Marca: Bolivia s famous Ascar Gota, who led the team in the 1994 World Cup, passed away

According to "Marca" report, Bolivian star Francisco Sabir Ascargota Uriarte (born in 1953 in Azpetia, Spain) passed away in Santa Cruz, Bolivia at the age of 72.

Ascargota’s wife is Spanish, and he has also lived in Spain for a long time. In his last public appearance on October 22, he emphasized: “I suffered from a heart disease a few years ago, but under the care of my wife and son, my condition is stable.”

Oriente Petroleum’s official account announced: “We are deeply saddened to announce that our former technical director and Bolivian football Football icon Professor Askar Gota, who led our national team to the 1994 World Cup, has sadly passed away. Our condolences go out to his family and friends at this sad time. Thank you for your legacy, Professor."

Ascar Gota started his career as a striker, playing for Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao's youth teams, but failed to achieve success at the professional level. In 1976, he was forced to retire at the age of 24 due to a serious injury to his right knee.

In 1978, at the age of 25, he began his coaching career. The first team he coached was Laguna Onac. Since then, he has coached Orella (1980-82), Nastec (1982-83), Espanyol (1983-86), Sevilla (1987-88), Tenerife (1990), Bolivia (1993-94), Chile (1995-96), Yokohama Marinos (1997) -98), Guadalajara (2005), Bolivia (2012-14), Bolivar (2014-15), Petro Oriente (2015-16), Sports Boy (2016-17), Atlético de Palma Flor (2020), and will return to Bolivia in 2023 as an assistant coach.

In the early days of his coaching career, in the 1983/84 season, he became the youngest head coach in La Liga at the age of 29, coaching Espanyol. In total, he coached 229 games in the top league with a record of 74 wins, 68 draws and 87 losses.

In addition, he also served as director of Real Madrid's Academy of the Americas for two years and briefly served as Valencia's sporting director in 2008. Ascargota, nicknamed "Basque", was a pioneer in the coaching world and started the path for many Spanish coaches to coach abroad in the early 1990s.

He also led Bolivar to two championships (2014 and 2015), led Chile to the Canada Cup in 1995, and led the Yokohama Marinos to the J-League title in 1998.

He also left many famous quotes, the most famous of which is "The game is like life." His greatest achievement, however, was undoubtedly leading Bolivia through qualifying to the World Cup for the first and only time. It was in the 1994 World Cup in the United States. Destiny caused him to meet Spain led by Clemente, and ultimately lost 1-3. The goalscorers were Guardiola and Caminero.