Ricardo Gareca

Club

Gareca started his professional career in 1978 with Boca Juniors, where he only played 16 games in his first three years with the club. In 1981, he was loaned out to Sarmiento for the 1981 Metropolitano, but he returned to Boca for the Nacional where he played alongside Diego Maradona, scoring 8 goals in the championship. In 1985, Gareca earned the eternal hatred of many Boca fans for transferring directly to their fiercest rivals, River Plate, along with Oscar Ruggeri. However, unlike Ruggeri, his time with River was short, and the fans started losing that hatred, as he soon joined Colombian team América de Cali later in 1985. Gareca won two league titles with América, in 1985 and 1986. He also had the misfortune of being on the losing side of the Copa Libertadores final three times in a row (1985, 1986 and 1987). He was also the top scorer of the 1987 edition, with 7 goals. During his time at América, Gareca was almost assassinated by Pablo Escobar. In 1989, Gareca returned to Argentina, where he played for Vélez Sársfield until 1992. In 1993, he joined Independiente for the last years of his career, making him one of a select band of players to have played for four of the most successful teams in Argentine football. While playing for Independiente he also won his first Argentine Primera División title, in the 1994 Clausura. Shortly after winning the league title, he officially retired.

National team

Gareca made his debut for the Argentina national…

Early career in Argentina

Gareca started his managerial career with San Martin de Tucuman in 1995 Talleres in 1996. In 1997, he left the club to take over at Independiente, but results were not forthcoming and he returned to Talleres later that year. Gareca led Talleres to the Primera B Nacional (Argentine second division) championship in 1997–98, which earned them promotion to the Primera División. In 1999, he led them to their first major title, the Copa CONMEBOL, making them the first team in Argentina from outside the Buenos Aires and Santa Fe provinces to win an international competition. In 2000, Gareca joined Colón de Santa Fe, but soon returned to Talleres for a third spell with the club. In 2002, the former forward took over at Quilmes in the second division, and then in 2003 he became manager of Argentinos Juniors. Having led Argentinos to the brink of promotion, the club faced a playoff against Gareca's former team Quilmes, which they lost, missing out on promotion.

Elche, América de Cali, Santa Fe, returning to Talleres and Universitario

Gareca then teamed up with former teammate Oscar Ruggeri in 2004 to work as his field assistant at Elche in Spain. In 2005, he became manager of his former club, América de Cali, followed by a spell in charge of Independiente Santa Fe, both in Colombia. In 2006, he returned for a fourth spell with Talleres, but couldn't prevent them from struggling in the Argentine second division. In October 2007, he became the…

Gareca is a practising Roman Catholic.

Player

América de Cali

Primera A: 1985, 1986 Copa Libertadores runner-up: 1986 Independiente

Primera División: 1994 Clausura Supercopa Libertadores: 1994

Manager

Talleres

Primera B Nacional: 1997–98 Copa CONMEBOL: 1999 Universitario

Torneo Apertura: 2008 Vélez Sarsfield

Primera División: 2009 Clausura, 2011 Clausura, 2012 Inicial, 2012–13 Peru

Copa América runner-up: 2019; third-place: 2015