Gustavo Domingo Quinteros Desábato (born 15 February 1965) is a football manager and former professional player who played mainly as a centre-back. He is the manager of Argentine club Vélez Sarsfield. Born in Argentina, Quinteros played for the Bolivia national team, representing the nation in the 1994 FIFA World Cup. After retiring, he became a manager, taking over clubs in his native Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador (as well as both national teams), Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Chile and Mexico.

Early life

Quinteros was born in Cafferata, a small town in the Santa Fe Province. A midfielder, he joined the youth sides of Newell's Old Boys at the age of 13, but only spent a year at the club before leaving. He returned to the side at the age of 17, while studying biochemistry and pharmacy at the National University of Rosario.

Club career

Quinteros was unable to make a breakthrough at Newell's, only featuring as an unused substitute in a reserve team match in July 1985. Six months later, he joined Central Córdoba de Rosario, where he would make his senior debut. In 1987, Quinteros signed for Talleres de Remedios de Escalada, being a part of the squad which won the 1987–88 Primera B Metropolitana In the following year, after a failed move to a Primera B Nacional side, he moved to Bolivia and joined Universitario de Sucre. After scoring eight goals for U de Sucre, Quinteros moved to The Strongest for the 1989 season. At the latter club, he was converted into a centre-back, and established himself as a starter in that position. He later spent a two-season spell at San José, before returning to Strongest in 1994. After the 1994 World Cup, Quinteros returned to his birth nation, signing a contract with San Lorenzo after the club paid a US$ 170,000 fee. He would never establish himself as a starter at the club, only making his Argentine Primera División debut on 6 May 1995, in a 2–1 away win over Deportivo Mandiyú. Quinteros signed for Argentinos Juniors in 1997, before moving back to Bolivia in 1999 with Jorge Wilstermann. He retired with the latter club at the end of the season, aged 34.

International career

Quinteros initially obtained Bolivian nationality to "free up foreign quota", but was later called up to the Bolivia national team in 1993. He made his full international debut on 29 January of that year, starting and scoring the opener in a 3–1 friendly win over Honduras at the Estadio Félix Capriles in Cochabamba. Quinteros also played in the 1993, 1995 and 1999 editions of the Copa América, aside from the 1994 FIFA World Cup and the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup. He represented the nation on 26 occasions.

Managerial career

Argentinos Juniors

Shortly after retiring, Quinteros returned to Argentinos Juniors to work as their youth manager. In July 2003, he was named in charge of the first team, replacing Ricardo Gareca, but was himself replaced by Sergio Batista in December of that year.

Blooming

On 1 June 2005, Quinteros moved back to Bolivia and took over Blooming after the departure of Víctor Hugo Antelo. He led the club to the 2005 Apertura title, but resigned in June 2006, after a mid-table finish in the Clausura.

San Martín de San Juan

Shortly after leaving Blooming, Quinteros was named manager of San Martín de San Juan on 27 June 2006. On 6 February of the following year, however, he was sacked.

Blooming return

20 days after leaving San Martín, Quinteros returned to Blooming.

Bolívar

On 25 December 2008, after previously agreeing to a new one-year contract at Blooming, Quinteros was appointed manager of Bolívar. On 10 November 2009, he left the latter club.

Oriente Petrolero

On 7 January 2010, Quinteros was presented as manager of Oriente Petrolero. He won the season's Torneo de Invierno, before being announced as manager of the Bolivia national team on 5 November; Oriente still managed to retain Quinteros as manager until the Clausura tournament, also won by the club.

Bolivia national team

Quinteros officially took over the Bolivia national team on 29 November 2010. Under his guidance, Bolivia failed to win a single match during the entire 2011, but still managed to achieve a draw against Argentina in the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. On 3 July 2012, he presented his letter of resignation and called a press conference to announce his imminent departure from the national team.

Emelec

On 9 July 2012, Quinteros was appointed as manager of Ecuadorian club Emelec. He led the club to two consecutive Serie A titles, winning both the Apertura and Clausura in 2013 and defeating Barcelona SC in the finals in 2014.

Ecuador national team

On 30 January 2015, Quinteros was announced by the Ecuadorian Football Federation as manager of the national team, but only left Emelec on 15 March. Quinteros failed to qualify Ecuador to the 2018 FIFA World Cup after a 2–1 loss to Peru on 5 September 2017, and was sacked seven days later.

Middle East

On 3 October, Quinteros was announced as manager of Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia, but was dismissed the following 31 January. On 11 May 2018, he switched teams and countries again, after being appointed Al-Wasl manager, being sacked on 19 October.

Universidad Católica

On 21 December 2018, Quinteros moved to Chile after being named at the helm of Universidad Católica on 21 December. He left the Cruzados on 4 December 2019.

Tijuana

Quinteros was appointed manager of Mexican side Tijuana on 6 December 2019. He resigned from Xolos on 25 June 2020.

Colo-Colo

Quinteros returned to Chile on 3 October 2020, after being named Colo-Colo manager. He won two Copa Chile titles with the club, aside from the 2022 Supercopa de Chile, but left by mutual consent on 15 December 2023.

Vélez Sarsfield

On 23 December 2023, Quinteros returned to Argentina after taking over Vélez Sarsfield.

Managerial statistics