Vicente del Bosque González, 1st Marquess of Del Bosque (Spanish pronunciation: [biˈθente ðel ˈβoske ɣonˈθaleθ]; born 23 December 1950) is a Spanish retired football manager and former player. He is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time and is to date the only football manager to have won the World Cup, the Champions League, the European Championship, and the Intercontinental Cup.
After taking over from Luis Aragonés – who had led Spain to European success at UEFA Euro 2008 – del Bosque led the national team to their first FIFA World Cup in 2010, and then to retain their European Championship in 2012. Del Bosque coached Real Madrid from 1999 to 2003, one of the most successful periods in the club's modern era. During his playing career, del Bosque made over 400 appearances for Real Madrid, winning five La Liga titles and four Copas del Rey. He played internationally with the senior Spain national team on 18 occasions.
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Playing career
As a player, del Bosque was a midfielder who played in La Liga 441 times with 30 goals. This career included spells at Castilla CF, Córdoba, Castellón and Real Madrid. He won five league titles (1974–75, 1975–76, 1977–78, 1978–79, 1979–80) and four Copa del Rey titles (1973–74, 1974–75, 1979–80, 1981–82) with Real Madrid. He was also part of the Real Madrid team that lost to Liverpool in the 1981 European Cup final. Internationally, del Bosque received 18 caps with the Spain national team, scoring one goal. He appeared for Spain at UEFA Euro 1980, which would be disappointing for Spain as it exited at the group stage of the competition.
Managerial career
Real Madrid
Del Bosque served at Real Madrid since 1984 and rose through the ranks at the club; however, he only first managed Madrid for a couple of months in 1994 after the sacking of Benito Floro and before the appointment of Jorge Valdano. He would again manage Real for two games in 1996, while he was the youth team coach, after Jorge Valdano was sacked and before Arsenio Iglesias took the job until the end of that season. But in 1999–2000, the club management decided to give him the full-time job after difficulties with their coach, John Toshack, with del Bosque taking over in November 1999.
In his four seasons in charge, del Bosque ushered the club through one of its most successful spells in modern history, having steered the club to two UEFA Champions League titles in 2000 and 2002, two domestic La Liga titles in 2001 and 2003, a Supercopa de España in 2001, a UEFA Super Cup in 2002, the Intercontinental Cup in 2002 as well as finishing in the last four of the UEFA Champions League every year he was in charge. Not since the great Madrid side of the 1950s and 1960s that had Alfredo Di Stéfano and Ferenc Puskás did the club succeed so consistently. Del Bosque was credited with a humble, patient and unassuming style which saw him manage the club as it underwent a policy during Florentino Pérez's tenure as club President that was known as Los Galácticos, where the world's best and most marketable stars were signed for the club beginning with Luís Figo and including David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo. In the del Bosque era Real managed 104 wins out of a possible 186 in his time as coach of Madrid. Despite the level of success, many players – in particular the so-called Galácticos – were bought without the input of del Bosque amid often made allegations that the Real Madrid hierarchy (in particular Pérez and general manager Jorge Valdano) had more control over transfer policy, team selection and other aspects of club that minimised the level of control del Bosque had during his time as manager.
Real Madrid decided not to renew Del Bosque's contract in 2003, just a day after he won the club its 29th Liga title and a week after the club signed David Beckham. Del Bosque was offered the post of technical director but turned it down, leading to many suggestions in Spanish media that there was a much rumoured political split at the club involving del Bosque and several players, especially captain Fernando Hierro (who was asked to leave the club in the summer of 2003), on one side, while Valdano and Pérez wielded the axe of control to, in their words, "shake up the team," on the other. Pérez said in an interview with BBC Sport, "del Bosque was showing signs of exhaustion. I want to be sincere about this – our belief that he was not the right coach for the future."
Beşiktaş and hiatus
After Iñaki Sáez resigned in the wake of a terrible performance at UEFA Euro 2004, which saw Spain having their worst result in the tournament since 1988, del Bosque was approached as a possible manager of the national side. He was not interested in the job, however, and the job was subsequently given to Luis Aragonés. With Beşiktaş, del Bosque arrived in Turkey to much fanfare and hope, but failure to deliver results saw him get the sack towards the tail end of the 2004–05 season. After Mexico were eliminated by Argentina in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, del Bosque was approached with an offer to become their manager, but declined. During the 2007 Real Madrid crisis, del Bosque spoke on the line saying that the departure of Ronaldo was a mistake, and he was one of the candidates to replace Fabio Capello as manager of the team. Bernd Schuster, however, was awarded the job on 9 July 2007.
