Vicente del Bosque

Vicente del Bosque

Del Bosque at the UEFA Euro 2012 Final
Personal information
Full name	Vicente del Bosque González
Date of birth	23 December 1950
Place of birth	Salamanca, Spain
Height	1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position	Defensive midfielder
Youth career
1966–1968	Salmantino
1968–1969	Real Madrid
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1967–1968	Plus Ultra	11	(5)
1968–1984	Real Madrid	445	(30)
1970–1971	→ Castellón (loan)	13	(4)
1971–1972	→ Córdoba (loan)	19	(1)
1972–1973	→ Castellón (loan)	30	(5)
Total		518	(40)
National team
1969	Spain U18	1	(0)
1970–1976	Spain amateur	3	(0)
1975–1980	Spain	18	(1)
Teams managed
1987–1990	Real Madrid B
1994	Real Madrid
1996	Real Madrid
1999–2003	Real Madrid
2004–2005	Beşiktaş
2008–2016	Spain
Honours  Spain (as manager) Winner FIFA World Cup 2010 Winner European Championship 2012 Runner-up FIFA Confederations Cup 2013
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Vicente del Bosque González, 1st Marquis of Del Bosque (Spanish pronunciation: [biˈθente ðel ˈβoske ɣonˈθaleθ]; born 23 December 1950) is a retired footballer born in Salamanca, Region of León, who most recently managed the Spanish national football team. After taking over from Luis Aragonés – who had led Spain to European success in the 2008 European Championship – Del Bosque went on to lead the national team to win their first-ever World Cup in 2010, and then to retain their European Championship in 2012. Del Bosque coached Real Madrid from 1999 to 2003, which was the most successful period in the club's modern era. Del Bosque is regarded as one of the greatest and most successful managers of all time;^[1] he is to date the only football manager to have won the Champions League, the European Championship, and the World Cup, as well as the Intercontinental Cup.

During his playing career, Del Bosque made over 400 appearances for Real Madrid, winning five La Liga titles and four Copas del Rey. He represented the Spanish national team on 18 occasions.^[2]

Playing career

As a player, Del Bosque was a midfielder who played in La Liga 441 times with 30 goals. This career included spells at Castilla CF, Córdoba, Castellón and Real Madrid. He won five league titles (1974–75, 1975–76, 1977–78, 1978–79, 1979–80) and four Copa del Rey titles (1973–74, 1974–75, 1979–80, 1981–82) with Real Madrid. He also played a European cup final against Liverpool.

Internationally, Del Bosque received 18 caps with the Spanish national team, scoring one goal.^[3] He appeared for Spain at UEFA Euro 1980,^[4] which would be a disappointing time for the Spanish exiting at the group stage of the competition.

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	13 December 1978	El Helmántico, Salamanca, Spain	Cyprus	2–0	5–0	Euro 1980 qualifying

Managerial career

Real Madrid

Del Bosque served at Real Madrid since 1994 and rose through the ranks at the club; however, he only first managed Madrid for a couple of months in 1994 after the sacking of Benito Floro and before the appointment of Jorge Valdano. He would again manage Real for two games in 1996, while he was the youth team coach, after Jorge Valdano was sacked and before Arsenio Iglesias took the job until the end of that season. But in 1999–00, the club management decided to give him the full-time job after difficulties with their coach, John Toshack, with Del Bosque taking over in November 1999.

In his four seasons in charge, Del Bosque ushered the club through its most successful spell in modern history, having steered the club to two UEFA Champions League titles in 2000 and 2002, two domestic La Liga titles in 2001 and 2003, a Spanish Supercup in 2001, a UEFA Super Cup in 2002, the Intercontinental Cup in 2002 as well as finishing in the last four of the UEFA Champions League every year he was in charge. Not since the great Madrid side of the 1950s and 1960s that had Alfredo Di Stéfano and Ferenc Puskás did the club succeed so consistently. Del Bosque was credited with a humble, patient and unassuming style^[5] which saw him manage the club as it underwent a policy during Florentino Pérez's tenure as club President that was known as Los Galácticos, where the world's best and most marketable stars were signed for the club beginning with Luís Figo and including David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo. In the Del Bosque era Real managed 104 wins out of a possible 186 in his time as coach of Madrid.^[5] Despite the level of success, many players – in particular the so-called Galácticos – were bought without the input of Del Bosque amid often made allegations that the Real Madrid hierarchy (in particular Pérez and general manager Jorge Valdano) had more control over transfer policy, team selection and other aspects of club that minimised the level of control Del Bosque had during his time as manager.^[6]

