'El Bolillo' Gómez got a new job as national team coach: he will fight for a place in the 2026 World Cup

Colombian Hernán Darío 'Bolillo' Gómez has become the new coach of El Salvador's senior national football team, replacing Spaniard David Dóniga, the Salvadoran Football Federation (Fesfut) announced on Monday.

Fesfut called for a press conference on Tuesday on its social network X account for "the official presentation of Professor Hernán Gómez " as "the new technical director of the senior national team."

Prior to this publication, the president of the governmental National Institute of Sports of El Salvador (Indes), Yamil Bukele, had announced in X the appointment of the Colombian.

"We welcome the new coach of the Selecta: Professor Hernán Darío Gómez," Bukele posted on his X account and said that he welcomes him "together with the authorities of the FESFUT."

He said: “We believe this is a unique opportunity to achieve the goal of seeing a senior national football team at a World Cup again.”

This Monday, Fesfut announced the departure of Spaniard David Dóniga, who has been in charge of the Selecta since January 2024. Dóniga managed to break a streak of more than two years without winning, qualified El Salvador for the 2025 Gold Cup and promoted this team to the Concacaf League A.

'El Bolillo' has managed the national teams of Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama and Honduras, as well as the Colombian teams Atlético Nacional, Santa Fe, Independiente Medellín, Junior and Águilas Doradas.

He has been a World Cup player, as a coach, with Colombia in France 1998, with Ecuador in Korea-Japan 2002 and with Panama in Russia 2018, in addition to having been a technical assistant to Francisco 'Pacho' Maturana with the Colombian team in the World Cups of Italy 1990 and the United States 1994.