The South American Coach of the Year () is an annual association football award presented to the best coach of a club or national team in South America over the previous calendar year. The award has been presented by Uruguayan newspaper El País since 1986.
The award goes to any coach/manager of a South American club or national team, regardless of the coaches' nationality. Argentine coaches have won the award the most, with 21 wins by 12 different coaches. With five awards, Argentine Carlos Bianchi is the most decorated awardee. The Argentina and Colombia national teams are the sides that produced most wins, with 5 each. The current recipient is Brazilian Filipe Luís, manager of Flamengo in 2025.
Winners YearCoachTeam1986 Carlos Bilardo1987 Carlos Bilardo1988 Roberto Fleitas Nacional1989 Sebastião Lazaroni1990 Luis Cubilla Olimpia1991 Alfio Basile1992 Telê Santana São Paulo1993 Francisco Maturana1994 Carlos Bianchi Vélez Sarsfield1995 Héctor Núñez1996 Hernán Darío Gómez1997 Daniel Passarella1998 Carlos Bianchi Boca Juniors1999 Luiz Felipe Scolari Palmeiras2000 Carlos Bianchi Boca Juniors2001 Carlos Bianchi Boca Juniors2002 Luiz Felipe Scolari2003 Carlos Bianchi Boca Juniors2004 Luis Fernando Montoya Once Caldas2005 Aníbal Ruiz2006 Claudio Borghi Colo-Colo2007 Gerardo Martino2008 Edgardo Bauza LDU Quito2009 Marcelo Bielsa2010 Óscar Tabárez2011 Óscar Tabárez2012 José Pékerman2013 José Pékerman2014 José Pékerman2015 Jorge Sampaoli2016 Reinaldo Rueda Atlético Nacional2017 Tite2018 Marcelo Gallardo River Plate2019 Marcelo Gallardo River Plate2020 Marcelo Gallardo River Plate2021 Abel Ferreira Palmeiras2022 Lionel Scaloni2023 Fernando Diniz Fluminense/2024 Artur Jorge Botafogo2025 Filipe Luís Flamengo
Wins by coach CoachWinsYears Carlos Bianchi51994, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003 José Pékerman32012, 2013, 2014 Marcelo Gallardo32018, 2019, 2020 Carlos Bilardo21986, 1987 Luiz Felipe Scolari21999, 2002 Óscar Tabárez22010, 2011
Wins by nationality CountryCoachesWins122167564422
Wins by team TeamCoachesWins4535 Boca Juniors144423 River Plate1322 Palmeiras2222 Atlético Nacional11 Botafogo11 Colo-Colo11 Flamengo11 Fluminense11 LDU Quito11 Nacional11 Olimpia11 Once Caldas11 São Paulo11 Vélez Sarsfield11
Notes
References General
Specific
External links South American Coach of the Year at RSSSF El Pais newspaper (Spanish)