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Daniel Alberto Passarella
Daniel Alberto Passarella
	Passarella holding the FIFA World Cup Trophy after the 1978 final
President of River Plate
	In office; 5 December 2009 – 15 December 2013
Preceded by	José María Aguilar
Succeeded by	Rodolfo D'Onofrio
Personal details
Born	Daniel Alberto Passarella; 25 May 1953 (age 71); Chacabuco, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Occupation	Footballer
Position(s)
Position(s)	Centre-back, sweeper
Senior career*
Years	Team
1971–1973	Sarmiento
1973–1982	River Plate
1982–1986	Fiorentina
1986–1988	Inter Milan
1988–1989	River Plate
Total
International career
1976–1986	Argentina
Managerial career
1989–1994	River Plate
1994–1998	Argentina
1999–2001	Uruguay
2001	Parma
2002–2004	Monterrey
2005	Corinthians
2006–2007	River Plate
Medal record
Men's football
Representing Argentina
FIFA World Cup
Representing Argentina (as manager)
Pan American Games
Olympic Games
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Daniel Alberto Passarella (born 25 May 1953) is an Argentine former footballer and manager, who is considered one of the greatest defenders of all time.^[2]^[3]^[4] As a player for Argentina, he was part of two FIFA World Cup-winning teams; he captained his nation to victory at the 1978 World Cup which Argentina hosted, and was also part of the winning squad in 1986.

Although playing as a centre-back, Passarella was also a proficient goalscorer; at one point, he was football's highest-scoring defender, with 134 goals in 451 matches, a record which was subsequently broken by Dutch player Ronald Koeman.^[5] In 2004, Passarella was named one of the 125 greatest living footballers by Pelé at a FIFA awards ceremony.^[6] In 2007, The Times placed him at 36th in their list of the 50 hardest footballers in history, recalling that he "tackled with the ferocity of the wild bull of the Pampas".^[7] In 2017, he was named as the 56th best player by FourFourTwo in their list of the 100 all-time greatest footballers.^[8] As a manager, he coached the Argentina and Uruguay national teams, among several club sides.

After his playing and coaching career, Passarella also served as the president of River Plate for four years, after winning the elections in December 2009.^[9]

Club career

Passarella was born in Chacabuco, Buenos Aires. He started his career at Sarmiento of Junín, Buenos Aires, in 1971. He played there until 1973, when he joined River Plate. Playing for Los Millonarios, he was constantly starting to be called up to the Argentina national team.

After his good performances at the 1982 World Cup, he joined Serie A side Fiorentina in the summer of 1982. At the Italian club, he scored 11 goals during the 1985–86 season, a record for a defender at the time, although the goal tally was surpassed by Marco Materazzi in the 2000–01 season.^[10]

In 1986, he joined Internazionale, where he ended his Italian playing career in 1988. After his successful spell in the Serie A, he returned to River Plate, where he played until his retirement.

He was called "El Gran Capitán" ('the Great Captain', the nickname of the Argentinian independence hero, José de San Martín),"El Kaiser" (an allusion to German defender Franz Beckenbauer) or "El Caudillo" ('the Chief')^[11] because of his leadership ability, his passion, and his organisational prowess on the field. He was a defender who often joined the attack, and helped generate and finish offensive plays. He was the all-time highest-scoring defender, with 134 goals in 451 matches, a record that was later broken by Dutch player Ronald Koeman.^[5]

His aerial game was effective both defensively and in attack. Despite his average height of 1.73 m, he frequently scored headers. He was also a noted free-kick and penalty specialist. Furthermore, he was known for using elbows against rivals whilst managing to avoid the referee's gaze.

International career

As one of the pillars of the Argentina national football team, he would captain the team during the 1978 World Cup held in Argentina. He was the first Argentine player to hold the World Cup, as it was handed to him first when Argentina won the final. During the qualifying rounds of the 1986 World Cup, Passarella contributed to the goal which ensured Argentina's qualification in the final minutes of their match against Peru by allowing teammate Ricardo Gareca to score.

A bout of enterocolitis caused him to miss the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. He was replaced in the first team by defender José Luis Brown and failed to regain his place after recovering from illness. Passarella had a fractious relationship with captain Diego Maradona and coach Carlos Bilardo during the tournament. He later claimed Bilardo and Maradona made certain that he was sidelined;^[2] although he is the first and so far only player to feature in two Argentina World Cup–winning squads^{[citation needed]}, he did not play any of the matches in 1986, not even as a substitute.

Coaching career

After the end of his playing career, he returned to River Plate as a manager and guided them to three national championships, in 1989–90, 1991 and 1993. Thereafter, Passarella was appointed as the coach of the Argentina national team in 1994, replacing Alfio Basile. He was in charge of the team during the 1998 World Cup qualification campaign and later the competition itself, which was held in France. As the Argentina team head, Passarella had appointed a close friend and a fellow 1978 world champion, Américo Gallego, as his assistant coach. He banned long hair, earrings and homosexuals in the national team, leading to disputes with several players.^[12]^[13] Fernando Redondo and Claudio Caniggia eventually refused to play for Passarella and were excluded from his squad.^[14]

Argentina's performances never reached the expected heights during the 1998 World Cup; the team was eliminated in the quarter-final after a last minute 2–1 defeat to the Netherlands. After the elimination, Passarella left the post and was replaced by compatriot Marcelo Bielsa. Subsequently, Passarella became the manager of the Uruguay national team, the first foreigner to take the job of Uruguay team, but he left the post during the 2002 World Cup qualification process. Afterwards, Passarella had a brief and unsuccessful stint as the coach of Italian side Parma in 2001, where, despite success in the UEFA Cup and Coppa Italia, he was ultimately sacked after losing all of his five matches in the league, with the club sitting in the relegation zone.^[15]

In 2003, he won the Mexican league title with Monterrey. In March 2004, he was named by Pelé as one of the 125 greatest living footballers. He was then hired as coach of Corinthians in Brazil, but was fired after a few months after a spell of bad results.

