Gabriel Calderón

For the Spanish football manager, seeGabriel Calderón (football manager, born 1986).

Gabriel Calderón

Calderón managing in 2019
Personal information
Full name	Gabriel Humberto Calderón
Date of birth	(1960-02-07)7 February 1960
Place of birth	Rawson,Argentina
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Khor Fakkan
Youth career
1974–1976	El Porvenir
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1976–1977	El Porvenir	25	(3)
1977–1981	Racing Club	113	(16)
1978	→Lanús(loan)	24	(0)
1981–1983	Independiente	74	(15)
1983–1987	Real Betis	131	(38)
1987–1990	Paris Saint-Germain	102	(20)
1990–1992	Sion	47	(17)
1992–1993	Caen	36	(2)
1993–1994	Lausanne Sports	31	(5)
Total		583	(116)
International career
1977–1981	Argentina U21	20	(5)
1981–1990	Argentina	23	(1)
Managerial career
1997–2000	Stade Malherbe Caen
2003	Lausanne Sport
2004–2005	Saudi Arabia
2007–2008	Oman
2008–2010	Al-Ittihad
2010–2011	Al-Hilal
2011–2012	Baniyas
2012–2013	Bahrain
2014	Real Betis
2014–2016	Al-Wasl
2017	Qatar SC
2019–2020	Persepolis
2022	Khor Fakkan
Medal record Men'sfootball RepresentingArgentina FIFA U-20 World Cup Winner 1979 Japan FIFA World Cup Runner-up 1990 Italy
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Gabriel Humberto Calderón(born 7 February 1960) is an Argentinian professionalfootball managerand formerplayer,who is currently the manager ofUAE Pro Leagueside,Khor Fakkan Club.

Calderón played in several teams including Argentine Racing Club de Avellaneda and Club Atlético Independiente,SpanishReal Betis andFrenchParis Saint-Germain.He was part of theArgentina Under-20team that won the 1979FIFA World Youth Championship.After his retirement, he managed Caen, Lausanne Sports and several teams in the Middle East including the Saudi Arabia national team, Omani national team,Al-Ittihad,Al-Hilal, Baniyas, Bahrain national team, Al-Wasl, Qatar SC andKhor Fakkan Club.

Playing career

Calderón playing for Independiente in 1983

Calderón was born on 7 February 1960 in Rawson,Chubut Province.He began his football career in withClub El PorvenirB team in 1974 and was promoted to the original squad in 1976.

He was promoted to the El Porvenir original team in 1976 and was transferred to the Racing Club de Avellaneda in the next year after good showing and played three seasons and a half season at Club Atlético Lanús as loan.

Then, he played for Club Atlético Independiente for two seasons before moving to La Liga side, Real Betis. He played for Betis 131 times and scored 38 goals for them. In 1987, he moved to Ligue 1 Paris Saint-Germain and played for the club three seasons. He was one of the key players of PSG in his second season at the club. In 1990, he joined to FC Sion but returned to France to play for Stade Malherbe Caen in 1992. He moved back to Switzerland next year and finished his football career inFC Lausanne-Sportin 1994 at the age of 34.

International career

Calderón played for the Argentina Under-20 team and won the 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship. In 1981, he was invited to the national team by coachCésar Luis Menotti.He made his debut in a match againstBraziland scored his only international goal in a match againstDenmark.He was part of the national team in 1982 FIFA World Cup held in Spain and in the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy and played along withDiego Maradona.He was key player of the national team in 1990 FIFA World Cup where Argentina reached the final match of the tournament. After the tournament, he retired from international career at the age of 30 after collecting 23 caps and scoring 1 goal for the Argentina national team.

International goals

Date	Venue	Opponent	Result	Competition	Goals
1987-04-02	Buenos Aires,Argentina	Denmark	1–0	Friendly	1

Coaching career

Early years

Calderón began his managerial career in 1997 as head coach of Stade Malherbe Caen where he had played between 1992 and 1993. He was appointed as head coach of Lausanne Sports, another former club in 2003 but resigned after just five weeks due to poor results.

Saudi Arabia national team

Calderón then took over as the coach for theSaudi Arabia national football teamat the end of 2004, and successfully guided the Saudi team toqualificationfor theFootball World Cup 2006in Germany by beatingUzbekistan3–0 inRiyadh.Saudi Arabia was the only team in that qualification that lost no matches.Calderón said "Qualifying to the World Cup is the dream of every coach and I'm more than satisfied with our campaign in the qualifiers." "I'm very happy with the qualification since that was the goal I was aiming at when I first arrived in the Kingdom," he added.

However, in December 2005, Calderón was fired by theSaudi Arabia Football Federationas they were dissatisfied by the team's poor showing in the2005 West Asian Gamesafter a defeat toIraq,and was replaced byMarcos Paqueta.

Oman national team

Calderón in a pre-match conference in the2007 AFC Asian Cup

On 9 April 2007, Calderón signed as the coach of theOman national football teamand led the team at the 2007 AFC Asian Cup. Oman began the tournament with a 1–1 draw withAustraliabut was defeated 0–2 against co-hostThailand,then made a 0–0 draw with the tournament's winner, Iraq and was eliminated in the Group Stage. On 30 June 2008, he resigned as head coach of Oman national team in order to become the new head coach ofSaudiAl-Ittihad.

