Bora Milutinović

Velibor "Bora" Milutinović (born 7 September 1944) is a Serbian former footballer and manager. He holds the record for managing the most national team matches—273 across eight different countries. He is one of three managers to have coached at five World Cups, and the only one to do so in five consecutive tournaments with five different teams: Mexico (1986), Costa Rica (1990), the United States (1994), Nigeria (1998), and China (2002). Mexico and the U.S. qualified as hosts. Milutinović took four of those five teams past the group stage—all except China—earning him the nickname "Miracle Worker," coined by Alan Rothenberg, then president of the U.S. Soccer Federation.

Milutinović led Mexico to the quarter-finals of the 1986 World Cup, its best finish, where they lost to West Germany on penalties. He took over Costa Rica just 90 days before the 1990 World Cup, cut the captain and other starters, and guided them to the second round after wins over Scotland and Sweden, a 1–0 loss to Brazil, and a 4–1 defeat to Czechoslovakia. In 1991, the U.S. Soccer Federation hired him after American coaches had failed internationally; the U.S. had lost all three games at the 1990 World Cup.

Milutinović cut players including Peter Vermes, Desmond Armstrong, and all-time leading scorer Bruce Murray, and told Alexi Lalas to get a haircut or leave the team. At the 1994 World Cup, the U.S. won its first match since 1950 and reached the knockout stage for the first time since the 1930s. The USSF fired him in April 1995, citing a need for a coach who could also handle administrative duties—work Milutinović reportedly wanted no part of. With Nigeria in 1998, he won the group, including a 3–2 upset of Spain, and reached the knockout rounds—the fourth team he took that far.

In 2002, he led China to its first World Cup finals, ending a 44-year drought; China lost all three matches without scoring, and Milutinović resigned afterward.

He also managed Honduras, resigning during World Cup qualifying in 2004, citing a "prevailing bad atmosphere" from officials and press. He coached Jamaica from 2006 until being fired in 2007 after six straight friendly defeats. At the 2009 Confederations Cup, he led Iraq to two draws and a loss, failing to advance.

At club level, his longest stint was with UNAM in Mexico from 1977 to 1983; several of his players later featured for Mexico at the 1986 World Cup. He later managed Udinese in Serie B for nine matches in 1987, the MetroStars to the worst record in MLS history in 1999, and Al-Sadd in Qatar in 2004–05.

Milutinović comes from a footballing family; he and his brothers Miloš and Milorad played together for Partizan. His father was killed in World War II, his mother died of tuberculosis soon after, and he was raised by an aunt. He is married to a Mexican woman and lives in Qatar. Besides his native Serbo-Croatian, he speaks English, Spanish, Italian, and French. As a player, he won the Copa MX with UNAM in 1974–75.