Ricardo Zielinski · Biography

Ricardo Alberto Zielinski, known as “el Ruso”, was born on 14 October 1959 in Lanús, in Buenos Aires province. His name became tied to Argentine football on 14 December 2010, the day he took charge of Belgrano de Córdoba, then playing in the Primera B Nacional, the second tier. Six months later that team won promotion to the Argentine Primera División by beating River Plate in the relegation playoff, the tie that sent River down to the second division for the first time. Before that, Zielinski had spent many years coaching in the lower divisions and at clubs outside Buenos Aires.

Early years in the dugout

Zielinski began coaching in the mid-1990s. Sources disagree on the exact date: some place his first job in 1994, others describe a spell between 1996 and 1997, but all agree that his starting point was Club Atlético Ituzaingó, in the Buenos Aires lower leagues. From there he spent more than a decade at various clubs in the lower tiers of Argentine football, a long and low-profile path that taught him to work with short squads and tight budgets.

His last stop before Córdoba was Patronato of Paraná. Results there were uneven and he left after 18 matches. A few weeks later Belgrano called, looking for a coach to fight for promotion in the second half of the 2010-11 season.

Belgrano and the playoff against River

Zielinski took over on 14 December 2010 and led Belgrano into the promoción, the format of the time that pitted second-tier sides against the top-flight teams with the worst points averages. The opponent was River Plate. In June 2011 Belgrano won the first leg 2-0 in Córdoba and drew the return leg 1-1 at the Monumental. With that result, Belgrano returned to the Primera División and River were relegated for the first time in their history. The second leg was halted before the end because of crowd trouble, but the result stood.

That tie defined Zielinski’s profile. In the top flight his Belgrano earned a reputation as an organised side that was hard to beat, especially at home, and they kept crossing paths with River in the following years. The Argentine press went as far as calling him “River’s bogeyman” because of how often his teams caused problems for the Núñez club.

Six seasons in Córdoba

Zielinski stayed at Belgrano until May 2016, one of the longest spells by a coach at a single Argentine club in that period. In all he took charge of 214 matches at the club, with a 49 per cent success rate. Over those years he kept the team in the top flight and turned it into an awkward opponent for the big clubs. When he left in May 2016 he was the oldest coach in the Argentine top division.

Racing, Atlético Tucumán and Estudiantes

In August 2016 he took over Racing Club in Avellaneda. It was a short spell: he left in December 2016 and explained his reasons publicly. His next job was at Atlético Tucumán, another club from the provinces, where he went back to the approach that had worked best in Córdoba: compact blocks, tactical discipline and a competitive team built on measured resources.

He later coached Estudiantes de La Plata, a spell the Argentine press rated positively and which came just before his first experience abroad.

Nacional of Montevideo and Independiente

In 2023 he accepted an offer from Nacional of Montevideo, the reigning Uruguayan champions. The experience was brief: he was in charge for only seven matches and left by mutual agreement with the board. Back in Argentina, in 2024 he was appointed coach of Independiente on a short-term deal running until June of that year, at a difficult moment for the Avellaneda club.

Return to Belgrano

His bond with Belgrano was never fully broken. The club regarded him as the most successful coach in its history by matches managed and success rate, and the supporters still remembered the promotion against River. After his time at Independiente, the Córdoba board turned to him again for a second spell in the dugout at the Gigante de Alberdi. Belgrano made his return official in February 2025.