Al-Ittihad

On 30 June 2008, he returned to Saudi Arabia to become newAl-Ittihadhead coach. In his first season at Al-Ittihad, he eventually won the Saudi Premier League by beating Al-Hilal 2–1 in the final match of the league played atKing Fahad Stadiumin Riyadh and finished the season in first place, five points ahead of runner-up, Al-Hilal.However, there was no success in the league, as Al-Ittihad were eliminated from the2008 ACLand lost the final game ofKing Cup of ChampionstoAl-Shabab.In the second and final season at Al-Ittihad, he won King Cup of Champions which beat Al-Hilal in the final match. He also led the club to the final match of2009 AFC Champions League,win the Group A and defeated compatriot Al-Shabab 2–1 in the Round of 16. Then, beat UzbekPakhtakor5–1 aggregate andNagoya Grampus8–3 to reach to the final. They facedPohang Steelersin Tokyo, Japan but was beaten by Korean side 1–2 and finished the tournament as runner-up. Two months after that, Calderón was sacked on 13 January 2010.He was linked to Argentina national team to succeedDiego Maradonain 2010.

Al-Hilal

On 5 November 2010, Calderón was announced as the new head coach ofAl-Hilal.Calderón would succeedEric Geretswho departed to take charge of theMoroccan national team.He led the club to become2010–11 leaguechampions without any loss, and to theCrown Prince Cuptitle. He also led the club to the knockout stage of2011 ACLbut was defeated by his former club, Al-Ittihad in the Round of 16. Despite his achievements at the club, he was dismissed at the end of the season and on 19 July 2011 following the club's 3–0 defeat to league rivals Al Ittihad in the first leg of2011 King Cup of Champions.

Baniyas

On 23 November 2011, he was appointed asUAE Pro-LeaguesideBaniyas SC's head coach. Baniyas was in 11th place before his arrival and was at the bottom of the league along withSharjahbut he saved the club from relegation and finished the league in 9th place. He also led the club to the final match of theUAE President's Cupbut was defeated byAl-Jazira.Under his management, Baniyas reached the knockout stage of theAFC Champions Leaguefor the first time in the club's history but was defeated by Al-Hilal, Calderón's former side in the Round of 16. After this defeat, he announced that he would not renew his contract with Baniyas. He officially left the club on 30 May 2012. He was linked toPersepolisin June 2012 but that job went toManuel José.

Bahrain national team

On 28 October 2012, Calderón was announced as head coach ofBahrain national football teamto succeedPeter Taylorafter the latter's dismissal.His first taste as manager came on 9 December 2012 in match withYemenin2012 West Asian Football Federation Championship.He was sacked on 13 August 2013.

Real Betis

On 19 January 2014, he was appointed as head coach ofLa LigasideReal Betis,replacingJuan Carlos Garrido.He separated after the end of season.

Al-Wasl

In October 2014, Calderón was named the head coach ofAl-Wasl.In May 2016, he left the club by mutual consent.

Qatar SC

On 5 July 2017, he signed a two-year contract withQatar SC.he was sacked on 22 November 2017.

Persepolis

Calderón withPersepolisin 2019

On 1 July 2019, Calderón was appointed manager of reigningPersian Gulf Pro LeagueandIranian Hazfi Cuptitle-holdersPersepolis,a post that was left vacant by the departure ofBranko Ivanković,who left to manageAl-Ahli Saudi FC.On 12 January 2020, he resigned from his position as Persepolis coach due to financial troubles.

Managerial statistics

As of 11 March 2022

Team	From	To	Record
			G	W	D	L	GF	GA	+/-	Win %
SM Caen	July 1997	May 2000	118	43	39	36	158	131	+27	036.44
Lausanne Sports	July 2003	December 2003	15	5	5	5	23	22	+1	033.33
Saudi Arabia	November 2004	December 2005	20	9	4	7	26	22	+4	045.00
Oman	April 2007	June 2008	28	13	11	4	34	27	+7	046.43
Al-Ittihad	June 2008	January 2010	63	44	11	8	153	76	+77	069.84
Al-Hilal	December 2010	July 2011	37	25	9	3	73	31	+42	067.57
Baniyas	November 2011	May 2012	24	11	7	6	40	33	+7	045.83
Bahrain	October 2012	August 2013	21	9	8	4	22	16	+6	042.86
Real Betis	January 2014	May 2014	21	6	3	12	23	37	−14	028.57
Al-Wasl	October 2014	May 2016	19	7	6	6	32	31	+1	036.84
Qatar SC	September 2017	November 2017	9	1	1	7	8	21	−13	011.11
Persepolis	July 2019	January 2020	19	14	1	4	24	7	+17	073.68
Khor Fakkan	February 2022	May 2022	10	2	1	7	15	21	−6	020.00
Total			404	189	106	109	636	476	+160	046.78

Honours

As a player

Real Betis

• Copa de la Ligarunner-up:1986

Paris Saint-Germain

• Ligue 1runners-up:1988–89

FC Sion

• Swiss Super League:1991–92
• Swiss Cup:1991

Argentina

• FIFA World Youth Championship:1979
• FIFA World Cuprunner-up:1990

As a manager

Saudi Arabia

• Qualifying to theFIFA World Cup:2006

Al-Ittihad

• AFC Champions Leaguerunner-up:2009
• Saudi Professional League:2008–09
• King Cup:2010

Al-Hilal

• Saudi Professional League:2010–11
• Crown Prince Cup:2011

External links

• World Cup history
• Futbol Factory profileat theWayback Machine(archived 2 February 2008)(in Spanish)