Vicente Del Bosque Biography

Vicente del Bosque, born 23 December 1950 in Salamanca, Spain, is a former Spanish footballer and coach. He spent almost all of his playing career in the Real Madrid team. He was also a member of the Spanish national team between 1975 and 1980, during which he represented his country on 18 occasions.

During his playing days, he was a defensive midfielder and spent most of his career at Real Madrid, where he won the league five times and the Copa del Rey four times. Del Bosque played in the youth team of UD Salamanca. At the professional level, he played for CD Castellón (1970-1971, 1972-1973), Córdoba CF (1971-1972) and Real Madrid (1973-1984).

Del Bosque played eighteen international matches for the Spanish national team. He debuted for the Spanish national team on 17 April 1975 against Romania and on 15 June 1980, he played his last international match against Belgium. As an international, Del Bosque scored one goal, on 13 December 1978 against Cyprus. He was included in the Spanish squad for the 1980 European Championship.

In 1984, after Del Bosque retired from football, he was appointed coach of Real Madrid's youth academy. During the 1999/2000 season, the Spaniard succeeded John Toshack as coach of the first team.

Under his guidance, Real Madrid won the Spanish La Liga title twice (2001, 2003), the Supercopa de España (2001), the UEFA Champions League twice (2000, 2002), the UEFA Super Cup (2002) and the Intercontinental Cup (2002). However, despite the successes, Del Bosque was fired in 2003 because club president Florentino Pérez thought he had insufficient charisma for a coach of Real Madrid's Galácticos team. Between 2004 and 2005, Del Bosque then worked at Beşiktaş JK.

All You Need to Know About Vicente Del Bosque Biography

He was technical director of Cadiz CF since June 2007. He replaced Luis Aragonés who led the Spaniards to the European title in 2008. Del Bosque went on to lead the Spanish team to the world title at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. As a result, King Juan Carlos I awarded him the noble hereditary title of Marquis de Del Bosque on 3 February 2011.

He then led Spain to the European title in 2012. He announced on 26 April 2013 that he would quit after the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. In the 2014 World Cup, Del Bosque's team went on to lose the first match 1-5 to the Dutch national team. Subsequently, Spain lost 2-0 against Chile. By losing against Chile, Spain was without a chance to reach the eighth-finals of the tournament after only two group matches. They won the last game 3-0 against Australia, which was also eliminated like Spain.

In contrast to his earlier intention to quit, Del Bosque stayed on as Spain's national coach until the 2016 European Championship. For Spain, this tournament ended in the eighth-finals, where Italy defeated them 2-0. Following the end of the European Championship, Del Bosque stepped down from his position.

Vicente Del Bosque Information

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Vicente Del Bosque biography

, we will share some general information about him such as

Vicente Del Bosque nationality

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Vicente Del Bosque Bio

• Full Name: Vicente del Bosque González

• Nickname: Palillo

• Profession: Professional Coach

Vicente Del Bosque Physical Stats

• Weight: 80 Kg

• Height: 1.84 m

• Eye Color: Dark Brown

• Hair Color: Grey

Vicente Del Bosque Football Information

• Position: Defensive Midfielder

• Jersey Number: 6

• Professional Debut: 1967

Vicente Del Bosque Date of Birth and Personal Info

• Date of Birth: 23 December 1950

• Birth Place: Salamanca, Spain

• Zodiac Sign: Capricorn

• Nationality: Spanish

Stay tuned to this section of

Vicente Del Bosque biography

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Vicente Del Bosque childhood

and more.

Vicente Del Bosque Early Life

His debut in Spanish football was in the youth team of Club Deportivo Salmantino which was a subsidiary of Unión Deportiva Salamanca, being the top scorer when he was only 17 years old. He was noted for his vision and ability to organise the game.

Practically, his entire professional career was spent at

Club de Fútbol, firstly in their reserve team, Castilla, and then, following a year on loan at Córdoba and two at Castellón, he joined Real Madrid for good. He played a total of 62 La Liga matches during his three loan seasons and scored 10 goals.

Real Madrid

His first match for Real Madrid came on 9 September 1973, when he replaced Manuel Velázquez in the 61st minute of the match against Granada CF, which ended in a 1-1 draw. Six days later, he also made a substitute appearance for his team after coming in the pitch in the 80th minute to take the place of Ramón Grosso, in another 1-1 draw against Real Murcia CF.

