Abel Balbo

Abel Eduardo Balbo (Spanish pronunciation: [aˈβel eˈðwaɾðo ˈβalβo]; born 1 June 1966) is an Argentine football manager and former player who played as a striker.

Abel Balbo
Balbo with Argentina in 1994
Personal information
Full name Abel Eduardo Balbo
Date of birth (1966-06-01) 1 June 1966
Place of birth Empalme, Argentina
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
Newell's Old Boys
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1987–1988 Newell's Old Boys 23 (9)
1988–1989 River Plate 38 (12)
1989–1993 Udinese 134 (66)
1993–1998 Roma 146 (78)
1998–1999 Parma 25 (4)
1999–2000 Fiorentina 19 (3)
2000–2002 Roma 3 (0)
2002 Boca Juniors 4 (0)
Total 392 (172)
International career
1989–1998 Argentina 37 (11)
Managerial career
2009 Treviso
2010–2011 Arezzo
2012 Arezzo
2022 Central Córdoba
2023 Estudiantes
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Balbo played for various clubs in Argentina and Italy during the course of his career. He was also an Argentine international.

Club career

Balbo was born in Empalme Villa Constitución, Santa Fe.

At club level, Balbo played for Newell's Old Boys (1987–88), River Plate (1988–89), before moving to Italy and Udinese (1989–93), Roma (1993–98 and 2000–02), Parma (1998–99), and Fiorentina. He played four games for Boca Juniors before finally retiring. He scored a total of 138 goals in Serie A; his best seasons came in 1992–93 for Udinese and 1994–95 for Roma, with 22 goals in each of them.

In 2000, Roma paid Fiorentina 1.75 billion Italian lire to re-sign him and offered him a two-year contract with 1.7 billion annual salary before tax.[1]

International career

For Argentina, Balbo scored 11 goals in 37 caps, and played at the 1990, the 1994, the 1998 FIFA World Cups, the 1989 and 1995 Copas América. In the 1995 tournament in Uruguay, Balbo partnered Gabriel Batistuta in attack, and scored a goal against Brazil's Claudio Taffarel in an infamous quarter-final game that Argentina eventually lost in a penalty shootout after Brazilian striker Tulio Costa scored the Brazilian equalizer with 10 minutes to go – after clearly controlling the ball with his arm.

Post-retirement and coaching

After his retirement, Balbo eventually became a musician, performing songs in Italian and Spanish. He took his UEFA Pro coaching badges in 2007,[2] and currently works as a football commentator for RAI Radio1.[3]

In February 2009 he took his first head coaching job, succeeding to Luca Gotti as manager of bottom-table Serie B club Treviso.[4] He resigned only a few rounds later, on 18 March, after having achieved only one point in four games, citing lack of professionalism and organizational issues as the main reasons for his choice to step down as Treviso manager.[5]

In November 2010 he was appointed as new technical area coordinator and assistant coach of Serie D club Atletico Arezzo until the end of the season.[6][7]

In the season 2012–13 he coached the Serie D club Arezzo from the start of the season until 30 October 2012, when he left by mutual consent with the club. He successively worked as football commentator for Italian public broadcasting group RAI.

In June 2022, after almost ten years without a coaching job, Balbo moved back to Argentina to accept the managerial position at Argentine Primera División club Central Córdoba (SdE).[8] On 20 October, after guiding his club to safety in the 2022 Argentine Primera División, Central Córdoba announced the departure of Balbo by the end of the season.[9]

On 22 October 2022, Balbo took over fellow top tier side Estudiantes de La Plata.[10]

Style of play

Described as "an authentic centre-forward," by Il Corriere dello Sport in 2019, Balbo was a physically strong forward, with good feet and a powerful shot, who was renowned for his composure in front of goal and his efficient playing style. He was mainly known for his eye for goal and his movement, in particular inside the penalty area, which also made him a threat on counter–attacks; he also excelled in the air. In addition to his playing ability, he was also known to be a correct player.[11]

