Francisco Antonio Maturana García, also known as Pacho Maturana is a Colombian ex-football player and football manager. During his time managing most noticeably Atletico Nacional and the Colombian national football team, he achieved success marking an era in Colombian football by leading Nacional to be the first Colombian team to win the Copa Libertadores in 1989, while winning Colombia's first ever national title: the Copa America in 2001. He is currently a member of the FIFA Football Committee.
Career
Player
Born in Quibdó, Chocó, Francisco Maturana moved with his family at an early age to the city of Medellín. Here he played professional football while attending the University of Antioquia where he later obtained a degree in Dentistry. He began his professional career in 1970 at Atlético Nacional where he became a starting defender until 1980. During his time in Atlético Nacional he won two Colombian League Championships in 1973 and 1976. In 1981, he transferred to Atlético Bucaramanga and also played 6 matches with the Colombian National Team during the qualifying matches for the 1982 World Cup. In 1982, he played his last year with Deportes Tolima until he retired at the end of the season.
Manager
By motivation from Uruguayans Aníbal Ruíz and Luis Cubilla, he started managing Colombian team Once Caldas in 1986. The following year the Colombia Football Federation hired him to manage the national team's youth squad and then was quickly promoted to manage the Senior Squad to compete in the 1987 Copa América where they reached third place by beating the host Argentina. During this time, he was also hired to manage his former team Atlético Nacional. Then in 1989 he had his most successful year in his career. He led Atlético Nacional, composed of many Colombian legends, to win the Copa Libertadores for the first time for any Colombian club. Using Atlético Nacional players as a base for the National Team, he qualified the team to the 1990 World Cup after 28 years of absence. In December, he lost the Intercontinental Cup to AC Milan at the last minute of overtime. An upset to what would have been the perfect season. The following year he led Colombia to its best performance in World Cup competition until 2014 by reaching the second round and losing to Cameroon. After the World Cup, he was hired as coach of Spain's Real Valladolid. He was rumored to be the next Real Madrid coach for the 1991–92 season. In 1993, he was voted as the South Americancoach of the year by El Pais and he was ranked third in Spanish Newspaper Marca's list of the world's greatest managers. He returned to Colombia in 1992. and got his team América de Cali champion of Colombia. In 1993, he got Colombia qualified for a second time in a row to a World Cup, with a historic triumph over Argentina in Buenos Aires by 5–0. That score made Colombia a surprising favorite for the 1994 World Cup, but the performance there was disappointing, as the team was eliminated in the first round, being defeated by United States and Romania, although it was understood that the team's make-up had been heavily influenced by rampant threats from the cartel groups at the time. He had later a brief stint as coach of Atlético Madrid and in 1995 he was hired as the trainer of Ecuador National Football Team. After failing to get Ecuador qualified for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, he returned to Colombia to coach Millonarios. In 1999, he briefly coached Costa Rica, and in 2000 he also coached for a few months Peru. He would later return to coach Colombia for the 2001 Copa América, winning it for the first time. His latest jobs as a coach would include Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal, where he won the domestic league and the Asian Champions League and a new stint for Colombia and Argentina's Colón de Santa Fe. He worked for FIFA as a technical adviser where he has hold various coaching seminars around the world with the likes of Fabio Capello and Cesar Menotti. In April 2007 Maturana accepted an offer from ArgentineClub de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata. He directed his first game on April 22, 2007, the derby against Estudiantes de La Plata. In August 2007 Maturana ended his relationship with Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata As of February 1 he took up the position of Head Coach of Trinidad and Tobago's National Team. His first game in charge was against Guadeloupe on February 6 at the Queens Park Oval in Trinidad. However, on April 8, 2009 Maturana was sacked as manager of Trinidad and Tobago. In June 2019, he was appointed as a technical advisor for the national team of Venezuela in the 2019 Copa América.
