Gustavo Costas

Gustavo Adolfo Costas Makeira (born 28 February 1963) is an Argentine football manager and former player who played as a defender. He is the current head coach of Primera División club Racing Club.

Playing career
Born in Buenos Aires, Costas started his playing career in 1982 with Racing Club, in 1983 the club suffered a disastrous relegation from the Primera División. Costas became a key part of the team that won promotion back to the Primera in 1985.

In 1988, Costas was part of the Racing Club team that won the Supercopa Sudamericana, their first major title in 21 years, they then went on to win the less prestigious Supercopa Interamaricana. He left Racing in 1992 to join Swiss team Locarno, after playing over 100 games for them he returned to Racing in 1994.

Costas left Racing again in 1995 having played in a club record 298 games, scoring six goals. He joined Gimnasia de Jujuy where he played until his retirement in 1997.

Managerial career
Costas then took charge as manager of Alianza Lima in Peru in 2003. He immediately led them to success in the Clausura 2003, and then saw his team win the Primera División Peruana final against Sporting Cristal.

In 2004, Costas led Alianza to the Apertura 2004 title and another chance to win the final of the Primera División where they again defeated Sporting Cristal, this time 5–4 on penalties. In 2005, he became the manager of Cerro Porteño in Paraguay, under his leadership the club won both the Apertura and Clausura in 2005 to be crowned undisputed national champions.

In 2007, Costas returned to Racing Club for his second spell in charge of "La Academia". Costas has currently signed a 2-year contract to manage Olimpia of Paraguay starting at the 2008 season.

In 2009, Costas returned to Alianza Lima and led them to play the final against Universitario. On 18 July 2011, he signed for Al Nassr from Saudi Arabia, but was dismissed on 30 November after due to poor results.

On 11 April 2012, Costas became the head coach of Ecuadorian club Barcelona SC, signing a one-year contract ending in June 2013. He won the first stage which secured Barcelona a spot to the 2012 Copa Sudamericana, 2013 Copa Libertadores and the third stage of the Ecuadorian Serie A. On 2 December, Barcelona won the second stage, automatically becoming the champion of the 2012 Ecuadorian Serie A. Costas has extended his contract until December 2013.

On 6 June 2019, Costas was appointed manager of Guaraní. On 20 December 2021, he became manager of Palestino.

On 19 August 2022, Costas was presented as manager of the Bolivia national team, effective as the following November, once his season with Palestino ended. On 25 October 2023, he was sacked.

Player

 * Racing Club
 * Supercopa Sudamericana: 1988
 * Recopa Sudamericana runner-up: 1989

Manager
Alianza Lima
 * Peruvian Primera División: 2003, 2004

Cerro Porteño
 * Paraguayan Primera División: 2005

Barcelona
 * Ecuadorian Serie A: 2012

Santa Fe
 * Categoría Primera A: 2014 Finalización, 2016 Finalización
 * Superliga Colombiana: 2015
 * Suruga Bank Championship: 2016