Del Bosque played his first full match in Real Madrid jersey on 7 October 1973 in the home match against

, which ended in a goalless draw. His first European match with Real Madrid was played on 3 October 1973, in the second leg of UEFA Cup first round against the English club Ipswich Town, which ended in a goalless draw and thus qualified the opponents to the next round.

In total, Vicente Del Bosque played a total of 16 La Liga matches for Real Madrid that season and made one UEFA Cup appearance. It was a season of disappointment for Real Madrid in the league, as they only finished 8th in the La Liga table and qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup first round. However, they finished as winners of the Copa del Rey after defeating Barcelona 4-0 in the final match.

Del Bosque started the 1974/75 season on 7 September 1974, in the opening La Liga match against Valencia CF, a match that he played from the start and ended in a 2-1 win for Real Madrid. On 10 November 1974, Vicente Del Bosque put on a man of the match performance by scoring two goals in the 3-2 league match win against Real Betis Balompié.

During that season, Vicente Del Bosque who had managed to establish himself as one of the key players of the team played a total of 25 matches in La Liga and scored two goals. He was also present in the Real Madrid lineup in 4 European Cup Winners’ Cup matches.

During that season, Real Madrid's squad was completely revamped in the summer with a number of old-guard players being replaced by youngsters such as Del Bosque, Camacho and the established Santillana, and the German Paul Breitner. Under Miljan Miljanić, a Macedonian coach on the bench, Real Madrid managed to win the league and beat city rivals Atletico Madrid on penalties in the final of the Copa del Generalísimo. However, in the Cup Winners' Cup, they reached the quarter-finals, where they were eliminated by Red Star Belgrade.

In the 1975/76 season, Del Bosque was one of the key players in his team. He started that season in the first La Liga match of the season, in which they played against Racing Santander and won 2-0. In the 7th matchday of the league, Real Madrid managed to clinch a 3-1 win against RCD Espanyol, with one goal from Vicente Del Bosque.

He scored his second league goal of that season on 27 March 1976, in the 2-0 home win against Sporting Gijón. That season, he played 30 La Liga matches and scored 2 goals for Real Madrid. He also made 8 European Champion Clubs’ Cup appearances, where they made it to the semifinal, before losing to Bayern Munich and failing to go to the final. He won another La Liga title with Real Madrid that season.

His first match in the 1976/77 season came on 5 September 1976, in the 0-1 away win against UD Salamanca. Ten days later, he was in the starting lineup of the European Champion Clubs’ Cup First Round match against the Polish side Stal Mielec and scored a goal in the 1-2 away win.

His first and only La Liga goal of that season was scored against UD Las Palmas in the 3-0 home win which was played on the 14th matchday of the league. That season, he played a total of 25 La Liga matches and also made 3 appearances in European competitions, scoring one goal in each of them.

It was a season to forget for Real Madrid, as the finished 9th in the La Liga table, was knocked out of the

on the third round and from the European Cup in the First Round.

The 1977/78 season started for Vicente Del Bosque in the 2-1 away defeat against the UD Salamanca. In that match, Del Bosque scored the only goal of his team. On 16 October 1977, he scored another La Liga goal in the huge 5-1 home win against Elche CF.

Six weeks later, Del Bosque managed to score another goal for Real Madrid, this time in the 4-2 win against

, thus making this season the most prolific for Del Bosque so far in his career. He finished the season with 18 La Liga appearances and 3 goals. That season, he added another La Liga title to his collection of trophies.

In the following years, Vicente Del Bosque was a key member of the Real Madrid squad and in total, he remained in the first team for eleven seasons, until 1984. In all these years, he won five La Liga titles, four Copa Del Rey titles and a runner-up in the European Cup. Vicente del Bosque played a total of 441 official matches as a defensive midfielder during his career.

Stay tuned to this section of

Vicente Del Bosque biography

as we will share some information about his Spanish national team career.

Spain National Team

On the international stage, Del Bosque only played five years for the Spanish national team between 1975 and 1980. Nevertheless, he made 18 appearances for

and scored one goal in front of his home crowd in Salamanca at the El Helmántico stadium against Cyprus during the 1980 UEFA European Championship qualifying campaign. He also participated in the Euro 1980 with the Spain national team, which was not a good experience for them, as they were knocked out in the group stages.

Vicente Del Bosque Profile

Once he had given up playing football, Vicente Del Bosque became a coach in the youth ranks of Real Madrid Club. His first professional coaching match was on 29 August 1987, in the first matchday of the 1987/88 Spanish Second Division, in a 0-0 draw against Real Oviedo.

