Uruguay have chosen their new manager after dismissing Diego Alonso following the 2022 World Cup, opting to bring Marcelo Bielsa. The former Leeds United boss was close to a move back to La Liga last summer, but will take over the Celeste for the next three years until the end of the 2026 World Cup.
Bielsa had been out of a job since his sacking in early 2022 at Leeds, although would have been Athletic Club manager had Inaki Arechabaleta won the elections in Bilbao last summer. As it was, Ernesto Valverde returned to the role under Jon Uriarte.
‘El Profe’ has plenty of experience in international management, following spells with his native Argentina and Chile at the beginning of the 21st century. Bielsa, as he tends to do, will no doubt look to impose a style and culture in Uruguay. The Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) announced it with a video welcoming Bielsa, with the words spelled out in training equipment.
🇺🇾 “𝐄𝐥 𝐩𝐮́𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐚 𝐣𝐮𝐞𝐠𝐨 𝐲 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬”
Llegó la hora. #ElEquipoQueNosUne pic.twitter.com/4HQPlXF5ly
— Selección Uruguaya (@Uruguay) May 15, 2023
Their slogan to go with was ‘the public demands play and emotions’, which Bielsa is famous for bringing to every team he takes charge of.
Alonso, his predecessor, had the unenviable task of replacing Oscar Tabarez, who was in charge for 15 years before him. Tabarez revolutionised football in Uruguay, implementing a system that would go from the senior national side to the earliest stages of youth football. That system has been successful over the last two decades, and Bielsa will have to work out a way of gelling with the values instilled in Uruguayan football.
