Facundo Sava

Early years and Fulham Sava started his career at Ferro Carril Oeste in 1993. In 1996, he moved to Boca Juniors. A year later, he was sold on to Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata. In 2002, Sava was sold to Fulham on a four-year deal for £2 million, having helped his team come second to Club Atlético River Plate. He was the one signing made by Franco Baresi as sporting director, while manager Jean Tigana was on holiday. Sava made his debut on 6 July in the UEFA Intertoto Cup first round away to FC Haka in Finland, playing 60 minutes before being substituted for Barry Hayles. His Premier League debut was on 17 August as the season began with a 4–1 home win over Bolton Wanderers; he came on for Louis Saha with 12 minutes remaining. In the next game a week later, again from the bench, he equalised in the last minute in a 2–2 draw at Middlesbrough. He contributed seven goals in 38 games to help towards a fifth-place finish; this included two on 20 November in a 4–0 home win over Hércules CF. Return to Argentina Sava was one of six Fulham players released in May 2006. He then returned to his country's top flight, at Racing Club de Avellaneda. In 2008, he joined Arsenal de Sarandí and, the following season, he helped Quilmes Atlético Club achieve promotion to the Argentine Primera División. However, he did not stay with Quilmes in the Primera, instead returning to his first club, Ferro Carril Oeste, after 14 years. With Ferro, he played 6 games in the 2010–11 season of the Primera B Nacional, before deciding to retire. He played his last game in an away draw against Club Atlético Belgrano on 11 September 2010. ==Coaching career==

On 23 April 2012, Sava took his first coaching job as the head coach at San Martín de San Juan, having previously been the assistant. He made his debut five days later, in a 1–0 home top-flight win over Godoy Cruz Antonio Tomba. On 4 September, having lost all five games of the new season, he was sacked. At the start of 2013, Sava succeeded Nery Pumpido at Unión de Santa Fe. He kept his job after relegation, but was dismissed in December as the team fell out of the Nacional B play-off positions. In May 2014, Sava was appointed by Chilean Primera División club O'Higgins F.C. as the replacement for his compatriot, Eduardo Berizzo. The following January, he was dismissed after a defeat at C.D. Universidad de Concepción. Sava was hired by his former team Quilmes in July 2015, moving in December to replace Diego Cocca at Racing Club for a 3 million Argentine peso fee. He made his debut on 4 February 2016 in his first continental game, a 2–2 draw at Puebla FC in Mexico for the Copa Libertadores qualifying round, eventually being eliminated 2–1 in the last 16 in May by Brazil's Clube Atlético Mineiro. Club president Víctor Blanco confirmed Sava as manager for the rest of the calendar year, but he left and was replaced by Ricardo Zielinski before the new season. In March 2017, Sava was hired for two years at Club Atlético Tigre. On 3 June, he announced his resignation following a 3–0 home loss to Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield. At the start of the new year, he returned to Gimnasia where he had left as a player 16 years earlier. He left on 21 April, after achieving two wins and three draws from 12 games. Sava returned to Quilmes in December 2019. In 2021, the team reached the promotion play-off final, losing on penalties to Barracas Central after a goalless draw on 21 December. In March 2022, Sava returned to the top flight, being hired by Club Atlético Patronato for the rest of the year. He guided the team to the Copa Argentina, winning 2–1 at Gimnasia in the last 16, on penalties against River Plate in the quarter-finals, and on the same method against Boca Juniors in the semi-finals, before defeating Talleres de Córdoba by a single goal in the final on 31 October. Days later, he announced that he would not renew his contract. Sava moved to Paraguay as manager of Cerro Porteño on 12 February 2023, but was sacked on 9 July. On 27 October, he returned to his country's top flight on a 12-month deal replacing Pablo Lavallén at Club Atlético Sarmiento, but left on 28 November. On 30 December 2023, Sava was appointed manager of Huracán, but resigned the following 18 February. On 3 March 2024, he took over fellow top-tier side Atlético Tucumán. Sava resigned on 8 February 2025, and took over Sarmiento on 1 August. ==Managerial statistics==

Player ;Fulham • UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2002 Manager ;Patronato • Copa Argentina: 2022 ==References==