Marcelo Bielsa is an Argentine coach who was previously a footballer. He spent his entire career as a player in Argentina, but in the future he coached a wide variety of teams. Marcelo Bielsa acted as a defender when he was a football player, and this affected his coaching thinking.
Player career
Marcelo Bielsa, like many talented Argentine players, began his career at the Old Boys Club. From early childhood, he was listed in the system of this club, signed a contract with him at the age of 18, but at the same time he quickly became disappointed. The defender spent the first three years of his professional career in reserve, speaking for the double, and only at the age of 21 he made his debut for the main team, in which he played only two seasons. In 1978, he moved to the Instituto Central club, but couldn’t get accustomed there, having played only ten matches during the year, Marcelo Bielsa moved to the Argentino amateur club, where he spent another year before ending his career as a player aged 25 years. The case of Bielsa is common in football - many football players understand quite early that they can do much more if they are not on the field, but outside it. And so began the coaching of a failed player.
Career coach
When the 25-year-old Bielsa finished his sports career, he did not waste time and entered the university of physical education in order to receive a full-fledged coaching education. Six years, the training lasted, but all this time Bielsa did not spend only on theory - he received the position of assistant coach in the Newells Old Boys home club, where he gained experience under the guidance of experienced specialists. In 1986, Marcelo graduated and immediately received the position of trainer for the youth composition of the Old Boys and scout of youth. So another five years of the young coach’s life passed, until in January 1992 he was appointed head coach for all his services to the club. However, he could not achieve much success and a year and a half later was fired. At the same time, Marcelo headed the Atlas Mexican club, but he also stayed there for only a year and a half - his performance only got worse. This was followed by a brief period in the Mexican “America”, where due to terrible performances he was not even allowed to finish the season. Bielsa took a break for a year and a half to deal with what he does not succeed in in coaching, and returned in the summer of 1997 as head coach of the Argentine Veles. There he spent one of the best seasons of his career, due to which he was noticed in Europe - and in the summer of 1998, Bielsa moved to Spain, to Hispaniol. However, after the best stretch, the worst followed - in 9 matches the club was able to win only two victories, and Bielsa was fired after three months.
Reaching the top
He returned to his homeland, where he was offered the position of coach of the national team of Argentina - it was there that he showed the best results. In 2001, Bielsa was recognized as the best coach of the national teams of the year in the world. In 2005, he left the national team, and in 2007 he led the Chileans. There, for four years, he showed good results, so in 2011 he was invited to the Spanish Athletic. He impressed everyone with the fact that in the first season he brought the club to the final of the Europa League - but then everything collapsed, and the second season turned out to be just disgusting. In the summer of 2014, the coach headed Olympic Marseille, where he spent only one year. After a year-long break, he decided to return to the sport and headed Lazio in 2016, but two days later he broke off the contract with the club, causing a negative reaction from the leadership - he was even sued for non-compliance with the terms of the contract.