Real Madrid decided not to renew Del Bosque's contract in 2003,^[5] just a day after he won the club its 29th Liga title and a week after the club signed David Beckham. Del Bosque was offered the post of technical director^[7] but turned it down, leading to many suggestions in the Spanish media that there was indeed a much rumoured political split at the club involving Del Bosque and several players, especially captain Fernando Hierro (who was asked to leave the club in the summer of 2003), on one side, while Valdano and Pérez wielded the axe of control to in their words, "shake up the team," on the other. Pérez said in an interview with BBC Sport, "Del Bosque was showing signs of exhaustion. I want to be sincere about this – our belief that he was not the right coach for the future."

The BBC article states: "It is a strange tale from start to finish – how the shy, mustachioed man from Salamanca came to be in charge of the most expensive and talented bunch of footballers in the modern game, won the biggest trophies on offer and then got the boot in favour of a man yet to be named. With the Real superstars, Del Bosque was extremely popular – partly because he was happier to let them get on with it. Cool as a cryogenically-frozen cucumber, he managed to avoid confrontations with his charges, despite the stellar egos in the squad, and never once lost his calm in front of the media."

Since Del Bosque's departure, Real Madrid changed seven coaches in the four-year period since his departure and did not win any major trophies until they won the La Liga title in 2007, under new coach Fabio Capello (who was also sacked afterwards). They had also been defeated in the Round of 16 in the Champions League every year since the 2004–05 season (one year after Del Bosque was sacked), until the 2010–11 Champions League season, which saw Real Madrid defeat Lyon in the Round of 16 under new manager José Mourinho. It would take until Real Madrid had manager Carlo Ancelotti, during the 2013–14 campaign, before the club won another Champions League title.

Beşiktaş and hiatus

After Iñaki Sáez resigned in the wake of a terrible performance at UEFA Euro 2004, which saw Spain having their worst result in the tournament since 1988, Del Bosque was approached as a possible manager of the national side. He was not interested in the job, however, and the job was subsequently given to Luis Aragonés.

With Beşiktaş, Del Bosque arrived in Turkey to much fanfare and hope, but failure to deliver results saw him get the sack towards the tail end of the 2004–05 season.

After Mexico were eliminated by Argentina in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Del Bosque was approached with an offer to become their manager, but declined.

During the 2007 Real Madrid crisis, Del Bosque spoke on the line saying that the departure of Ronaldo was a mistake, and he was one of the candidates to replace Fabio Capello as manager of the team. Bernd Schuster, however, was awarded the job on 9 July 2007.

Spanish national football team

On 11 March 2008, Del Bosque announced that he would replace Luis Aragonés as the coach of the Spanish national team; it was confirmed on 15 July 2008.^[8][9]

Spain under Del Bosque began their 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign successfully, defeating Bosnia and Herzegovina 1–0 with a goal from David Villa. Spain defeated Armenia 4–0 three days later with two goals coming from Villa, and one each from Joan Capdevila and Marcos Senna, with a notable debut from Bojan, coming on as a substitute and defeating rumours that he will swap allegiances to Serbia. This win secured the Spaniards a first place spot in their group with six points. The next round saw Spain defeat Estonia 3–0, then, four days later, beat Belgium 2–1 away — an 88th-minute strike from Villa (his fifth of the campaign) earning them the win. This result maintained their 100% start to the qualifying campaign.

Since Del Bosque was appointed to the job, 38 players have debuted with the Spain team: Bojan, Andoni Iraola, Fernando Llorente, Diego Capel, Sergio Busquets, Jesús Navas, Diego López, Gerard Piqué, Jordi Alba, Pedro, Pablo Hernández, Borja Valero, Bruno, Nacho Monreal, Víctor Valdés, Álvaro Negredo, Juan Mata, Javi Martínez, Thiago, Manu, Aritz Aduriz, Adrián, Juanfran, Beñat, Iker Muniain, Javi García, Álvaro Domínguez, Markel Susaeta, Koke, Marc Bartra, Isco, César Azpilicueta, Iñigo Martínez, Alberto Moreno, Mario Suárez, Michu, Cristian Tello, Diego Costa, Ander Iturraspe, David de Gea and Gerard Deulofeu, while one uncapped player, Fernando Amorebieta, has been called up but failed to debut.

