Jorge Fossati hired as Peru's coach amid poor start to World Cup qualifying
Coach Jorge Fossati of Peru's Universitario, right, celebrates his side's second goal against Colombia's Independiente Santa Fe, during a Copa Sudamericana group G soccer match at Monumental stadium in Lima, Peru, May 4, 2023. Peru’s soccer body announced on Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023, it picked Fossati as its new national team coach. Credit: AP/Martin Mejia
Jorge Fossati was hired Wednesday as Peru's national team coach, replacing Juan Reynoso, who was fired two weeks ago amid a poor campaign in World Cup qualifying.
Fossati, a 71-year-old Uruguayan, takes over Peru after a successful stint at Lima-based club Universitario, which won the Peruvian league title this season after a 9-year drought.
Peru sits at the bottom of the 10-team round-robin competition for spots at the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada with only two points after six matches.
The World Cup is expanding to a 48-team format, which means the number of direct spots from South America increases from four to six and the seventh-place team goes into an intercontinental playoff for another place.
Seventh-place Paraguay has five points, three more than Peru. South American World Cup qualifying will resume in September.
“We trust the experience and the skills of Jorge Fossati to take this great challenge,” Agustín Lozano Saavedra, the president of Peru's soccer federation, said in a statement.
Fossati coached Uruguay from 2004-06, but failed to take the team to the World Cup after losing an international playoff to Australia. He also coached Qatar from 2007-08.
Fossati's club career is more decorated. He won several titles at Uruguay's Peñarol, Ecuador's Liga de Quito, Qatar's Al Sadd and Paraguay's Cerro Porteño.
Peru will play in the Copa America in the U.S. before it resumes its World Cup qualifying campaign. The Peruvians are in Group A of that tournament with World Cup champion Argentina, Chile and the winner of a Canada-Trinidad and Tobago playoff.