Personal life

Abel Balbo is married and a practising Roman Catholic.[12]

Career statistics

Club
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup Continental Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Newell's Old Boys 1986–87 Primera División 00——00
1987–88 239——239
Total 239——239
River Plate 1988–89 Primera División 3812——3812
Udinese 1989–90 Serie A 281110—2911
1990–91 Serie B 372332—4025
1991–92 371141—4112
1992–93 Serie A 322110—341221
Total 1346693—14470
Roma 1993–94 Serie A 301221—3213
1994–95 322240—3622
1995–96 261310743417
1996–97 3017—423419
1997–98 281432—3116
Total 1467810311616787
Parma 1998–99 Serie A 254841144412
Fiorentina 1999–2000 Serie A 19320104317
Roma 2000–01 Serie A 20203070
2001–02 104020820
Total 306050150
Boca Juniors 2002–03 Primera División 40——40
Career total 39217235103714466197

International
Source:[13]
Argentina
YearAppsGoals
198950
199051
1991––
1992––
199332
199493
199594
199641
1997––
199820
Total3711

Honours

Club

Newell's Old Boys

Parma

Roma

International

Argentina[15][16]

Individual

References
  1. "Balbo ritorna alla Roma". AS Roma (in Italian). 2 August 2000. Archived from the original on 2 June 2002. Retrieved 1 April 2010.
  2. "Calori e Balbo allenatori di prima categoria" (in Italian). Messaggero Veneto. 7 July 2007. Retrieved 26 October 2008.
  3. "News : Rai: Lo Sport a 360 gradi su radio, tv, satellite e digitale terrestre" (in Italian). RAI. 27 September 2008. Archived from the original on 15 February 2009. Retrieved 26 October 2008.
  4. "ABEL BALBO NUOVO ALLENATORE DEL TREVISO CALCIO" (in Italian). Treviso FBC 1993. 24 February 2009. Archived from the original on 27 February 2009. Retrieved 24 February 2009.
  5. "TREVISO, IL TECNICO BALBO SI DIMETTE" (in Italian). ANSA.it. 18 March 2009. Archived from the original on 21 March 2009. Retrieved 22 March 2009.
  6. "Calcio D, Arezzo: Zingaretti-Montalbano dirigente, a Abel Balbo l'area tecnica" (in Italian). Blitz Quotidiano. 21 November 2010. Retrieved 28 November 2010.
  7. "Ufficiale Fratini esonerato, al suo posto Coppola affiancato da Balbo" (in Italian). Colore Amaranto. 23 November 2010. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 28 November 2010.
  8. "Arrancó la era Balbo: es el nuevo DT de Central Córdoba" (in Spanish). Olé.com.ar. 21 July 2022. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  9. "ESTUDIANTES: ABEL BALBO SE VA DE CENTRAL CÓRDOBA" (in Spanish). Infocielo.com. 20 October 2022. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  10. "Estudiantes se trae a Balbo de Santiago" [Estudiantes bring Balbo from Santiago] (in Spanish). TyC Sports. 19 October 2022.
  11. "Abel Balbo, il primo bomber della Roma di Sensi" [Abel Balbo, the first goal scorer of Sensi's ROma]. Il Corriere dello Sport (in Italian). 31 May 2019. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  12. "Intervista". ABEL BALBO official home page (in Italian). Xcogito S.r.l.. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  13. Abel Balbo at National-Football-Teams.com
  14. Silvio Maverino (19 June 2013). "La rica historia de Newell's" [Newells' rich history]. Fox Sports (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 27 April 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  15. "Abel Balbo". Eurosport. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  16. "A. Balbo". Soccerway. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  17. Igor Kramarsic; Roberto Di Maggio; Alberto Novello (5 June 2014). "Italy - Serie B Top Scorers". RSSSF. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
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