On 9 June 2009, in a friendly against Azerbaijan in which Spain won 6–0, Del Bosque became the first manager in all of football history to win his first ten games as debut manager of a national team, the previous record being nine held by João Saldanha of Brazil. The record currently stands at 13 successive victories, with the last winning match being a 2–0 win against South Africa in the 2009 Confederations Cup, followed by a 2–0 defeat in the semifinal stage of the same competition against United States.

On 14 October 2009, Spain joined the very small number of teams to have won all their World Cup qualifying games in a single campaign, achieving a record-breaking ten wins in ten games.^[10]

In Spain's first game of the 2010 FIFA World Cup on 16 June, they lost 0–1 to Switzerland.^[11] Spain bounced back and won group H by winning the next two games. They faced Portugal in the Round of 16, winning 1–0, and defeated Paraguay in their quarter-final match, again by 1–0. Spain then defeated Germany in the semi-final on 7 July 2010, winning 1–0, allowing them to reach their first ever World Cup final.^[12] In the final against the Netherlands, he led his team to victory after a goal scored in extra time by Andrés Iniesta.^[13]

On 1 July 2012, Del Bosque led Spain to victory at Euro 2012, hosted by Poland and Ukraine.^[14] Spain defeated Italy 4–0 in the final in Kiev to win a second consecutive European championship.^[15]

In the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup held in Brazil, however, Spain advanced to the final, played against Brazil; Spain suffered a heavy 3–0 defeat. A strike from Oscar, Neymar and Fred saw a heavy burden landing on Del Bosque and his type of football tactics he used, tiki-taka.

In the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Del Bosque and his team posted their worst finish in the finals since the World Cup in France in 1998 through being eliminated during the group stage following a 5–1 defeat to the Netherlands and a 2–0 defeat to Chile, despite a 3–0 win over Australia. The heavy opening defeat to the Netherlands marked the first time Spain had conceded 5 or more goals in an international game since a 6–2 defeat to Scotland in 1963, and only the second time they had conceded 5 or more goals in a World Cup game, having done so before in their 6–1 defeat to Brazil in 1950, which incidentally was also held in Brazil. The result was also the biggest margin of defeat by a defending champion at a World Cup. Furthermore, despite a 3–0 win rounding of their campaign following the 2–0 defeat to Chile, Spain's final standing of 23rd out of the 32 entered teams was their worst-ever finish at a World Cup. After this, he announced that he would resign as Spain's manager, but there was no reaction from the RSFF.

Del Bosque has announced his intentions to resign as the Spanish national coach after UEFA Euro 2016.^[16] On 14 June 2015, he reached 100 matches as Spain coach in a UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying win over Belarus in Barysaw.^[17]

At the age of 65 and having achieved everything in the game, Del Bosque announced his retirement from the sport on 30 June 2016.^[18][19][20]

Personal life

Family

Del Bosque is married to María de la Santísima Trinidad "Trini" López, and has three children — two sons and one daughter.^[21]

Honours

Player

Real Madrid

• La Liga (5): 1974–75, 1975–76, 1977–78, 1978–79, 1979–80
• Copa del Rey (4): 1973–74, 1974–75, 1979–80, 1981–82

Manager

Real Madrid

• La Liga (2): 2000–01, 2002–03
• Supercopa de España (1): 2001
• Copa Iberoamericana (1): 1994
• UEFA Champions League (2): 1999–2000, 2001–02
• UEFA Super Cup (1): 2002
• Intercontinental Cup (1): 2002

Spain

• FIFA World Cup (1): 2010
• UEFA European Championship (1): 2012

Individual

• UEFA Club Coach of the Year: 2002^[22]
• IFFHS World's Best Club Coach: 2002
• IFFHS World's Best National Coach (3): 2009, 2010, 2012
• World Manager of the Year: 2012
• FIFA World Coach of the Year: 2012

Personal

• Nobility: Elevated to become 1st Marquis of Del Bosque by His Majesty Juan Carlos I^[23][24]
• Government of Spain: Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Sporting Merit^[25]
• Salamanca Provincial Council: Gold Medal^[26]
• Salamanca City Council: Favourite Son of Salamanca^[27]

Statistics

Managerial

As of match played 27 June 2016.