Although he was very familiar with Real Madrid, it was not until 1994 that he was appointed coach of the Madrid club after the dismissal of Benito Floro. He remained in the job for only a few months, however, and was quickly replaced by another former player of the club, the Argentine Jorge Valdano. He managed Real Madrid again in 1996 when he was the youth team coach, for one match, after the departure of coach Arsenio Iglesias.

Real Madrid

After the difficulties encountered by coach John Toshack in November, Real Madrid finally decided to give him a real chance in 1999 by appointing him as their full-time coach. His first match as the new coach of Real Madrid was played on 21 November 1999, in the 12th matchday of La Liga against Real Sociedad, which finished 1-1.

Three days later, he coached for the first time in his career in a Champions League match, in which they won 1-2 against the Ukrainian side Dynamo Kyiv. In the league, Del Bosque suffered two consecutive defeats against Celta de Vigo and Real Zaragoza. The latter was a heavy 1-5 home defeat which raised many questions about if Vicente Del Bosque is the right man for the job.

However, from the next match against Rosenborg BK in the Champions League, which ended 3-1 for Real Madrid, the team started an undefeated run which would last until early January 2000. With some surprising defeats in the league, such as 1-0 defeats against the likes of

CF, Deportivo Alavés and Celta de Vigo, Vicente Del Bosque and Real Madrid finished just 5th in the

table.

In Copa Del Rey, Real Madrid made it to the semifinals under the guidance of Vicente Del Bosque, having eliminated the likes of Real Zaragoza and CP Mérida in the way, but in the semifinals, they were knocked out of the cup competition by losing 1-0 on aggregate against RCD Espanyol.

Vicente Del Bosque managed to advance from the group stage of the Champions League. In the quarterfinals, they were able to eliminate Manchester United 3-2 on aggregate, to play against FC Bayern in the semifinal. In their first match in Madrid, they clinched a rather easy 2-0 win against the Germans, only to lose 2-1 in the return match in Munich, thus making it to the final.

In the final match, they had to play against

. The match was played on 24 May 2000 at the Stade de France. Real Madrid started the match better and was able to score a goal in the 39th minute with a header from Fernando Morientes. In the second half, Steve McManaman scored another goal to make it 2-0 and a goal from Raul in the 75th minute meant that Vicente Del Bosque had won the Champions League in his debut season in charge of Real Madrid.

The 2000/01 season was the first with Florentino Pérez as the club’s president and thus the start of the Galacticos era, which saw the club sign, Luis Figo, in the summer transfer window from the rivals FC Barcelona and then the signing of

Del Bosque and Real Madrid started the new season with a 1-2 loss against Galatasaray in the UEFA Super Cup. They made a good start in La Liga, with three wins and two draws in the first five matches. Their first defeat of the league came in the El Clasico match against Barcelona, in which they lost 2-0 at Camp Nou.

Between 12 November 2000 and 14 January 2001, Real Madrid managed to win a total of 8 consecutive La Liga matches, thus consolidating their place in the table. In the end, Vicente Del Bosque and Real Madrid were able to win La Liga with 80 points in 38 matches, eight points clear of Deportivo de La Coruña.

In Copa del Rey Real Madrid had not much to say as they were knocked out in the Second Round with a surprising 2-1 defeat against CD Toledo. In UEFA

, Real Madrid was first in their group alongside Sporting CP,

and Bayer 04 Leverkusen, thus qualifying for the second group stage, this time being drawn in the Group D with Leeds United, Anderlecht and Lazio, which they also first.

In the quarterfinals, Real Madrid had to play against the Turkish club Galatasaray which they had already lost to them at the start of the season. This time, they managed a 5-3 win on aggregate, which qualified them for the semifinal match, where they were defeated by

3-1 on aggregate.

Florentino Pérez continued his policy of recruiting international stars two years after taking over as president of the club. A year after the signing of Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane moved to the Merengue club and thus became the most expensive player in history. The 29-year-old's transfer from Juventus was worth €77.5 million.

For the club's centenary year, the team's shirts were free of any sponsors and the club's website, realmadrid dot com, was the only sponsor shown at the start of the season.

Following an early victory in the Spanish Supercup, the club got off to a slow start in the league. It took the new French recruit some time to adapt to his new team, until Vicente Del Bosque positioned him on the left side of midfield, ahead of Roberto Carlos. The club finished third in La Liga and in Copa del Rey, they lost 1-2 against Deportivo La Coruña in the final match.

