Jorge Sampaoli

Jorge Luis Sampaoli Moya (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈxorxe sampaˈoli]; born 13 March 1960) is a football manager. He is currently the manager of Sevilla. Sampaoli started out as a youth player and eventually switched to management due to a severe injury. Sampaoli started with an impressive managerial period at Coronel Bolognesi in 2004, and continued with brief but successful periods at O'Higgins and Emelec.

Sampaoli earned plaudits as a head coach with Universidad de Chile, winning three league titles and the Copa Sudamericana championship. This success led him to coach the Chilean men's national team in 2012, replacing Claudio Borghi. He led the Chilean national football team to their first Copa América title, after defeating Argentina in the final in the 2015 edition in Chile. He is well known for his attacking tactics, similar to those of Marcelo Bielsa according to the press and fans alike.

On 28 June 2016, Sampaoli signed a two-year contract with Sevilla.

He was born in Casilda, a small town located in Caseros Department of the Santa Fe Province. In his youth, Sampaoli was very passionate about football, playing for amateur sides in his hometown league, and then joining the Newell's Old Boys youth ranks, where he suffered a tibia and fibula injury in 1979, forcing his retirement at the age of 19.

First hit at Peru

In January 2002, Sampaoli was contacted by the Peruvian club Juan Aurich, after four seasons at Primera B Metropolitana with Argentino. He finally signed up with the club of Chiclayo in Primera División, being that the first professional club in his career. On February 24, he directed his first professional game against Universitario (country's powerhouse club), where he lost 2–1 after being winning the whole game due to a Penalty kick well scored by Carlos Flores (66th' minute), when the striker and his compatriot Martín Vilallonga due to another penalty tied the game (88th' minute). Finally, the mythical and experienced midfielder José del Solar set up his side at 92nd' minute. However, Sampaoli had a poor spell in Juan Aurich, directing only eight games, where five were lost and two were tied with Coopsol Trujillo and Alianza Lima, only winning against Cienciano 2–0 with goals of César Sánchez and Carlos Flores. Sampaoli left the club in May, when Aurich was sitting at the bottom of the table. Months later, in June, he was hired by Sport Boys to direct the team in the Torneo Descentralizado, debuting with a 2–0 victory over Coronel Bolognesi, finishing sixth in the tournament, with important triumphs over Alianza (1–0 with a goal of Alfredo Carmona) and Universitario (2–0 with scores of Paolo de la Haza and Carmona again at Estadio Monumental). Then, in 2004, he was hired by Tacna side Coronel Bolognesi. There, he had an irregular start, but soon managed to settle as a strong team in the Peruvian 2005's Descentralizado, finishing 5th in the Apertura, and then managed to finish 3rd in that same year's Clausura, taking the club to their first international competition when Bolo qualified to a preliminar stage of the 2006's Copa Sudamericana, being eliminated by Chilean side and eventual finalists Colo-Colo. He then returned to the Peruvian side to compete in the 2006's Clausura as well as in the Sudamericana, finishing 3rd in the national league. In 2007, he was hired as the head coach of Sporting Cristal. However, it turned out to be a disappointing year after 17 matches and only 4 wins. At the end of the year Sampaoli got dismissed from the "Celestes", thus ending his Peruvian journey.

Spells in Chile and Ecuador

Towards the end of 2007 Sampaoli arrived to Chile to take charge of O'Higgins. In 2008, the team proved to be a tough nut to crack for bigger Chilean teams, finishing 3rd in that year's Apertura. They were eliminated by powerhouse Universidad de Chile in the playoff quarterfinals. The next year turned out to be a tough year for Sampaoli, as "La Celeste" had an irregular campaign, where they finished in 8th place, and, despite qualifying to the 2009's Apertura Playoffs, ended up being thrashed 6-1 in the second leg of the quarterfinals by Santiago side Unión Española. Sampaoli was fired in August 2009.

In 2010, Emelec got in contact with Sampaoli and asked him for his managerial duties, thus competing in the 2010 Copa Libertadores, being eliminated in the group stage, but had an impressive run in the local competition, finishing 1st in the 2010's tournament first stage, which earned them a spot in the next 2010 Copa Sudamericana and 2011 Copa Libertadores preliminary stage. That year, Emelec faced Liga de Quito, who had reached 1st place in that year's second half, but ended up losing it.

Chile

On 3 December 2012 Chile's Asociación Nacional de Fútbol Profesional announced that Sampaoli would take over as manager of the national team after a successful run with Universidad de Chile where he helped the club win three league titles and the 2011 Copa Sudamericana.

Sampaoli's arrival has brought about a turnaround in performances and results, with Chile winning three of their first four World Cup qualifiers after his appointment. Under Sampaoli, Chile returned to the energetic, high-pressing game of Marcelo Bielsa, the Argentinian coach upon whose philosophy Sampaoli's is predicated.

In 2015, Jorge Sampaoli led Chile to victory in the Copa America on home soil.

On 30 November, he was named on the final three-man shortlist for the 2015 FIFA World Coach of the Year award, joined by Spaniards Pep Guardiola (Bayern Munich) and Luis Enrique (Barcelona).

On 19 January 2016, he resigned as manager of Chile.

Sevilla

On 27 June 2016, La Liga club Sevilla announced that Sampaoli would take over Sevilla on a two-year deal.On 15 January 2017, Sampaoli's Sevilla beat Zinedine Zidane's Real Madrid by a score of 2-1. This would end Los Blancos' 40-match unbeaten streak in all competitions, and see Sevilla overtake reigning champions Barcelona in the table as they jumped to 2nd.

Argentina

On May 20 2017, the Argentine Football Association announced that Sampaoli would take over Argentina National Team.

Club

• Torneo Apertura (2): 2011, 2012
• Torneo Clausura: 2011
• Copa Sudamericana: 2011

International

• Copa América: 2015

Individual

• Copa América Team of the Tournament (Manager): 2015
• South American Coach of the Year: 2015
• La Liga Manager of the Month: October 2016