Juan Carlos Osorio

Juan Carlos Osorio Arbeláez (born 8 June 1961) is a Colombian professional football manager and former footballer who played as a midfielder.

Osorio began his playing career with Deportivo Pereira in 1982, and went on to play for Brazilian club Internacional in 1984 before returning to his native Colombia a year later, ultimately retiring in 1987 at the age of 26 due to injury.

After playing for Deportivo Pereira and Internacional, Osorio moved to the USA and represented University of New Haven's New Haven Chargers from 1985 to 1986.

He graduated from Southern Connecticut State University in 1990 with a B.A. in Exercise Science.

Osorio also holds a diploma in Science and Football from Liverpool John Moores University, a UEFA "A" coaching license from the English FA, and a coaching certificate from the Royal Netherlands Football Association.

Juan Carlos Osorio began his coaching career during the 1998–1999 season joining the Staten Island Vipers as their assistant/conditioning coach.

He would then join the MetroStars staff during the 2000 season under Octavio Zambrano.

He would go on to join English club Manchester City as conditioning coach in June 2001.

Nicknamed El Recreacionista (The Recreationist in Spanish) due to his unorthodox training methods, Osorio held various assistant coaching jobs before beginning his managerial career in 2006 with Millonarios, moving abroad the following year to manage Major League Soccer teams Chicago Fire and New York Red Bulls, leading the latter to their first conference title in 2008.

In 2006, Osorio started his career as a manager when he was hired by Millonarios in his native Colombia.

In 2007, he was the recipient of the DIMAYOR (División Mayor del Fútbol Colombiano) Excellence in Football Coaching award becoming the first coach to win that award in his first year of coaching.

In July 2007 he was appointed manager of Major League Soccer side Chicago Fire.

He took over a last-place team and led them to a playoff spot.

He also helped Chicago orchestrate a first-round series victory against D.C. United, which entered the playoffs with the best record in MLS.

On 10 December, the Chicago Fire announced that Osorio had resigned due to "family reasons".

In his short time with the Fire, Osorio went 6-3-6 in the league, 7-5-7 across all competitions and led the team to the Conference Final for the sixth time in nine seasons.

Eight days after resigning from the Chicago Fire, Osorio was hired by the New York Red Bulls.

The decision came after Red Bulls and Fire reached an agreement on compensation for Osorio.

The Red Bulls had an up and down season in Osorio's first season in charge of the club.

After a promising start, the club qualified for the playoffs on the final day of the season and was seeded as a wild card into the Western Conference bracket.

In the 2008 MLS Cup Playoffs, Osorio lead the club to their first ever MLS Cup final, defeating defending champion Houston Dynamo (4–1 on aggregate) and Real Salt Lake 1–0.

In the MLS Cup final, the Red Bulls lost 3–1 to Columbus Crew.

In his second season with the club, Osorio guided them to one of the worst records in league history, finishing with a 2-16-4 record.

In his two seasons at the club Osorio went 12-27-13, the worst mark in the league during that period of time.

The club also suffered an embarrassing set-back when they were eliminated by W Connection in the preliminary round of the CONCACAF Champions League.

Due to mounting pressure, Osorio resigned from his post as coach of the New York Red Bulls on 21 August 2009.

After leaving New York, on 18 November 2009 Osorio was hired by Once Caldas.

He managed Once Caldas in 2010 and led them to a league title, as well as managing Atlético Nacional in 2012 and winning numerous championships.

After taking charge of a team that was in danger of relegation Osorio helped Once Caldas to a league title in 2010.

In 44 matches in charge, he recorded a record of 23 victories, 8 draws, and 13 losses.

He led the Bogotá-based club to an 11-6-7 record during the 2007 Finalizacion (closing) season and a fourth-place finish out of 18 teams in the Mustang Cup.

In January 2011 it was reported that Osorio would be leaving Once Caldas to take charge of the Honduras national team.

On 2 February 2011, Osorio was officially named as the new coach of the Honduras national team and to lead them during the qualifying rounds of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

However, Once Caldas announced Osorio contractually could not be released until June to assume his role with Honduras.

Due to this, Honduras' football federation announced they could not wait until June, subsequently ending the negotiations.

On 15 November, the president of Mexican club Puebla Roberto Henaine announced via Twitter that Juan Carlos Osorio would be manager, following Sergio Bueno departure.

He resigned on 22 March 2012 due to poor performances, leaving the club with a 2-2-3 record.

In October 2015, he was named as manager of the Mexico national team, a post he held until July 2018.

On 26 May 2015, Osorio was confirmed as the new manager of São Paulo FC, signing a two-year contract.

He was presented on 1 June and made his debut five days later, in a 2–0 victory against Grêmio at Estádio do Morumbi.