Following a smooth group stage in the Champions League, the club eliminated Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals, then Barcelona in the semi-finals, before winning the final at Hampden Park against Bayer Leverkusen. That win was marked by Zidane's memorable volley from a Roberto Carlos cross. It was the Merengues' ninth victory in the European competition.

Three years after becoming president, Florentino Pérez was busy recruiting international stars. Following on from the signings of

and Zinedine Zidane, this time it was the Brazilian Ronaldo who made the move to Madrid after a victorious World Cup.

The Madrid team started the season with a European Supercup win over Feyenoord Rotterdam, before beginning a victorious domestic league campaign. With a Ronaldo at the top of his game and scoring goals, Real Madrid clinched the league title, fighting until the last day against Raynald Denoueix's Real Sociedad.

Vicente Del Bosque's Real Madrid lost the Champions League title to Juventus in the semi-finals. During the winter transfer window, the club won its third Intercontinental Cup against Olimpia Asuncion. Nevertheless, despite the success of the season, the growing expectations of the coach Vicente del Bosque did not allow him to be retained.

In his four years at the helm, Del Bosque guided the club to one of its most successful periods, with two Champions League wins (2000 and 2002), two Spanish league titles (2001 and 2003), a UEFA Super Cup (2002), an Intercontinental Cup (2002) and a Spanish Super Cup (2001).

Moreover, Real Madrid reached at least the semi-finals of the Champions League each time with Del Bosque in charge. As a result, he was able to create a strong team despite the constant purchase of Galacticos that president Florentino Pérez forced on him every year and which he did not want.

Surprisingly, Del Bosque's contract was not extended at the end of the 2002-2003 season. In all likelihood, he was the direct victim of Florentino Pérez's Galactic policy, a policy that had caused a rift between some of the players in the squad and the club's directors: Del Bosque, who was not considered glamorous enough by his directors, was sacked, along with a number of other players such as Fernando Hierro, Claude Makelele and Steve McManaman. He was replaced by the Portuguese Carlos Queiroz

Beşiktaş

He was hired by the Turkish club

in the 2004/2005 season; however, in the middle of the season and with disappointing results and performances, the club decided to terminate his contract. He was appointed sporting director of Cádiz CF in June 2007 under Arturo Baldasano, a position he left a few months later after Baldasano's departure.

Spanish national football team

He was presented as Spain's national football coach on 17 July 2008, taking over from

. He debuted in a 3-0 win over Denmark on 20 August 2008 in a friendly match. In the World Cup qualifying campaign which started around two weeks after that match, Spain was drawn in a group with

, Estonia, Belgium, Bosnia and Turkey.

During September and October 2008, Spain managed to win four matches in the World Cup qualifiers against Bosnia, Armenia, Estonia and Belgium. In November 2008 and February 2009, they played two friendly matches against Chile and England, which they won both of them 3-0 and 2-0 respectively.

This was followed by another two wins against Turkey in March and April, before winning another friendly match, this time against Azerbaijan.

Confederations Cup 2009

The first competition he coached the national team at the finals was the 2009 Confederations Cup, in which they made it to the semifinals after winning New Zealand, Iraq and South Africa in the group stage. They finished third after losing in the semi-finals to the United States and beating hosts South Africa 3-2 in the match for third place.

2010 World Cup

Spain qualified for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa between September 2008 and October 2009, having won every match in the qualifying round, scoring a full 30 points out of a possible 30.

At the World Cup finals, Spain reached the finals as top favourites and was drawn in Group H alongside Honduras, Switzerland and Chile. They qualified for the Round of 16 as group winners, after losing 1-0 to Switzerland in their opening match, winning 2-0 against Honduras and 1-2 against Chile.

During the knockout stage, they played Portugal in the Round of 16 and defeated them 1-0. They went on to beat Paraguay 1-0 in the quarter-finals, with David Villa scoring the only goal of the game. Spain qualified for the World Cup final for the first time with a 1-0 win over Germany in the semi-final on 7 July. In the final at Johannesburg on 11 July, Spain was crowned World Cup champions for the first time with a 1-0 win over the Netherlands.

Euro 2012

Barely two years after making history by winning the World Cup, Vicente Del Bosque managed to add another title to his trophy cabinet on 1 July 2012, by leading Spain to a 4-0 European Championship final victory over

. Thus he became the second coach in the history of football to achieve the "World Cup-Eurocup double", after Helmut Schön.

