Diego López (footballer, born August 1974) facts for kids
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 22 August 1974 | |||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Montevideo, Uruguay | |||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.80 m | |||||||||||||||
| Playing position | Defender | |||||||||||||||
| Club information | ||||||||||||||||
| Current club | River Plate Montevideo (head coach) | |||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† | |||||||||||||
| 1994–1996 | River Plate Montevideo | 37 | (2) | |||||||||||||
| 1996–1998 | Racing Santander | 62 | (3) | |||||||||||||
| 1998–2010 | Cagliari | 314 | (7) | |||||||||||||
| Total | 413 | (12) | ||||||||||||||
| National team | ||||||||||||||||
| 1994–2005 | Uruguay | 39 | (0) | |||||||||||||
| Teams managed | ||||||||||||||||
| 2012–2013 | Cagliari (assistant) | |||||||||||||||
| 2013–2014 | Cagliari | |||||||||||||||
| 2014–2015 | Bologna | |||||||||||||||
| 2017 | Palermo | |||||||||||||||
| 2017–2018 | Cagliari | |||||||||||||||
| 2018–2019 | Peñarol | |||||||||||||||
| 2020 | Brescia | |||||||||||||||
| 2020 | Brescia | |||||||||||||||
| 2022 | Universidad de Chile | |||||||||||||||
| 2023–2024 | Barcelona SC | |||||||||||||||
| 2025– | River Plate Montevideo | |||||||||||||||
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Honours
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Luis Diego López Breijo (born 22 August 1974) is a football manager and a former player from Uruguay. He played as a defender. Currently, he is the manager of River Plate Montevideo.
Diego López spent most of his playing career with Cagliari in Italy. He played over 300 games for them during 12 years. He also played for the Uruguay national team in two Copa América tournaments.
After retiring as a player, López became a football manager. He has managed Cagliari twice, along with three other Italian clubs. In 2018, he led Peñarol to win the Uruguayan Primera División, which is Uruguay's top football league.
Contents
Diego López's Playing Career
Playing for Clubs
Diego López was born in Montevideo, Uruguay. He began his professional football journey with a local team called Club Atlético River Plate. After two years, he moved to Spain to play for Racing de Santander. In his first season there, he played 39 games in La Liga, which is Spain's top league.
In 1998, López moved to Italy and joined Cagliari Calcio. This team had just been promoted to Serie A, Italy's highest league. For seven seasons, he played in almost every league game for Cagliari. He even spent four years playing in Serie B, the second division. During his time at Cagliari, he became the team's captain.
In 2009, he signed another one-year contract with Cagliari. In the 2009–10 season, he played 18 games, helping his team stay in Serie A. On 9 September 2010, Diego López announced he was retiring from professional football. He had played 344 official matches for Cagliari, his main club.
Playing for Uruguay
Diego López first played for the Uruguay national team on 19 October 1994. This was a friendly match against Peru. The following year, he played for Uruguay in the Copa América tournament. Uruguay hosted this tournament and won it, only letting in four goals in six matches.
López did not play in the 2002 or 2010 FIFA World Cup tournaments. Overall, he played 32 games for his country.
Diego López's Coaching Career
In July 2012, Diego López started coaching the under-19 team for Cagliari. Soon after, he became an assistant coach for Cagliari's main team. In July 2013, he became the head coach for Cagliari. However, he left the club in April 2014.
On 1 July 2014, López became the manager of Bologna F.C. 1909 in Italy's second division. He had a good start, but he left the team in May 2015 after a difficult period.
López then managed U.S. Città di Palermo starting on 26 January 2017. He left the club in April after a series of tough results. On 18 October 2017, López returned to Cagliari as head coach. He helped the team avoid relegation that season, and then left by mutual agreement in June 2018.
In June 2018, López returned to his home country to manage Peñarol. He led the club to win the 2018 Uruguayan Primera División league title. They beat their main rivals, Club Nacional de Football, 1–0 in the final. He left Peñarol in December 2019.
On 5 February 2020, López went back to Italy to manage Brescia Calcio in the top division. His contract ended in August after the team was relegated. However, he returned to Brescia in October of the same year. He left the club again in December after three defeats.
Since then, he has managed Club Universidad de Chile (2022) and Barcelona S.C. (2023–2024). He is now the manager of River Plate Montevideo.
Diego López's Family Life
Diego López has three sons named Thiago, Ian, and Inty. They were all born in Italy. His oldest son, Thiago, also played football for the Cagliari youth team and later for Peñarol.
Managerial Statistics
Here is a summary of Diego López's coaching record for different teams:
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | ||||
| Cagliari |  |
1 July 2013 | 7 April 2014 | 33 | 7 | 11 | 15 | 31 | 46 | −15 | 21.21 |
| Bologna | |
1 July 2014 | 4 May 2015 | 40 | 16 | 15 | 9 | 47 | 35 | +12 | 40.00 |
| Palermo | |
26 January 2017 | 11 April 2017 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 8 | 26 | −18 | 10.00 |
| Cagliari | |
18 October 2017 | 7 June 2018 | 31 | 9 | 6 | 16 | 28 | 49 | −21 | 29.03 |
| Peñarol |  |
8 June 2018 | 17 December 2019 | 67 | 36 | 17 | 14 | 98 | 60 | +38 | 53.73 |
| Brescia | |
5 February 2020 | 20 August 2020 | 16 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 15 | 38 | −23 | 12.50 |
| Brescia | |
6 October 2020 | 7 December 2020 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 14 | 13 | +1 | 33.33 |
| Universidad de Chile |  |
31 May 2022 | 9 September 2022 | 13 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 12 | 18 | −6 | 23.08 |
| Barcelona SC |  |
12 July 2023 | 19 April 2024 | 24 | 13 | 9 | 2 | 39 | 22 | +17 | 54.17 |
| River Plate Montevideo | |
30 December 2024 | present | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +0 | — |
| Total | 243 | 90 | 71 | 82 | 292 | 307 | −15 | 37.04 | |||
Honours and Achievements
As a Player
Uruguay
- Copa América:
- Winner: 1995
- Runner-up: 1999
As a Manager
Peñarol
- Uruguayan Primera División:
- Winner: 2018
See also
In Spanish: Luis Diego López para niños
