27 Facts About Ricardo Gareca

Ricardo Gareca is the current manager of the Chile national team.

Ricardo Gareca had a successful experience in Colombia with America de Cali, winning two league titles and being runner-up of three Copa Libertadores.

Ricardo Gareca has won four league titles in Argentina ; as well as a second division championship and a Copa CONMEBOL with Talleres de Cordoba.

Ricardo 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 1985, Ricardo Gareca earned the eternal hatred of many Boca fans for transferring directly to their fiercest rivals, River Plate, along with Oscar Ruggeri.

Ricardo Gareca won two league titles with America, in 1985 and 1986.

Ricardo Gareca had the misfortune of being on the losing side of the Copa Libertadores final three times in a row.

Ricardo Gareca was the top scorer of the 1987 edition, with 7 goals.

In 1989, Ricardo Gareca returned to Argentina, where he played for Velez Sarsfield until 1992.

Ricardo Gareca made his debut for the Argentina national team in 1981, playing against Poland.

Ricardo Gareca went on to play 20 caps for his country, scoring 5 goals, including one against the team he would eventually go to coach, Peru, which eliminated the Peruvians from reaching the 1986 FIFA World Cup and had costed Peru into a World Cup drought for 36 years.

In 2000, Ricardo Gareca joined Colon de Santa Fe, but soon returned to Talleres for a third spell with the club.

Ricardo Gareca then teamed up with former teammate Oscar Ruggeri in 2004 to work as his field assistant at Elche in Spain.

Ricardo Gareca returned to Argentina in 2009 to become manager of Velez Sarsfield.

Ricardo Gareca won his third league title with Velez in 2012, helping the team obtain the 2012 Inicial.

On 21 May 2014, Ricardo Gareca was announced as the new manager of Brazilian side Palmeiras, signing a contract until June 2015.

In February 2015, Ricardo Gareca was named the manager for the Peruvian national team.

Peru's first match under Ricardo Gareca however, was a friendly defeat to Venezuela, and the pressure increased.

However, Ricardo Gareca turned the struggling Peruvians around and led them to the semi-finals of the competition and eventually occupied third place.

Ricardo Gareca then led Peru in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, but his journey was extremely rocky.

Interestingly, Ricardo Gareca shared a coincidence record with another late player and manager, Didi Pereira, who was responsible for eliminating Peru from the 1958 FIFA World Cup before rebuilding the same team to qualify for its most successful World Cup in 1970.

Between the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, Ricardo Gareca's Peru participated in the Copa America Centenario held in the United States, where the team produced a successful performance, including a famous win over powerhouse Brazil, albeit in a controversial style.

Ricardo Gareca's Peru were then eliminated by Colombia on penalty kicks in the quarter-finals.

Ricardo Gareca was unable to reach an agreement with the federation and consequently he resigned as coach of the Peruvian national team.

Ricardo Gareca has been linked to a potential coaching position for Mexico, after this country's elimination from the group stage of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

In March 2023, Ricardo Gareca returned to Velez Sarsfield, until December 2023.

On 24 January 2024 Ricardo Gareca became the manager of the Chile national team.