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10 Things to know about Coach Jorge Sampaoli

Jorge Luis Sampaoli Moya, born March 13, 1960, is an Argentine football coach who currently manages Sevilla in La Liga. Sampaoli began his career as a youth player before transitioning to management following a serious injury. Sampaoli began his coaching career at Coronel Bolognesi in Peru in 2004 and has since had brief but successful stints at O’Higgins in Chile and Emelec in Ecuador. He went on to serve other major clubs such as Sevilla, not to mention his accomplishment of managing a national team. Apart from being a football manager, he did several other things. All of this will be covered in this article, so let’s get started.

1. He played for amateur teams in his hometown league

Sampaoli was born in Casilda, a small town in Argentina’s Caseros Department of the Santa Fe Province. He was a football fanatic in his youth, playing for amateur teams in his hometown league.

Sampaoli eventually joined Newell’s Old Boys, where he earned the nickname “Toboggan de piojos” (literally “lice slide”) due to his premature baldness.

He suffered a tibia and fibula injury while at the club in 1979, forcing him to retire from professional football at the age of 19.

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2. Sevilla Boss

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Sampaoli signed a two-year contract with Sevilla on June 28, 2016. After only one year in Spain, where he led Sevilla to fourth place in La Liga and guaranteed Champions League football the following season, Sampaoli left to coach Argentina’s national team, where he left by mutual consent following a disappointing run in the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

He eventually agreed to coach Santos in 2019, staying for one year and leading the club to second place in the league. 

Sampaoli returned to management in European football in March 2021, when he was appointed as manager of the French club Marseille. He returned to manage Sevilla in October 2022.

3. The Chile Express

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Chile’s Asociación Nacional de Ftbol Profesional announced in December 2012 that Jorge Sampaoli would take over as manager of the national team, where he would bring his art perfected at Universidad de Chile.

This move was made in order to qualify Chile for the 2014 World Cup.
Despite narrowly missing out on a place in the 2014 World Cup quarterfinals in Brazil, Sampaoli’s Chile won the Copa America final against Argentina in 2015 using the flamboyant, risky, adaptable style of football.

4.  Part-time banker to continent-hopping coach

When a top-level playing career was no longer a possibility, Sampaoli worked as a banker and a physical trainer, but he never gave up on his dream of making a living from football, and when Mario Bonavera, the manager of the local team Alumni de Casilda, was unable to coach in his absence in 1991, Sampaoli got his first taste of coaching in his absence. He took advantage of the situation.

Sampaoli spent the next decade bouncing around the lower echelons of Argentine football before launching his career elsewhere.

He spent four years in Peru and two in Chile before joining Emelec in Ecuador for two seasons, but it wasn’t until he returned to Chile with Universidad de Chile in 2010 that things really started to take off.

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5. Red Hot Chile Manager

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To say Sampaoli was a success as Chile’s manager from 2012 to 2016 is an understatement. La Roja had been struggling prior to his appointment, despite having a golden generation of players including Alexis Sanchez, Arturo Vidal, Gary Medel, and Carlos Bravo, with qualification for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil on the line.

Sampaoli’s team defeated Ecuador, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Peru en route to a Copa America final against Lionel Messi’s Argentina. After a goalless draw in Santiago, Chile sealed their first major trophy with a penalty shoot-out victory over Maradona’s heir and Sampaoli’s home country.

Sampaoli left his position in January 2016 with the highest win percentage (69.8 percent) of any coach in Chile’s history.

6. Marcelo Bielsa Heir

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It’s safe to say that Sampaoli and current Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa have a lot in common. Both Argentine coaches have been in charge of Chile and Argentina, with Marseille to follow, and many observers see Sampaoli’s preferred formation and style as a clone of Bielsa’s.

Bielsa, on the other hand, rejects the claim in deference to his countryman. However, Bielsa believes Sampaoli is superior to him. Indeed, Sampaoli is accomplishing far more than he could as a player.

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7. Beats the unbeaten

He may have brought Chilean football unprecedented success at the club and national levels, as well as ending Zinedine Zidane’s 40-game unbeaten streak as Real Madrid manager in a single season with Sevilla, but there has also been some rough with the smooth.

His tenure as Argentina’s manager came to an end following the World Cup in Russia in 2018, when the Albiceleste were eliminated in the last 16 by France, prompting Messi and Maradona to publicly criticize him.

Between then and now, Sampaoli has been in Brazil with Santos and Atletico Mineiro, and despite respectable league finishes, there is a sense that there is still something to prove at the 10-time French champions. Given his previous highs, it wouldn’t be safe to bet against him.

8. Named FIFA Coach of the year

Sampaoli’s Copa America victory earned him the title of South American Coach of the Year. He was also named one of the final three FIFA World Coach of the Year nominees.
Furthermore, during a recent match between Barcelona FC and Sevilla, Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Mascherano hugged and spoke with Jorge as a show of respect for his methods.

9. Santos FC Boss

On December 13, 2018, Santos FC announced that Sampaoli had reached an “in principle agreement” to become the club’s coach for the 2019 season. On December 17, he signed a two-year contract and was presented the next day.

During his time at the club, Sampaoli was lauded by the media, particularly for his offensive play. Despite being eliminated from the Campeonato Paulista and Copa Sudamericana this season, he led the club to second place in Série A.

Sampaoli resigned on December 9, 2019, and Santos announced his departure the next day.

10. Juan Aurich

On January 9, 2002, Sampaoli was named coach of Peruvian Primera División club Juan Aurich, his first professional club. On February 24, he directed his first professional game against Universitario, losing 2-1 despite leading the entire game thanks to a penalty scored by Carlos Flores (66th minute).

In Juan Aurich, Sampaoli directed only eight games, five of which the team lost and two of which the team tied with Coopsol Trujillo and Alianza Lima.

César Sánchez and Flores scored goals to help the team defeat Cienciano 2-0. He left the club in April when Aurich was at the bottom of the standings.

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