On 9 January 2006, he was appointed River Plate coach again after 12 years to occupy the vacancy left by Reinaldo Merlo's sudden departure. On 15 November 2007, he resigned as coach after River was beaten by penalties by Arsenal de Sarandí in the semi-final of the 2007 Copa Sudamericana.

In the summer of 2018, after publicly expressing interest in returning he was widely seen as the frontrunner to become the new manager of Monterrey for a second stint after the departure of Antonio Mohamed but the club ultimately decided to appoint Diego Alonso.^[16]

Administrative career

Passarella was elected as president of River Plate in December 2009.^[17] The club was in poor financial shape when Passarella took charge.^[18] River Plate were relegated for the first time in the club's 110-year history in 2011.^[19] Passarella was alleged to have engaged in fraud during his presidency.^[20]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club	Season	League			Cup		Continental		Total
Club	Season	Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Sarmiento	1971^[21]	Primera División C	?	0	—		—		?	0
	1972^[21]	Primera División C	?	0	—		—		?	0
	1973^[21]	Primera División C	36	9	—		—		36	9
	Total		36+	9	0	0	0	0	36+	9
River Plate	1974^[21]	Primera División	22	5	—		—		22	5
	1975^[21]	Primera División	29	9	—		—		29	9
	1976^[21]	Primera División	35	24	—		?	1	35	24
	1977^[21]	Primera División	40	13	—		?	1	40	13
	1978^[21]	Primera División	19	4	—		?	1	19	4
	1979^[21]	Primera División	38	9	—		—		38	9
	1980^[21]	Primera División	41	12	—		?	0	41	12
	1981^[21]	Primera División	42	14	—		?	1	42	14
	Total		266	90	0	0	?	4	266+	94
Fiorentina	1982–83^[21]	Serie A	27	3	5	0	2	0	34	3
	1983–84^[21]	Serie A	27	7	7	1	—		34	8
	1984–85^[21]	Serie A	26	5	6	3	3	1	35	9
	1985–86^[21]	Serie A	29	11	7	4	—		36	15
	Total		109	26	25	8	5	1	139	35
Internazionale	1986–87^[21]	Serie A	23	3	8	4	7	1	38	8
	1987–88^[21]	Serie A	21	6	8	1	6	0	35	7
	Total		44	9	16	5	13	1	73	15
River Plate	1988–89^[21]	Primera División	24	7	—		—		24	7
Career total			479	134	41	13	18+	6	538+	153

International

Three World Cup moments of Passarella as a player for Argentina, (left): Being carried by supporters, holding the FIFA World Cup Trophy, after winning the 1978 final; (middle): jumping to head the ball against Brazil in 1982; (right): pictured with compatriot Diego Maradona in Mexico in 1986

Appearances and goals by national team and year^[22]
National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Argentina	1976	6	2
	1977	7	3
	1978	13	4
	1979	11	5
	1980	9	3
	1981	4	1
	1982	9	3
	1983	0	0
	1984	0	0
	1985	8	1
	1986	3	0
Total		70	22

Scores and results list Argentina's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Passarella goal.^[22]

List of international goals scored by Daniel Passarella
No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	28 October 1976	Lima, Peru	Peru	2–1	3–1	Friendly
2	10 November 1976	José Amalfitani, Buenos Aires, Argentina	Peru	1–0	1–0	Friendly
3	5 June 1977	La Bombonera, Buenos Aires, Argentina	West Germany	1–3	1–3	Friendly
4	18 June 1977	La Bombonera, Buenos Aires, Argentina	Scotland	1–1	1–1	Friendly
5	3 July 1977	La Bombonera, Buenos Aires, Argentina	Yugoslavia	1–0	1–0	Friendly
6	23 March 1978	Nacional, Lima, Peru	Peru	2–0	3–1	Friendly
7	5 April 1978	La Bombonera, Buenos Aires, Argentina	Romania	1–0	2–0	Friendly
8	5 April 1978	La Bombonera, Buenos Aires, Argentina	Romania	2–0	2–0	Friendly
9	6 June 1978	Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina	France	1–0	2–1	1978 FIFA World Cup
10	25 April 1979	Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina	Bulgaria	2–1	2–1	Friendly
11	26 May 1979	Olimpico, Rome, Italy	Italy	2–2	2–2	Friendly
12	8 August 1979	Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina	Bolivia	1–0	3–0	1979 Copa América
13	23 August 1979	Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina	Brazil	1–1	2–2	1979 Copa América
14	16 September 1979	Crvena Zvezda, Belgrade, Yugoslavia	Yugoslavia	1–3	2–4	Friendly
15	13 May 1980	Wembley Stadium, London, England	England	1–2	1–3	Friendly
16	12 October 1980	Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina	Poland	1–0	2–1	Friendly
17	16 December 1980	Olímpico Chateau Carreras, Córdoba, Argentina	Switzerland	5–0	5–0	Friendly
18	28 October 1981	Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina	Poland	1–0	1–2	Friendly
19	5 May 1982	José Amalfitani, Buenos Aires, Argentina	Bulgaria	2–1	2–1	Friendly
20	23 June 1982	José Rico Pérez, Alicante, Spain	El Salvador	1–0	2–0	1982 FIFA World Cup
21	29 June 1982	Sarrià, Barcelona, Spain	Italy	1–2	1–2	1982 FIFA World Cup
22	26 May 1985	Polideportivo de Pueblo Nuevo, San Cristóbal, Venezuela	Venezuela	2–1	3–2	1986 FIFA World Cup qualification