Boca Juniors manager Miguel Angel Russo passed away at the age of 69 on Wednesday, the club announced. The Argentinian coach, who won the 2007 edition of the Copa Libertadores with Boca Juniors, was diagnosed with prostate cancer back in 2017 but in June 2025 accepted his third stint with the team in his career.
Over the years, he coached multiple clubs in and outside the country, including Al-Nassr from 2021 to 2022. After, days of home treatments as his health conditions got worse, on Wednesday Boca Juniors announced: “Miguel Angel Russo leaves much more at Boca than just the pleasant memories of his triumphs as head coach. What remains are his style and methods—if one may use a rhetorical device he perfected during his third and briefest stint at the club—for taking on challenges, pushing limits, and earning respect from both allies and rivals. He was passionate about his work, a tenacious fighter in every situation, and a reference point first as a player and later as a coach.”
Numerous clubs showed their support after his passing, including Real Madrid.
Russo led Boca Juniors at the FIFA Club World Cup earlier this summer but decided to step back in the last weeks due to his health conditions. His last official match was on Sept. 21 against Central Cordoba at the Bombonera Stadium in Buenos Aires, and since then his assistants Claudio Ubeda and Juvenal Rodríguez took charge of the first team. Russo is considered one of the biggest figures of Argentinian soccer, as he also coached San Lorenzo, Racing Club and was previously at Estudiantes, where he played his whole career as a midfielder, winning two league titles in 1982 and 1983.
