Óscar Tabárez

Óscar Washington Tabárez Silva (born 3 March 1947), known as El Maestro (The Teacher), is a Uruguayan former professional football manager and former player.

After an unassuming career as a player and after working as a primary school teacher, Tabárez embarked on an extensive coaching career which has lasted more than 30 years and included coaching teams in Colombia, Argentina, Italy and Spain.

The victory over South Korea was the first at the World Cup since 1970 and the last until 2010, also with Tabárez as manager.

Tabárez later coached Argentine Primera División giants Boca Juniors for two years.

In 1980, one year after retiring as a player, Tabárez took up coaching at Bella Vista.

There he met José Herrera, who has worked alongside him as physical trainer ever since.

The following year, Tabárez was named manager of the Uruguay under-20 team.

He would coach the side on two occasions.

He managed the team at the Pan American Games, in 1983 in Caracas, where Uruguay won the gold medal, defeating Guatemala in the final.

Tabárez subsequently worked for various clubs in Uruguay, including Danubio, Montevideo Wanderers and Peñarol.

Around this time he first met his current assistant coaches, Mario Rebollo and Celso Otero.

In 1987, Tabárez led Peñarol to its fifth Copa Libertadores title after defeating América de Cali in the tournament final.

He managed the Uruguay national football team from 1988 to 1990, returning to the job for a second time in 2006.

Tabárez also is the fourth-ranked manager with most games at the Copa América with 30, participating in seven tournaments (1989, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2021).

The Copa Libertadores title was fundamental in Tabárez's appointment as manager of the Uruguay senior team, in which the 1989 Copa América, in Brazil, was his first major tournament in charge.

Uruguay finished in second place, eliminating Diego Maradona-led Argentina in the process, losing to hosts Brazil at the Maracanã Stadium.

After four games of qualification, Uruguay qualified for the 1990 FIFA World Cup, held in Italy.

Uruguay reached the round of 16 of the tournament after a draw with Spain, a loss to Belgium and a win against South Korea.

In the round of 16, however, Uruguay was eliminated by hosts Italy.

After 34 games, Tabárez's first stint ended.

In 1994, Tabárez moved to Italy to manage Serie A side Cagliari.

After leading them to a ninth-place finish in 1994–95, Tabárez was hired by Milan.

His spell, however, would only last a few months: after a Supercoppa Italiana defeat against Fiorentina at home at the San Siro, a 2–3 loss at Piacenza for the league cost him his position.

On 7 March 2006, Tabárez took charge of the national team for a second time, and at that time Uruguay had only qualified for 2002 FIFA World Cup since his first spell as manager as they failed to qualify for 1994 FIFA World Cup (losing to Brazil in the last match in their group), 1998 FIFA World Cup (finished 7th in the group stage) and 2006 FIFA World Cup (lost to Australia in the play-off).

Also on the same day he presented the "Proceso de Institucionalización de Selecciones y la Formación de sus Futbolistas" (Process of National Teams' Institutionalization and Players' Growth), which established a "proper way" of work with the national teams (under-15, -18 and -20 and the senior team), reintroducing the 4–3–3 formation and setting time for players in which they can study.

With the help of the Complejo Celeste, the work were facilitated upon the objectives of the Proceso.

Tabárez's first tournament saw Uruguay finish in fourth place at the 2007 Copa América in Venezuela.

In the group stage, Uruguay lost to Peru (3–0), drew with Venezuela (0–0) and defeated Bolivia (1–0).

He led the team to fourth place in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and to victory in the 2011 Copa América.

With Tabárez, Uruguay qualified for four World Cups, reaching the round of 16 twice, the quarterfinals once, and the semi-finals once.

He was replaced by Arrigo Sacchi, and the Rossoneri eventually finished 11th.

Tabárez then worked with Real Oviedo in Spain, with the club eventually only maintaining top division status in the promotion/relegation play-offs against Las Palmas, winning 4–3 on aggregate.

He then returned to Cagliari, being sacked after one draw and three losses.

After two years in Argentina with Vélez Sarsfield and Boca Juniors, Tabárez spent four years away from football management.

In 2012, for his contributions to association football, Tabaréz became the recipient of the FIFA Order of Merit, the highest honour awarded by FIFA.

During his 12-year senior playing career, Tabárez played mainly for modest clubs, representing Sud América, Sportivo Italiano (Argentina), Montevideo Wanderers (at the time when they were the first non traditional team from Uruguay to qualify for Copa Libertadores), Fénix, Puebla in Mexico and Bella Vista.

He retired at age 32.

On 25 March 2016, two and a half weeks after completing ten years as the manager of Uruguay, Tabárez surpassed Francisco Maturana for the head coach with most World Cup qualifying games in South America with 47, with the singularity that he has only managed Uruguay.

As of 29 March 2016, 10 of the 11-most capped players for Uruguay have been part of the Proceso.

In October 2017 Tabárez qualified Uruguay for a fourth time; reaching the 5th position at the 2018 World Cup tournament.