World Cup Guide: Tabarez, the man who revived Uruguayan football

CAIRO – 5 February 2018: The World Cup draw puts Egypt in Group A, alongside with its neighbors, Saudi Arabia, the hosts, Russia and the South American giants, Uruguay. Egypt will open their participation against the South American team.

Uruguayan fans trust their biggest stars: Luis Suarez, Edinson Cavani, Diego Godin and Cristhian Stuani to achieve their dreams at the World Cup as they put their faith in Oscar Tabarez, who will manage the national team in the tournament.

Tabarez dedicated his life to the game he has a great passion for, and he became one of football’s globally historic icons for what he achieved throughout his long journey with the game.

He did not have a great success as a footballer, despite playing at professional level for 12 years and representing six clubs. He had two spells abroad in Mexico and Argentina, but Oscar knew he had another field to shine in.




Tabarez retired at 32 and he started his new career as a coach at the same place where he put an end to his playing career at one of the capital clubs, Bella Vista.

The Uruguayan football Association witnessed Tabarez’s impact at Bella Vista, so they put him in charge of the Uruguayan U20 team that travelled to Caracas, Venezuela for the PAN American games in 1983.

Tabarez returned to Uruguay with the Gold Medal for the first time in the country’s history, and it was his first success as a manager.

After 4 years of managing small teams like Danubio Montevideo Wanderers, Tabarez’s chance to manage a big team came in 1987 when he was appointed the new manager at the Uruguayan giants, Peñarol.

Tabarez had an amazing season with Peñarol that ended with achieving the team achieving their fifth Copa Libertadores title, defeating Colombia’s America de Cali at the final.




After defeating America de Cali, their local rivals, Deportivo de Cali appointed him as their new manager but he failed to find the same success.

At this time the Uruguayan football Association offered him his childhood dream job, the national team manager and the player accepted their offer to manage the national team at 1989 Copa America in Brazil.

Tabarez led the team to the tournament final, but they failed to defend their 1987 title losing the final 1-0 to Brazil.

Despite the loss, Tabarez continued as the national team manager to lead them in Italy’s 1990 World Cup. He led the team to round of 16 but they lost to the host, Italy, to get eliminated so Tabarez decided to return to manage on club levels.

Tabarez signed for Argentina’s giants, Boca Juniors. He also won the Argentina League and the Supercopa Masters in his two years with the club.




Tabarez spent the following years coaching in Europe with Caligari, Milan in Italy and Oviedo in Spain before returning again to South America in 2001 to manage Argentina’s Velez Sársfield and Boca Juniors.

In 2002, Tabarez decided to take a break from football. The break continued four years and everyone expected his story with the game to come to an end.

However, in 2006, after the national team failed to reach the World Cup in Germany, he received an offer to manage the national team.

Tabarez became in charge of reviving Uruguayan football and established a system that was behind the national team’s recent successes.

With the exception of Diego Godin, Maxi Pereira and Cristian Rodríguez, all the national team players earned their debut with the national team under Tabarez’s command, and they look to him as their godfather in football.




Tabarez regained the Uruguayan national team’s reputation and four years of his appointment. His efforts paid off as he led the national team to the 2010 World Cup semi-finals and the 2011 Copa America title that was missed since 1995. Tabarez was named South American Coach of the Year in 2010 and 2011.




Tabarez believes that wearing the Uruguayan the national team jersey is the proudest thing to happen to any player, and he passed his passion for the team to his players who always do their best to make their country and manager proud.