Gary Stempel (born 26 January 1957) is a Panamanian

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 ...

manager.

Career

Prior to his move to Panama, Stempel was a community outreach officer with London club Millwall. He enjoyed his greatest success as at club level in a four-year spell as manager of San Francisco, a Panamanian football club, during which he won five league titles and two championships with Panama Viejo. It was during this time that he was also given charge of the Panama under-20 and under-23 teams. He qualified Panama to its first-ever

U-20 World Cup 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 wh ...

in 2003. In 2007, he became manager of Salvadorian club Águila and in 2008 he was given the opportunity to take charge of the Panama national team. During his tenure as national team coach, Panama won the Central American Nations Cup in 2009. It was the first time Panama had won a major international championship. After this success, he led the team to the quarter-finals at the

2009 Gold Cup The 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the tenth edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup competition, and the twentieth soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). It was played from July 3 to 26, 2009 in the United States ...

. Stempel has also been working as a FIFA coach instructor and has conducted courses for coaches in

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Dominica Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically ...

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, Belize, Nicaragua and

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. From 2012-16, Gary Stempel was coach for the San Francisco football club located in La Chorrera, Panama. After the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

, the current Panama manager, Hernán Darío Gómez, resigned. Stempel was subsequently named interim manager until Panama appoint their next full-time manager. That manager ended up being Julio Dely Valdés. In October 2019, Gary Stempel was awarded the Member of the Order of the British Empire for his services to youth and sport in Panama.

Personal life

Stempel was born in Panama to a Panamanian father, and English mother. He moved to England at the age of 6, and remained there for 34 years holding UK citizenship, before moving back to coach San Francisco. He has an English-born wife and two daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stempel, Gary 1957 births Living people Panamanian football managers English football managers Panamanian people of English descent English people of Panamanian descent San Francisco F.C. managers C.D. Águila managers Panama national football team managers Expatriate football managers in El Salvador Liga Panameña de Fútbol managers