Jorge Valdano facts for kids
Valdano in 2018
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Jorge Alberto Francisco Valdano Castellanos | |||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 4 October 1955 | |||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Las Parejas, Argentina | |||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.88 m | |||||||||||||||
| Playing position | Forward | |||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† | |||||||||||||
| 1973–1975 | Newell's Old Boys | 46 | (11) | |||||||||||||
| 1975–1979 | Alavés | 105 | (20) | |||||||||||||
| 1979–1984 | Real Zaragoza | 143 | (46) | |||||||||||||
| 1984–1987 | Real Madrid | 85 | (40) | |||||||||||||
| Total | 379 | (117) | ||||||||||||||
| National team | ||||||||||||||||
| 1975–1990 | Argentina | 23 | (7) | |||||||||||||
| Teams managed | ||||||||||||||||
| 1991–1992 | Real Madrid (youth) | |||||||||||||||
| 1992–1994 | Tenerife | |||||||||||||||
| 1994–1996 | Real Madrid | |||||||||||||||
| 1996–1997 | Valencia | |||||||||||||||
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Honours
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Jorge Alberto Francisco Valdano Castellanos (born on October 4, 1955) is a famous Argentine football player and coach. He also used to be the general manager for the big club Real Madrid. Today, he works as a football commentator for beIN Sports. People often call him "The Philosopher of Football" because he thinks deeply about the game. He played as a forward, which means he was an attacking player who scored goals.
Valdano was a key player for the Argentina national team. He played in the 1975 Copa América and two FIFA World Cups, in 1982 and 1986. Argentina won the World Cup in 1986, and Valdano played a huge part in that victory. He scored four goals in the tournament. One of his most important goals was Argentina's second goal against West Germany in the final match. In total, he played 23 games for his country between 1975 and 1990, scoring seven goals.
He started his club career with Newell's Old Boys, then played for Alavés and Real Zaragoza. But his most successful time was with Real Madrid. There, he won the Spanish league title, La Liga, two times. He also won the Copa de la Liga and two UEFA Cups. After retiring as a player, Valdano became a coach for Spanish teams like Tenerife, Real Madrid, and Valencia. He is known for his ideas about leadership in sports, and he often shares these ideas at big events.
Contents
Playing Football: Valdano's Career as a Player
Starting Out in Club Football
Jorge Valdano began his football journey at age 16 with Newell's Old Boys in Rosario, Argentina. He started playing professionally for them in 1972. He also began playing for the Argentina national team around this time.
In 1975, Valdano moved to Spain to play for Alavés. This team was in the Segunda División, which is Spain's second-highest football league. He played there until 1979. Then, he moved to Real Zaragoza, a team in the top Spanish league, Primera División. In 1984, he joined Real Madrid. At Real Madrid, he was part of a famous group of players known as the Quinta del Buitre. He helped Real Madrid win the UEFA Cup in both 1985 and 1986. He even scored a goal in the 1985 final and two goals in the 1986 final.
Sadly, Valdano had to stop playing football in 1988 because of a health issue called hepatitis. After that, he became a sports commentator, sharing his knowledge of the game.
Playing for Argentina: International Matches
Valdano played 23 matches for the Argentina national team between 1975 and 1990. He scored seven goals for his country. Four of these goals came during the 1986 FIFA World Cup. One of his most memorable goals was against West Germany in the final, which Argentina won.
Besides the 1986 World Cup win, he also played in the 1975 Copa América. He was part of the 1982 World Cup team too. However, he got injured in Argentina's second game against Hungary and missed most of that tournament.
Valdano's Career as a Manager
Valdano started his coaching career with the youth team at Real Madrid. In April 1992, he became the main coach for Tenerife. He helped Tenerife avoid being moved down to a lower league in his first season. The next season, he even helped them qualify for the UEFA Cup. He also led Tenerife to win games against his old club, Real Madrid, which stopped Real Madrid from winning the La Liga title twice!
In 1994, he returned to Real Madrid, this time as their head coach. He led them to win the La Liga title in the 1994–95 season.
After Real Madrid, he coached Valencia in the 1996–97 season. Later, he became Real Madrid's sporting director until 2005. In 2009, he came back to Real Madrid as a director general. However, he left this role in 2011 because he had disagreements with the coach at the time, José Mourinho.
