Sergio Markarián

Sergio Apraham Markarián Abrahamian (born 1 November 1944) is a Uruguayan football coach of Armenian descent. In 2015, he was the head coach of the Greece national football team.

Early life

Markarián lived in Argentina during most of his childhood and adolescent years, from 7 to 18 years of age. He played football as a left center back defender until he was 17 years of age. Never making it to professional football, he entered into university studies and started working in a large fuel distribution company in Uruguay, eventually reaching the post of general manager. It was the Uruguay loss against Holland in the 1974 FIFA World Cup which spurred Markarian to realise that coaching football was his vocation. Markarian abandoned his well-paid post as general manager, taking many risks, even when facing criticism from colleagues and friends, in order to dedicate his life to coaching professional football. Markarian lost status and spending power and endured 10 difficult years at the beginning of his coaching career. As he stated, "I had to sell my Mercedes Benz and start catching the bus!"