Picture : Marcelo Bielsa and Oscar Tabarez lead the ranking.
Coaches with most wins in South American qualifiers
During the edition of South American qualifiers for World Cup 2026, Marcelo Bielsa established new record of the competition for most wins as a national team coach.
The Argentinian, recently in duty with Uruguay, has a 25-year experience in South American qualifying, also with spells in his native country and Chile. He finished the last campaign with a total of 34 wins in 62 games between 2000 and 2025.
Bielsa surpassed Oscar Tabárez who amassed with Uruguay 31 wins in 74 games.
Inter-zonal qualifiers are also included in the statistics.
| SOUTH AMERICAN | QUALIFIERS | COACHES WITH MOST WINS | |||
| Coach | Nation | Wins | Games | Teams (Years) | |
| 1 | Marcelo Bielsa | Argentina | 34 | 62 | Argentina 00-04, Chile 07-09, Uruguay 23-25 |
| 2 | Óscar Tabárez | Uruguay | 31 | 74 | Uruguay 89-21 |
| 3 | Tite | Brazil | 24 | 29 | Brazil 16-22 |
| 4 | Lionel Scaloni | Argentina | 23 | 35 | Argentina 20- |
| 5 | José Pekerman | Argentina | 23 | 46 | Argentina 04-05, Colombia 12-17, Venezuela 22 |
| 6 | Hernán Darío Gómez | Colombia | 20 | 41 | Colombia 96-97, Ecuador 00-04 |