Juan Ramón Rocha

Juan Ramón Rocha (born 8 March 1954) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is the current manager of Greek Football League club Thesprotos.

Juan Ramón Rocha
Rocha playing for Boca Juniors
Personal information
Full name Juan Ramón Rocha
Date of birth (1954-03-08) 8 March 1954[1]
Place of birth Santo Tomé, Argentina
Position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current team
Thesprotos (manager)
Youth career
1960–1970 Avanti Santo Tome Academy
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1972–1978 Newell's Old Boys 135 (26)
1978–1979 Junior 15 (3)
1979–1980 Boca Juniors 26 (3)
1980–1989 Panathinaikos 227 (13)
Total 403 (45)
National team
1973–1977 Argentina 3[2] (0)
Teams managed
1989–1990 Paniliakos
1990–1991 Ilisiakos
1991–1992 Kalamata
1994–1996 Panathinaikos
1997–1999 Aris
1999 Panathinaikos
2001–2003 Skoda Xanthi
2006–2007 Ilisiakos
2007–2008 Olympiakos Nicosia
2008–2012 Panathinaikos U20
2012–2013 Panathinaikos
2017–2018 Ruch Chorzów
2019– Thesprotos
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of August 28, 2007

Playing career

Born in Santo Tomé, Corrientes, Rocha began his professional career at Newell's Old Boys in 1972, he was part of their Metropolitano winning team in 1974. He moved to Boca Juniors in 1979 and played in 1979 Copa Libertadores finals. In 1980, he was transferred to Greek soccer club Panathinaikos where he played until his retirement on July 1, 1989.

Nicknamed The Indian, Rocha was a skillful player, with vision and remarkable sportsmanship. He is considered by many one of the greatest players in the team's history. Rocha was first signed for Panathinaikos under the name Boublis with Greek papers; the subsequent discovery of record falsifications and ensuing scandal almost landed Rocha in jail and Panathinaikos in the second division. These allegations were later dismissed and both Panathinaikos and Rocha were acquitted. This was one of the many cases of "hellenization" of foreign players for many Greek soccer clubs.

Managerial career

After retirement he started coaching, first Paniliakos in where he was coach-player at the Fourth Division,[3] then Iliasiakos, Kalamata FC and Skoda Xanthi. He was also the coach of Panathinaikos's semi final run in the 1995–96 UEFA Champions League. He also managed Olympiakos Nicosia in Cyprus.

He is now member of the scouting team of Panathinaikos, mostly searching players in Argentina and Southern America. After Jesualdo Ferreira resigned at 14 November 2012, Rocha once more became the manager of Panathinaikos.

On 11 September 2017 he was introduced as the coach of Ruch Chorzów.

Honours

Player

Newell's Old Boys
Panathinaikos

Manager

Panathinaikos

References

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