Mauricio Pochettino demonstrates his football skills.

-June 5, 2019

Our younger audience may only know Mauricio Pochettino as a football manager. Unlike managers such as Mourinio or Jürgen Klopp, Mauricio played at the highest level. He represented Argentina at the 2002 World Cup.

Before becoming a manager, Mauricio Pochettino spent 17 years as a professional player, most of them as center back. He started his career in Newell’s Old Boys playing at the highest professional level in Argentina. In 1994, he moved to play in La Liga with Espanyol for 10 years. Mauricio also had a brief experience in French football, where he played for Bordeaux and Paris Saint-Germain.

The highlight of his career as a player is playing at the 2002 World Cup representing Argentina. He was capped for his national team 20 times, including 1999 Copa América (the South American equivalent of the UEFA European Football Championship).

Marcelo Bielsa (another renown coach) was his mentor in his early career and during his time at the Argentina national team. Bielsa was also a big influence in his decision to begin his managerial career. Mauricio first club as a coach was Espanyol, where he coached for almost four years.

Mauricio moved in 2013 to manage Southampton in the English Premier League. In his first season in charge, he led the club to an eighth-placed finish. Soon after, Pochettino moved to Tottenham. He led the Spurs to top-three finishes and to the final of the 2018-2019 UEFA Champions League for the first time in the club’s history.

Aside of his impressive track record, Mauricio Pochettino is a still a boy at heart. He enjoys playing football like a child as it can be seen in the video below. Mauricio competes head to head with F2Freestylers Billy Wingrove & Jeremy Lynch and demonstrates his pro football skills. Very impressive!

Pablo Matamoros

I am a software engineer with 25+ years of experience across diverse industries. I've climbed the corporate leader over the years, which has some benefits but means I moved away from my love for tinkering with technology. So, I build the odd website or application to keep learning and stay in touch with technology. FootballTechniques allows me to combine my programming knowledge with my passion for football.

To find out more about my professional experience, visit PabloMatamoros.com