Spain national team
On 11 March 2008, del Bosque announced that he would replace Luis Aragonés as head coach of the Spain national team; it was confirmed on 15 July 2008. Spain under del Bosque began their 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign successfully, defeating Bosnia and Herzegovina 1–0 with a goal from David Villa. Spain defeated Armenia 4–0 three days later with two goals coming from Villa, and one each from Joan Capdevila and Marcos Senna, with a notable debut from Bojan, coming on as a substitute and defeating rumours that he will swap allegiances to Serbia. This win secured the Spaniards a first place spot in their group with six points. The next round saw Spain defeat Estonia 3–0, then, four days later, beat Belgium 2–1 away – an 88th-minute strike from Villa (his fifth of the campaign) earning them the win. This result maintained their 100% start to the qualifying campaign.
Since del Bosque was appointed to the job, 38 players have debuted with the Spain team: Bojan, Andoni Iraola, Fernando Llorente, Diego Capel, Sergio Busquets, Jesús Navas, Diego López, Gerard Piqué, Jordi Alba, Pedro, Pablo Hernández, Borja Valero, Bruno, Nacho Monreal, Víctor Valdés, Álvaro Negredo, Juan Mata, Javi Martínez, Thiago, Manu, Aritz Aduriz, Adrián, Juanfran, Beñat, Iker Muniain, Javi García, Álvaro Domínguez, Markel Susaeta, Koke, Marc Bartra, Isco, César Azpilicueta, Iñigo Martínez, Alberto Moreno, Mario Suárez, Michu, Cristian Tello, Diego Costa, Ander Iturraspe, David de Gea and Gerard Deulofeu, while one uncapped player, Fernando Amorebieta, has been called up but failed to debut.
On 9 June 2009, in a friendly against Azerbaijan in which Spain won 6–0, del Bosque became the first manager in all of football history to win his first ten games as debut manager of a national team, the previous record being nine held by João Saldanha of Brazil. The record currently stands at 13 successive victories, with the last winning match being a 2–0 win against South Africa in the 2009 Confederations Cup, followed by a 2–0 defeat in the semifinal stage of the same competition against United States.
On 14 October 2009, Spain joined the very small number of teams to have won all their World Cup qualifying games in a single campaign, achieving a record-breaking ten wins in ten games. In Spain's first game of the 2010 FIFA World Cup on 16 June, they lost 1–0 to Switzerland. Spain bounced back and won group H by winning the next two games. They faced Portugal in the Round of 16, winning 1–0, and defeated Paraguay in their quarter-final match, again by 1–0. Spain then defeated Germany in the semi-final on 7 July 2010, winning 1–0, allowing them to reach their first World Cup final. In the final against the Netherlands, he led his team to victory after a goal scored in extra time by Andrés Iniesta. Upon this triumph, he became the oldest coach to win the World Cup, until he was surpassed by his compatriot Luis de la Fuente in 2026.
Personal life
Del Bosque married María de la Santísima Trinidad "Trini" López, and has three children – two sons and one daughter.
Career statistics
Club
Source:
International
Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first
Honours
Player
Real Madrid
La Liga: 1974–75, 1975–76, 1977–78, 1978–79, 1979–80
Copa del Rey: 1973–74, 1974–75, 1979–80, 1981–82
Manager
Real Madrid
La Liga: 2000–01, 2002–03
Supercopa de España: 2001
Copa Iberoamericana: 1994
UEFA Champions League: 1999–2000, 2001–02
UEFA Super Cup: 2002
Intercontinental Cup: 2002
Spain
FIFA World Cup: 2010
UEFA European Championship: 2012
Individual
UEFA Club Coach of the Year: 2002
IFFHS World's Best Club Coach: 2002
IFFHS World's Best National Coach: 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013
World Manager of the Year: 2012
FIFA World Coach of the Year: 2012
ESPN 11th Greatest Manager of All Time: 2013
World Soccer 13th Greatest Manager of All Time: 2013
France Football 33rd Greatest Manager of All Time: 2019
Personal
Nobility: Created 1st Marquess of Del Bosque by King Juan Carlos I
Government of Spain: Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Sporting Merit
Salamanca Provincial Council: Gold Medal
Salamanca City Council: Favourite Son of Salamanca