Rodolfo Arruabarrena emerges as top candidate to replace Úbeda at Boca | OneFootball

After several days of total secrecy at Boca, the name of Rodolfo Arruabarrena began to emerge as a concrete possibility to take over as head coach following Claudio Úbeda’s departure.

After a period of strict silence and internal evaluation, the Xeneize leadership restarted the process of deciding on the new man to lead the first team. Amid a carousel of names that failed to generate internal consensus, Rodolfo Arruabarrena gained momentum, and from the Ezeiza training ground they already admit that he is a frontrunner and is shaping up as a real possibility.

The strategy of Juan Román Riquelme and Marcelo Delgado seems to be marked by a step-by-step approach: the first move was to make the outgoing coach’s departure official, and only then move forward fully in the search for his successor.

Arruabarrena managed Boca between 2014 and 2016.

In this context, el Vasco appears as the main target. His profile fits what the club’s leadership is looking for: he is a man shaped by the institution, was a champion as a player alongside Román, and has the huge advantage of already having absorbed the pressure of managing the club a decade ago.

Rodolfo Arruabarrena’s current situation

Arruabarrena is currently unattached and has gone one year and three months without being in charge of a squad. His last professional experience was with Al-Taawoun FC in Saudi Arabia, where his run was up and down: in a total of 29 matches, he recorded 13 wins, 6 draws, and 10 defeats.

Before his stint in Saudi football, he took on the challenge of leading the United Arab Emirates national team. With the national side, he came within one match of qualifying for the World Cup in Qatar, losing in the playoff against Australia (the team that would later face Argentina in the round of 16).

His numbers as Boca coach

If his return is finalized, Vasco will begin his second spell at the club. During his previous three seasons in charge of Boca Juniors, he led the team 75 times, posting a highly positive record: 47 wins, 13 draws, and just 15 defeats. Under his management, the club added two more trophies to its cabinet by winning the 2015 Primera División championship and that same year’s Copa Argentina.

Vasco won 2 titles as Xeneize coach: the 2015 league title and the Copa Argentina.

After that successful spell in Argentine football, he built a long and uninterrupted career in more exotic leagues, with stints at Al Wasl (2016-18), Al Rayyan (2018), Al-Ahli (2018-2020), Pyramids (2020-21), and the aforementioned Al-Taawoun (2024-25).

Keep reading:

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Claudio Úbeda’s assistant broke his silence after Boca exit

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.