As a player, Marcelo Bielsa left the football pitch at the age of 25 due to a serious injury. After finishing his career as a player, Marcelo graduated from a pedagogical university and became a football coach. Due to the fact that Marcelo very rarely appears in public and does not like publicity, he received his nickname – El Loco (‘Madman’). According to the International Federation of Football History and Statistics, Marcelo Bielsa was called World's Best National Team Coach of the Year (2001).
The first team coached by Bielsa was the youth team of Newell's Old Boys: in 1998, his team won the third division of the national championship. In two years’ time the coach led the main team squad. The same season the team won the Argentinean Torneo Apertura and Torneo Integración.
In 1992, he led the Mexican Club Atlas.
In 2002, the Argentine Football Association invited him to coach the national team in the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
In 2007, he became head coach of the Chile national football team.
On July 7, 2011, Marcelo Bielsa was appointed head coach of Athletic Club (Bilbao, Spain). Due to the fact that Marcelo took the head coach position, Josu Urrutia agreed to take up the club president post. His first season at the club was a success with Atletic reaching the finals of Copa del Rey and Europa League losing to Barcelona and Atletico Madrid respectively. However, in the following season Atletic struggled in La Liga and the Argentine was released in June.
In 2014 Bielsa took reigns at Olympique Marseille.
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