Abel Balbo

Abel Eduardo Balbo (Spanish pronunciation: [aˈβel eˈðwaɾðo ˈβalβo]; born 1 June 1966) is an Argentine former professional footballer and manager who played as a striker for various clubs in Argentina and Italy during the course of his career. He was also an Argentine international.

Abel Balbo

Balbo with Argentina in 1994
Personal information
Full name	Abel Eduardo Balbo
Date of birth	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)
National team
1989–1998	Argentina	37	(11)
Teams managed
2009	Treviso
2010–2011	Arezzo
2012	Arezzo
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

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 is currently working as football commentator in a RAI sport program called Stadio Sprint.

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.[8]

Personal life

Abel Balbo is married and a practising Roman Catholic.[9]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			Cup		Continental		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Newell's Old Boys	1986–87	Primera División	0	0	—		—		0	0
	1987–88		23	9	—		—		23	9
	Total		23	9	—		—		23	9
River Plate	1988–89	Primera División	38	12	—		—		38	12
Udinese	1989–90	Serie A	28	11	1	0	—		29	11
	1990–91		37	23	3	2	—		40	25
	1991–92		37	11	4	1	—		41	12
	1992–93		32	21	1	0	—		34^1	22^1
	Total		134	66	9	3	—		144	70
Roma	1993–94	Serie A	30	12	2	1	—		32	13
	1994–95		32	22	4	0	—		36	22
	1995–96		26	13	1	0	7	4	34	17
	1996–97		30	17	—		4	2	34	19
	1997–98		28	14	3	2	—		31	16
	Total		146	78	10	3	11	6	167	87
Parma	1998–99	Serie A	25	4	8	4	11	4	44	12
Fiorentina	1999–2000	Serie A	19	3	2	0	10	4	31	7
Roma	2000–01	Serie A	2	0	2	0	3	0	7	0
	2001–02		1	0	4	0	2	0	8^2	0
	Total		3	0	6	0	5	0	15	0
Boca Juniors	2002–03	Primera División	4	0	—		—		4	0
Career total			392	172	35	10	37	14	466	197

• ¹ Includes 1 appearance and 1 goal in the Serie B Relegation tie-breaker for the 1992–93 Serie A season.
• ² Includes 1 appearance in the 2001 Supercoppa Italiana.

International

Source:[10]

Argentina national team
Year	Apps	Goals
1989	5	0
1990	5	1
1991	–	–
1992	–	–
1993	3	2
1994	9	3
1995	9	4
1996	4	1
1997	–	–
1998	2	0
Total	37	11

Honours

Club

Newell's Old Boys[11]

• Argentine Primera División: 1988

Parma[12]

• Coppa Italia: 1998–99
• UEFA Cup: 1998–99

Roma

• Serie A: 2000–01[12]
• Supercoppa Italiana: 2001

International

Argentina[12][13]

• FIFA World Cup: 1990 runner-up
• Copa América: 1989 bronze medalist

Individual

• Serie B Top-Scorer: 1990–91 (22 Goals, with Udinese)[14]

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. "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.
9. "Intervista". ABEL BALBO official home page (in Italian). Xcogito S.r.l.. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
10. Abel Balbo at National-Football-Teams.com
11. Silvio Maverino (19 June 2013). "La rica historia de Newell's" [Newells' rich history] (in Spanish). Fox Sports. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
12. "Abel Balbo". Eurosport. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
13. "A. Balbo". Soccerway. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
14. Igor Kramarsic; Roberto Di Maggio; Alberto Novello (5 June 2014). "Italy - Serie B Top Scorers". rsssf.com. RSSSF. Retrieved 15 April 2015.

External links

• Official website (in Italian)
• "Futbol Factory profile" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 20 October 2007. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
• Abel Balbo at National-Football-Teams.com