César Luis Menotti (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈsesaɾ ˈlwis meˈnoti]; 22 October 1938 – 5 May 2024), known as El Flaco ("Slim"), was an Argentine football player and manager who won the 1978 FIFA World Cup as the head coach of the Argentina national team.
Menotti played as a striker, most notably for Argentine clubs Rosario Central and Boca Juniors. As a manager, he won three cups with Barcelona and also led Atlético Madrid in La Liga in the 1980s, as well as leading Superclásico rivals Boca Juniors and River Plate. He was briefly the manager of Mexico and Italian Serie A club Sampdoria in the 1990s.
During Menotti's tenure as manager of the Argentina national team (from 1974 to 1982), he carried out a project that differed from previous processes, bringing him to be recognised as one of the most influential managers in the history of Argentine football.
After playing some games for the reserve team, Menotti debuted in Primera División playing for Rosario Central in 1960. His first professional match was on 3 July versus Boca Juniors, a 3–1 victory.
On 27 November 1963, Menotti played a friendly for River Plate against Juventus. He scored in the 2–1 loss in Italy. The following June, he scored in another exhibition defeat, 2–1 away to Nacional in Montevideo, and was then approached by the host team.
Menotti remained four seasons in Rosario Central prior to be transferred in 1964 to Racing, then moving to Boca Juniors in 1965, where he would win his first title as player, the 1965 Primera División. Two years later Menotti arrived to the North American Soccer League to play for the New York Generals. In 1968 Menotti was traded to Santos where he was teammate of Pelé and won the Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa, a tournament later recognized as national championship of Brazil, of that year. Menotti signed with Clube Atlético Juventus, where he retired from football in 1970 after playing games and scoring twice.
After retiring from play, Menotti became friends with coach Miguel "Gitano" Juárez, with whom he traveled to the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. Fascinated by the Brazilian style of play led by his friend Pelé, he decided to become a coach himself. Menotti worked as coach assistant of Juárez in Newell's Old Boys.
As manager, Menotti won his first title with Huracán, the 1973 Torneo Metropolitano with a side that included notable players such as Carlos Babington, Miguel Brindisi, Roque Avallay and the outstanding René Houseman. That squad was widely praised by the media due to their style of playing, being considered one of the best Argentine teams of all time. Huracán played 32 matches, winning 19 with 5 losses. The squad scored 62 goals and conceded 30.
Menotti was appointed the head coach of the Argentina national team in October 1974. He led them to their first FIFA World Cup in 1978, defeating the Netherlands in the final. He had faced considerable criticism before the tournament when he excluded 17-year-old Diego Maradona from the squad, believing him to be too young to cope with the pressure.
After the World Cup triumph, Menotti demanded for a large raise from the Argentine Football Association, which complicated his contract negotiations. The Uruguayan Football Association offered him US$1.1 million to lead their national team for four years, but were unsuccessful in their approach.
In 1979, Menotti led the Argentina U20 national team to success in the World Youth Championship in Japan, with Maradona the team's star player. At the 1982 World Cup, Menotti chose Maradona, who made his World Cup debut at age 21. He was unable to advance past the second round.
In March 1983, Barcelona sacked Udo Lattek and brought in Menotti, who reunited with Maradona. In the final three months of the season, he led them to the Copa del Rey and the Copa de la Liga, both against El Clásico rivals Real Madrid. In the following season, he won only the 1983 Supercopa de España and his final game was the 1–0 loss to Athletic Bilbao in the 1984 Copa del Rey final, after which he left and Maradona was sold to Napoli.
After a brief spell back home with Boca Juniors, Menotti returned to Spain in July 1987 to manage Atlético Madrid, who had gone a decade without a league title. He won 4–0 away at Real Madrid in the Madrid derby on 7 November. After 23 games of the season, Atlético were second to Real Madrid, but went on a six-game winless run culminating in a 3–1 home loss to their city rivals on 20 March 1988. Chairman Jesús Gil had already had talks with Menotti – including about the players' nightlife before their draw away to Real Sociedad in October – and subsequently dismissed him.
Menotti returned to Buenos Aires in July 1988, taking over at Boca's Superclásico rivals River Plate. He brought in players such as Jorge Higuaín, but was unable to make Paraguayan goalkeeper José Luis Chilavert a permanent signing after two weeks training at the club. The Millonarios finished fourth in the 1988–89.
In July 1990, Menotti was hired at Peñarol, a Uruguayan club going through restructuring after selling most of their team that had won the Copa Libertadores in 1987. After showing good form on a pre-season tour of Europe, the club finished third in the Uruguayan Primera División and missed out on Libertadores qualification. In the Supercopa Libertadores, an event for teams that had previously won the continental tournament, they eliminated Santos and Boca before a 7–2 aggregate loss in the semi-finals to Paraguay's Olimpia; his team had three players sent off in the 6–0 second-leg defeat in Asunción.
In 1991, Menotti returned to international football when he was appointed by Mexico, who were recovering from the Cachirules scandal that had seen them banned from the 1990 FIFA World Cup. He oversaw the opening qualifiers for the 1994 FIFA World Cup but resigned in 1992 in solidarity with two associates who had left the Mexican Football Federation.
Menotti had a third spell in Europe when he led Sampdoria of the Italian Serie A briefly in 1997. His squad included the likes of Siniša Mihajlović, Vincenzo Montella, Jürgen Klinsmann and Alain Boghossian. He oversaw elimination from the UEFA Cup by Athletic Bilbao, and took 11 points from 8 games before being replaced by returning championship-winning coach Vujadin Boškov.
Before and after his short stint in Italy, Menotti was manager of Independiente. His team came runners-up in the 1996–97 Argentine Primera División.