Óscar Tabárez, Uruguay football coach: Profile, Career, News & Videos

Óscar Tabárez , known as El Maestro (The Teacher), is a Uruguayan former professional football manager and former player.

After an unassuming career as a player and after working as a primary school teacher, Tabárez embarked on an extensive coaching career which has lasted more than 30 years and included coaching teams in Colombia, Argentina, Italy and Spain. He managed the Uruguay national football team from 1988 to 1990, returning to the job for a second time in 2006. He led the team to fourth place in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and to victory in the 2011 Copa América. With Tabárez, Uruguay qualified for four World Cups, reaching the round of 16 twice, the quarterfinals once, and the semi-finals once. In October 2017, Tabárez qualified Uruguay for a fourth time; reaching the 5th position at the 2018 World Cup tournament.

On 25 March 2016, two and a half weeks after completing ten years as the manager of Uruguay, Tabárez surpassed Francisco Maturana for the head coach with most World Cup qualifying games in South America with 47, with the singularity that he has only managed Uruguay. Tabárez also is the fourth-ranked manager with most games at the Copa América with 30, participating in seven tournaments (1989, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2021). In 2012, for his contributions to association football, Tabárez became the recipient of the FIFA Order of Merit, the highest honour awarded by FIFA.