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Castilla		11 June 1987	25 June 1990	114	42	31	41	144	145	−1	36.84
Real Madrid		7 March 1994	30 June 1994	13	5	2	6	23	22	+1	38.46
Real Madrid		21 January 1996	24 January 1996	1	1	0	0	5	0	+5	100.000
Real Madrid		17 November 1999	23 June 2003	203	113	49	41	461	267	+194	55.67
Beşiktaş		8 June 2004	27 January 2005	25	11	7	7	40	25	+15	44.00
Spain		1 July 2008	30 June 2016	114	87	10	17	254	79	+175	76.32
Total				470	259	99	112	927	538	+389	55.11

See also

• List of Intercontinental Cup winning managers
• Tiki-taka

References

1. "Greatest Managers, No. 11: Del Bosque". Retrieved 7 February 2015.
2. "Del Bosque". Real Madrid Club de Fútbol. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
3. "The only goal scored by Del Bosque with Spain" (in Spanish). Rtve.es. 2010-04-15. Retrieved 2012-07-02.
4. Spanish Squad for Euro 1980, Haisma, Marcel (28 March 2007). "European Championship 1980 (Details)". RSSSF. Retrieved 8 January 2009.
5. "The unluckiest manager ever sacked?". BBC Sport. 24 June 2003. Retrieved 8 January 2009.
6. http://www.davidbruceallen.com/strategyoped/2006/03/real_madrid_a_c.html Archived 14 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
7. "Real ditch Del Bosque". BBC Sport. 24 June 2003. Retrieved 8 January 2009.
8. "Del Bosque gets Spain coach's job". BBC Sport. 17 July 2008. Retrieved 8 January 2009.
9. "Spain appoint Del Bosque". Sky Sports. 17 July 2008. Retrieved 8 January 2009.
10. "Perfect record intact". ESPNsoccernet. ESPN. 17 October 2009. Retrieved 8 July 2010.
11. Sheringham, Sam (16 June 2010). "Spain 0–1 Switzerland". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
12. "Puyol heads Spain into final". ESPNsoccernet. ESPN. 7 July 2010. Retrieved 8 July 2010.
13. "Iniesta sinks Dutch with late strike". ESPNsoccernet. ESPN. 11 July 2010. Retrieved 13 July 2010.
14. "Spain overpowers Italy, 4-0, to win European Championship". Los Angeles Times. 2 July 2012. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
15. "Spain seal their place in history with Italy's destruction". Guardian UK. 2 July 2012. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
16. "Vicente del Bosque to quit managing Spanish National team after Euro 2016.". thefootballcafe.com. 2014-10-17. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
17. "Del Bosque's 100-match Spain reign in numbers". FIFA. 14 June 2015.
18. "Del Bosque se jubila: deja la Selección española y el fútbol" (in Spanish). futbol.as.com. 1 July 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
19. "Spain coach Vicente del Bosque confirms retirement". KickOff. 1 July 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
20. "Vicente del Bosque: Spain manager stepping down after Euro 2016 exit". BBC Sport. 30 June 2016. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
21. «Reportaje: el triunfo del hombre bueno. Del Bosque o la línea recta» elpais.com, 18-7-2010. (in Spanish)
22. "UEFA Awards – Coach of the Year". RSSSF. 21 January 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
23. "Boletín Oficial del Estado" (PDF) (in Spanish). boe.es. 4 February 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
24. "Del Bosque y Vargas Llosa, marqueses" [Del Bosque y Vargas Llosa, Marquis] (in Spanish). 4 February 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
25. "El seleccionador Vicente del Bosque es galardonado con la Gran Cruz".
26. "El seleccionador Vicente del Bosque recibe mañana Medalla de Oro de Salamanca".
27. "Vicente Del Bosque, Hijo Predilecto de Salamanca" [Vicente Del Bosque, Favourite son of Salamanca].

External links

• BDFutbol player profile
• BDFutbol coach profile
• National team data (Spanish)
• Vicente del Bosque at National-Football-Teams.com
• Biography at Real Madrid Fans (Spanish)
• Real Madrid biography (Spanish)