Marcelo Ebrard recognized Bora Milutinovic as a “Distinguished Mexican” in Qatar

During his tour of countries in the Middle East, Marcelo Ebrard Casaubón, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, paid a visit to Qatar. During his stay at the venue that will host the next World Cup, he took the opportunity to meet with the Mexican community in that country and recognize Bora Milutinovic's career through the award of the “Distinguished Mexicans” award.

Before the eyes of the audience, and in the company of the Mexican ambassador to Qatar, Graciela Márquez García, the former head of government of Mexico City presented Milutinovic with a silver medal and a diploma issued by SRE through embassies and consulates around the world. According to the federal agency, recognition is given:

“To persons of Mexican nationality, who have lived for at least the last 5 years continuously abroad and who have demonstrated an outstanding track record in any field of professional or personal activity in scientific, academic, technological, business, creative or innovation or social responsibility, among others”.

The legendary former footballer and coach had an outstanding step in teams in the Mexican league, as well as in world football. In that sense, having obtained tricolor nationality by naturalization, “he is admired and is a source of inspiration for many athletes from Mexico and the world,” they wrote through a statement lettered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE).

Throughout his 17-year career as a professional footballer, Milutinovic worked as a midfielder and spent four seasons defending the Pumas shirt of the National University, where he added more than 270 matches. Thanks to the importance he consolidated with the Pedregal team, he was appointed technical director after his retirement and embarked on a successful career on the bench.

At the helm of the university students he won the second championship in the history of his institution. Likewise, his record extended to the Concacaf Champions Cup, as well as the Inter-American Cup. His good performance led him to lead in leagues in other countries such as Argentina, Italy, the United States and Qatar.

As national coach, he had an outstanding step with the Mexican team in two different periods. He was in charge of directing the Tricolor when he was the host team at the 1986 World Cup. It is worth mentioning that in that edition the national representative sealed his best participation in history by reaching the quarterfinals, where he fell to the Federal German national team through penalties.

His second stage was between 1995 and 1997 to replace Miguel Mejía Barón, after the failure of United States 94. During the period he achieved qualification for the World Cup in France 1998, as well as the Gold Cup championship in 1996 and third place in the Copa América that was played the following year. Thanks to his long time, he became the second coach of the Tricolor with the most matches at the front of the bench.

During his visit to Qatar, Ebrard Casaubón also visited the facilities of the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium, located in the city of Rayán. It is a structure with design inspired by the traditional shops that are used in the country and throughout the gulf. It is one of the most innovative, as it is planned to be portable.

The venue is also known as the “Mexican Stadium” thanks to the participation that a national delegation had in its construction. This is a group of 45 people attached to Dunn Arquitectura Ligera, who was in charge of making the roof panels of the structure, as well as the internal façade.

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