Daniel Passarella

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. In 2004, Passarella was named one of the 125 greatest living footballers by Pelé at a FIFA awards ceremony. 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". In 2017, he was named as the 56th best player by FourFourTwo in their list of the 100 all-time greatest footballers. 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.

Club career

thumb|left|150px|Passarella playing for River Plate, 1981

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.

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') 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. 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; he did not play any of the matches in 1986, not even as a substitute. Fernando Redondo and Claudio Caniggia, two of the most talented Argentine players of that generation, eventually refused to play for Passarella and were excluded from his squad.

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.

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.

Administrative career

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

Career statistics

Club

thumb|150px|Passarella with [[Diego Maradona in May 1985]]

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

|+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

!rowspan="2"|Club

!rowspan="2"|Season

!colspan="3"|League

!colspan="2"|Cup

!colspan="2"|Continental

!colspan="2"|Total

! Division !! Apps !! Goals !! Apps !! Goals !! Apps !! Goals !! Apps !! Goals

| rowspan="4" |Sarmiento

| 1971

| Primera División C ||? || 0 || colspan="2" | —|| colspan="2" | —||? ||0

| 1972

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|+ List of international goals scored by Daniel Passarella

!scope="col"|No.

!scope="col"|Date

!scope="col"|Venue

!scope="col"|Opponent

!scope="col"|Score

!scope="col"|Result

!scope="col"|Competition

| align="center"|1 || 28 October 1976 || Lima, Peru || || align="center"|2–1 || align="center"|3–1 || Friendly

| align="center"|2 || 10 November 1976 || José Amalfitani, Buenos Aires, Argentina || || align="center"|1–0 || align="center"|1–0 || Friendly

| align="center"|3 || 5 June 1977 || La Bombonera, Buenos Aires, Argentina || || align="center"|1–3 || align="center"|1–3 || Friendly

| align="center"|4 || 18 June 1977 || La Bombonera, Buenos Aires, Argentina || || align="center"|1–1 || align="center"|1–1 || Friendly

| align="center"|5 || 3 July 1977 || La Bombonera, Buenos Aires, Argentina || || align="center"|1–0 || align="center"|1–0 || Friendly

| align="center"|6 || 23 March 1978 || Nacional, Lima, Peru || || align="center"|2–0 || align="center"|3–1 || Friendly

| align="center"|7 || rowspan="2"|5 April 1978 || rowspan="2"|La Bombonera, Buenos Aires, Argentina || rowspan="2"| || align="center"|1–0 || rowspan="2" align="center"|2–0 || rowspan="2"|Friendly

| align="center"|8 || align="center"|2–0

| align="center"|9 || 6 June 1978 || Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina || || align="center"|1–0 || align="center"|2–1 || 1978 FIFA World Cup

| align="center"|10 || 25 April 1979 || Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina || || align="center"|2–1 || align="center"|2–1 || Friendly

| align="center"|11 || 26 May 1979 || Olimpico, Rome, Italy || || align="center"|2–2 || align="center"|2–2 || Friendly

| align="center"|12 || 8 August 1979 || Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina || || align="center"|1–0 || align="center"|3–0 || 1979 Copa América

| align="center"|13 || 23 August 1979 || Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina || || align="center"|1–1 || align="center"|2–2 || 1979 Copa América

| align="center"|14 || 16 September 1979 || Crvena Zvezda, Belgrade, Yugoslavia || || align="center"|1–3 || align="center"|2–4 || Friendly

| align="center"|15 || 13 May 1980 || Wembley Stadium, London, England || || align="center"|1–2 || align="center"|1–3 || Friendly

| align="center"|16 || 12 October 1980 || Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina || || align="center"|1–0 || align="center"|2–1 || Friendly

| align="center"|17 || 16 December 1980 || Olímpico Chateau Carreras, Córdoba, Argentina || || align="center"|5–0 || align="center"|5–0 || Friendly

| align="center"|18 || 28 October 1981 || Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina || || align="center"|1–0 || align="center"|1–2 || Friendly

| align="center"|19 || 5 May 1982 || José Amalfitani, Buenos Aires, Argentina || || align="center"|2–1 || align="center"|2–1 || Friendly

| align="center"|20 || 23 June 1982 || José Rico Pérez, Alicante, Spain || || align="center"|1–0 || align="center"|2–0 || 1982 FIFA World Cup

| align="center"|21 || 29 June 1982 || Sarrià, Barcelona, Spain || || align="center"|1–2 || align="center"|1–2 || 1982 FIFA World Cup

| align="center"|22 || 26 May 1985 || Polideportivo de Pueblo Nuevo, San Cristóbal, Venezuela || || align="center"|2–1 || align="center"|3–2 || 1986 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

Player

River Plate

Primera División (7): 1975 Metropolitano, 1975 Nacional, 1977 Metropolitano, 1979 Metropolitano, 1979 Nacional, 1980 Metropolitano, 1981 Nacional
Copa Libertadores Runner-up: 1976

Argentina Youth

Toulon Tournament: 1975

Argentina

FIFA World Cup: 1978
FIFA World Cup: 1986

Individual

Argentine Footballer of the Year: 1976
FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1978
World Soccer World XI: 1982, 1983
Serie A Team of The Year: 1984
FIFA 100: 2004
Golden Foot Legends Award: 2015
AFA Team of All Time (published 2015)
World Soccer: The 100 Greatest Footballers of All Time
Fiorentina All-time XI
IFFHS All-time Men's B Dream Team: 2021
IFFHS South America Men's Team of All Time: 2021
IFFHS Argentina All Times Dream Team: 2021

Manager

River Plate

Primera División: 1989–90, Apertura 1991, Apertura 1993
Supercopa Libertadores runner-up: 1991

Monterrey

Mexican Primera División: Clausura 2003

Argentina

Pan American Games Gold Medal: 1995
Olympic Games Silver Medal: 1996

Individual

South American Coach of the Year: 1997

President

River Plate

Primera B Nacional: 2011–12

References

External links

Biography at Planetworldcup.com
IFFHS Top Division Goal Scorers of all time among defensive players
Comprehensive season stats at RSSSF
Profile and Statistics at Futbolistasblogspotcom.blogspot.com