Cruz department. Situated on the Pirai River in the eastern Tropical Lowlands of Bolivia ...

, Sánchez started his career at hometown's Club Destroyers, then moved to

Club Bolívar Club Bolívar () is a Bolivian professional football club that currently plays in the Bolivian Primera División. Founded in 1925 in honor of Venezuelan military leader Simón Bolívar, it is the most successful and popular club in the history of ...

. He was signed by S.L. Benfica for the 1990–91 season, but was not very successful there, also being loaned to Lisbon neighbours G.D. Estoril Praia. Sánchez joined Boavista F.C. after being released in 1992, eventually becoming one of the team's best players. This prompted a 1997 return to Benfica, but the player again failed to settle, returning to the ''Axadrezados'' (chequereds) and being crucial to the club's only league conquest in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...

, with nine goals in 33 games. After a serious anterior cruciate ligament injury, Sánchez eventually lost importance in Boavista and left the club in 2004 after a coaching spell, returning home for a final season with Oriente Petrolero and retiring as a player at the age of 36. In his last appearance, on 14 March 2005 against Club Blooming, he assaulted

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other tit ...

Wilson Aliaga, being suspended for 18 months. Sánchez had another managerial spell at Boavista, as well as two each at Blooming and Oriente Petrolero.

International career

Sánchez was a leading player for

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

, being crucial to the nation's

qualification Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

for the

. The team exited the competition in the group stage, and he scored their only goal in a 1–3 loss against

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") , ...

; this was also the country's first and only goal in three appearances in

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

tournaments. Sánchez appeared in a total of 57 matches over 16 years, netting 15 times.Erwin Sánchez – Goals in International Matches
at

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) is an international organization dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around the ...

He was part of their 1997 Copa América squad, playing all the matches save one for the runner-up hosts and scoring three goals, including in the final with

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. In 2006, Sánchez was named national team manager, being sacked after the unsuccessful 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign.

International goals

Personal life

Sánchez's son, also called Erwin, was also a Bolivian international midfielder.

Honours

Player

Benfica *

: 1990–91 Boavista *Primeira Liga: 2000–01 *

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 seas ...

: 1996–97 Oriente Petrolero * Copa Aerosur:

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...

Manager

Blooming *Copa Cine Center: 2015Erwin Sánchez, el desafío de triunfar como técnico donde lo hizo como jugador (Erwin Sánchez, the challenge of making it as a coach where he did so as player)

La Vanguardia ' (; , Spanish for "The Vanguard") is a Spanish daily newspaper, founded in 1881. It is printed in Spanish and, since 3 May 2011, also in Catalan (Spanish copy is automatically translated into Catalan). It has its headquarters in Barcelona and i ...

, 2 December 2015 (in Spanish)

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sanchez, Erwin 1969 births Living people Sportspeople from Santa Cruz de la Sierra Bolivian people of German descent Bolivian footballers Association football midfielders Bolivian Primera División players Club Destroyers players Club Bolívar players Oriente Petrolero players Primeira Liga players Segunda Divisão players S.L. Benfica footballers G.D. Estoril Praia players Boavista F.C. players S.L. Benfica B players Bolivia youth international footballers Bolivia international footballers 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup players 1989 Copa América players 1991 Copa América players 1993 Copa América players 1997 Copa América players 1999 Copa América players Bolivian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Portugal Bolivian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Bolivian football managers Primeira Liga managers Boavista F.C. mana