Confederations Cup 2013

The Spanish team played in the 2013 Confederations Cup as defending European and world champions. In the group stage, they were drawn alongside Uruguay, Tahiti and

. Del Bosque’s men won all of the group stage matches to make it to the semifinal. In the semifinal, Spain eliminated Italy 7-6 on penalties. They finished runners-up after being defeated 3-0 in the final by hosts Brazil.

World Cup 2014

In the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, Spain was drawn in Group I together with Belarus, France, Finland and Georgia. Spain finished the group in first place undefeated, with six wins and two draws against Finland and France.

After qualifying Spain for the World Cup in Brazil on 15 November 2013, Vicente Del Bosque confirmed the extension of his contract until the end of the European Championship 2016.

In the 2014 World Cup finals, the Spanish national team was unable to get past the group stage after losing to the Netherlands and Chile and managing an inconsequential victory against Australia in the last match, after they were already knocked out. Despite the disappointing results in Brazil, the Salamanca-born coach declared that he would continue to coach the national team.

Euro 2016

The Spanish national team finished a successful Euro 2016 Qualification on 9 October 2015 by clinching the top spot in Group C after a 4-0 win over Luxembourg.

Spain was knocked out in the last 16 of Euro 2016 by Italy (2-0).38 The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) released a statement on 4 July announcing Del Bosque's intention not to continue as coach, after a meeting with President Villar. It was confirmed by Del Bosque on 7 August 2016 that he would no longer coach any team and retire from coaching.

Stay tuned to this section of Vicente Del Bosque biography as we will share some information about his coaching style.

Style of Play

During his time as Real Madrid coach, Vicente Del Bosque was a fan of the 4-2-3-1 system of play, occasionally playing with 4-3-3 attacking and also 4-4-2 double 6. However, after taking over the coaching position in Spain, almost all of the time his team played with 4-3-3 attacking.

Reception

Vicente Del Bosque is amongst the best coaches in the history of Spanish football according to many fans and pundits, and the consecutive World Cup and Euro titles just prove that.

Vicente Del Bosque outside Football

Because of his commitment to sport in Spain and the promotion of its values, he was granted the noble title of Marqués de Del Bosque by King Juan Carlos I on 3 February 2011.

Vicente Del Bosque Personal Life

In this section of Vicente Del Bosque biography, we will take a look into his personal life, sharing some information about things like

Vicente Del Bosque religion

and

Vicente Del Bosque life story

.

Family, Children, and Relationships

He is the son of Fermín del Bosque and María del Carmen González, and he married María de la Santísima Trinidad López, the couple have two sons and a daughter: Vicente del Bosque López (1987), Álvaro del Bosque López (1989) and Gema del Bosque López (1993).

His second son Alvaro was born with down syndrome, Vicente Del Bosque has said many times that he will not be able to live without his son Alvaro.

Philanthropy

As the father of a down syndrome child, Vicente Del Bosque has always been a part of different down syndrome events in his home country and has always helped to raise funds for different charity foundations. For example, he took part in a charity race hosted by Down Syndrome Foundation in Madrid.

Legal Issues

There aren’t any reports of legal issues or disputes regarding Vicente Del Bosque on the Spanish or English media at the moment of writing this article.

Vicente Del Bosque Career Statistics

In this section of Vicente Del Bosque biography, we will take a look into his career on the international and club level. Stay tuned.

Club

During his playing career, Vicente Del Bosque has played a total of 518 league matches and scored 45 goals. With more than 400 league matches for Real Madrid, he has played the majority of his career there.

International

For five years between 1975 and 1980, Vicente Del Bosque played a total of 18 matches for his country and scored a goal for them in a match against Cyprus national team.

Managerial

Vicente Del Bosque has a win ratio of 55.11 percent during his coaching career, with 259 wins, 99 draws and 112 defeats in a total of 470 matches he has coached his teams as of 27 June 2016.

Vicente Del Bosque Honors

He has won La Liga on five occasions and the Copa del Rey four times when he was playing for Real Madrid.

In his coaching career, Del Bosque won many titles, including La Liga, Supercopa de España, Copa Iberoamericana, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and Intercontinental Cup. He has also won the 2010 World Cup and 2012 Euro with the Spanish national team.

His personal awards list includes UEFA Club Coach of the Year, IFFHS World's Best Club Coach, European Coach of the Year—Alf Ramsey Award, World Manager of the Year and FIFA World Coach of the Year among many others.

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