Personal Life and Books
Jorge Valdano is also a writer. He wrote a book called Sueños de fútbol, which means "Dreams of football." He also helped put together another book called Cuentos de fútbol, or "Football short stories," which features stories by different authors.
Interestingly, Raúl, who was a famous captain for Real Madrid, named his first son after Valdano. This shows how much respect Raúl had for him.
Career Statistics
Club
| Club | Season | League | National Cup | Continental | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Newell's Old Boys | 1973 | Primera División | 2 | 1 | – | – | – | 2 | 1 | |||
| 1974 | 19 | 4 | – | – | – | 19 | 4 | |||||
| 1975 | 25 | 6 | – | 4 | 3 | – | 29 | 9 | ||||
| Total | 46 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 50 | 14 | ||
| Alavés | 1975–76 | Segunda División | 24 | 3 | 0 | 0 | – | 2 | 1 | 26 | 4 | |
| 1976–77 | 30 | 8 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 30 | 8 | ||||
| 1977–78 | 26 | 4 | 8 | 1 | – | – | 34 | 5 | ||||
| 1978–79 | 25 | 5 | 6 | 0 | – | – | 31 | 5 | ||||
| Total | 105 | 20 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 121 | 22 | ||
| Real Zaragoza | 1979–80 | La Liga | 34 | 9 | 6 | 4 | – | – | 40 | 13 | ||
| 1980–81 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 17 | 3 | ||||
| 1981–82 | 29 | 9 | 9 | 9 | – | – | 38 | 18 | ||||
| 1982–83 | 34 | 17 | 4 | 3 | – | 6 | 4 | 44 | 24 | |||
| 1983–84 | 29 | 8 | 4 | 5 | – | – | 33 | 13 | ||||
| Total | 143 | 46 | 23 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 172 | 71 | ||
| Real Madrid | 1984–85 | La Liga | 26 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 40 | 23 |
| 1985–86 | 32 | 16 | 4 | 1 | 11 | 7 | – | 47 | 24 | |||
| 1986–87 | 27 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 | – | 33 | 9 | |||
| Total | 85 | 40 | 8 | 2 | 25 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 120 | 56 | ||
| Career total | 379 | 117 | 45 | 24 | 29 | 15 | 10 | 7 | 463 | 163 | ||
International
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | 1975 | 2 | 2 |
| 1982 | 5 | 0 | |
| 1985 | 5 | 1 | |
| 1986 | 8 | 4 | |
| 1987 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1990 | 2 | 0 | |
| Total | 23 | 7 | |
- Scores and results list Argentina's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Valdano goal.
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 18 July 1975 | Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay |  Uruguay |
– | 3–2 | Friendly | |
| 2 | – | ||||||
| 3 | 16 June 1985 | Estadio Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina |  Colombia |
1–0 | 1–0 | 1986 FIFA World Cup qualification | |
| 4 | 2 June 1986 | Estadio Olímpico Universitario, Mexico City, Mexico |  South Korea |
1–0 | 3–1 | 1986 FIFA World Cup | |
| 5 | 3–0 | ||||||
| 6 | 10 June 1986 | Estadio Olímpico Universitario, Mexico City, Mexico |  Bulgaria |
1–0 | 2–0 | 1986 FIFA World Cup | |
| 7 | 29 June 1986 | Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, Mexico |  West Germany |
2–0 | 3–2 | 1986 FIFA World Cup |
Managerial Statistics
| Team | From | To | Record | Ref. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| Tenerife | 13 April 1992 | 30 June 1994 | 96 | 40 | 26 | 30 | 41.7 | |
| Real Madrid | 1 July 1994 | 22 January 1996 | 78 | 39 | 17 | 22 | 50.0 | |
| Valencia | 25 November 1996 | 15 September 1997 | 36 | 11 | 11 | 14 | 30.6 | |
| Total | 210 | 90 | 54 | 66 | 42.9 | |||
Honours and Awards
As a Player
Newell's Old Boys
Real Madrid
Argentina Youth Team
- Toulon Tournament: 1975
Argentina National Team
Individual Awards
- Copa del Rey Top Scorer: 1981-82
- La Liga Foreign Player of the Year: 1985–86
As a Manager
Real Madrid
- La Liga: 1994–95
See also
In Spanish: Jorge Valdano para niños
