The CONMEBOL Copa América™ Coaches: Gustavo Alfaro

• The Argentine coach is one of the most experienced in CONMEBOL Copa América 2024™.
• Alfaro has already coached Ecuador in the world’s oldest national team tournament.

At the helm of the Costa Rican national team since November 2023, Gustavo Julio Alfaro is looking to make history in a competition he already knows well.

He was born in Rafaela, a province of Santa Fe, on August 14, 1962. The Argentine has extensive experience as a football coach, having started in 1992 shortly after finishing his playing career.

On the pitch, Alfaro was a midfielder with a short career that he spent almost entirely at Atlético de Rafaela, in his hometown. He took charge of the team after leaving the pitch, and would also work at Patronato, Quilmes, Atlético and Belgrano in the following years. The first title came in 2002, when he led Olimpo to the title of the Primera B Nacional, the second division of Argentine football.

He returned to Quilmes in 2003, being responsible for taking the club back to the elite of national football, then spent two years at San Lorenzo and before arriving at Arsenal de Sarandí. There he had some of his best results at a continental level, leading the ‘Arse’ to qualify for the CONMEBOL Libertadores and, especially, the 2007 CONMEBOL Sudamericana title, the first international glory in the history of the Buenos Aires team.

After two years of absence, with stints at Rosario Central and Al-Ahli (Saudi Arabia), Alfaro returned to the Avellaneda team where he lifted trophies again: under his command, the team was champion of the Clausura and the Argentine Super Cup, in 2012, and of the Copa Argentina, in 2013, the best results of the viaduct club at a national level. He then coached Tigre, Gimnasia de La Plata, Huracán and Boca Juniors.

In 2020, Alfaro was hired to lead Ecuador’s national team and coached La Tri through all qualifying matches for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. A year later, the coach participated in his first CONMEBOL Copa América™ in Brazil, where his team reached the quarterfinals. The Ecuadorians finished the world qualifying tournament in fourth place with 7 wins from 18 matches, which guaranteed a direct pass to the group stage. In Qatar, they beat the hosts 2-0 in the opening match of that edition, but ultimately failed to qualify for the group stage of the tournament.

Alfaro took charge of Costa Rica the following year and qualified for the Concacaf Nations League playoffs to place the Ticos in the 2024™ CONMEBOL Copa America USA. With the extensive experience of their Argentine coach and the experience of success in past editions, the Costa Ricans have reason to believe that they will perform well on North American soil this year.