By Humberto Viera
Dec 27, 2023, 3:36 PM EST
The five most outstanding coaches according to the ‘King of America’ survey by the Uruguayan newspaper El País are Lionel Scaloni, Marcelo Bielsa, Luis Zubeldía, Fernando Diniz and Abel Ferreira, who compete for the award of the 38th edition of this annual award.
Lionel Scaloni, after leading Argentina to victory in the World Cup in Qatar, aspires to obtain this award for the second consecutive year, after having emerged as the winner in the 2022 poll. On that occasion, he obtained 107 of the 218 possible votes, surpassing Abel Ferreira (35) and Dorival Junior (28).
For his part, Marcelo Bielsa, who already won this award in 2009 when he led the Chilean team, seeks to revalidate his position. Since May, he has been in charge of Uruguay, leading the team to a second place in the playoffs, with a historic victory against Brazil after more than two decades and a victory on the road against Argentina, a milestone in the history of the qualifiers.
The other three nominees closed their seasons with notable achievements: Fernando Diniz won the Copa Libertadores directing the Brazilian Fluminense, Luis Zubeldía won the Copa Sudamericana with Liga Deportiva Universitaria of Ecuador, and Abel Ferreira celebrated the Brazilian league title with Palmeiras .
Next Sunday the winner of these five coaches will be announced in a day that will also reveal the ‘King’ and ‘Queen’ of America.
As reported by El País, other coaches who received votes but are not in the final race are Fernando Batista, Renato Portaluppi, Gustavo Álvarez, Néstor Lorenzo, Daniel Oldrá, Jorge Fossati, César Farías, Gabriel Milito, Marcelo Broli and Jorge Almirón.
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