Diego López (footballer, born August 1974)
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Luis Diego López Breijo | ||||||||||||||||
Date of birth | 22 August 1974 | ||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Montevideo, Uruguay | ||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||||||||||||||||
Position(s) | Defender | ||||||||||||||||
Team information | |||||||||||||||||
Current team | Brescia (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) | |||||||||||||||
International career | |||||||||||||||||
1994–2005 | Uruguay | 39 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
Managerial career | |||||||||||||||||
2012–2013 | Cagliari (assistant) | ||||||||||||||||
2013–2014 | Cagliari | ||||||||||||||||
2014–2015 | Bologna | ||||||||||||||||
2017 | Palermo | ||||||||||||||||
2017–2018 | Cagliari | ||||||||||||||||
2018–2019 | Peñarol | ||||||||||||||||
2020– | Brescia | ||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Luis Diego López Breijo (Spanish pronunciation: [lwizˈðjeɣo ˈlopes];[a] born 22 August 1974) is a Uruguayan retired footballer who played as a defender, and a coach. He is currently in charge of Serie A Italian club Brescia.
His career as a defender was intimately connected with Cagliari in Italy, for which he appeared in over 300 competitive games in 12 years.[1] Internationally, he represented Uruguay in two Copa América tournaments.
López served as Cagliari's manager in two spells, as well as three other Serie A clubs. In 2018, he won the Uruguayan Primera División for Peñarol
Playing career
Club
Born in Montevideo, López started playing professionally with local Club Atlético River Plate. Two years later he signed with Racing de Santander in Spain, playing in 39 La Liga games in his debut season but receiving nine yellow cards and three red in the process;[2][3][4] in Cantabria, he shared teams with compatriots Fernando Correa and José Zalazar.[5]
In 1998, López moved to Italy and joined Cagliari Calcio, freshly promoted to Serie A. During his first seven seasons in Sardinia, with the exception of his first year – only one match – he never appeared in less than 26 league contests and spent four years (2000–04) in the second division, also being eventually awarded team captaincy.[6]
On 14 April 2009, following a tunnel brawl with ACF Fiorentina's Felipe Melo in a 1–2 away loss, both López and the Brazilian received a five-match ban.[7] In July, one month shy of his 35th birthday, he signed a one-year contract with Cagliari.[8] In the 2009–10 campaign the veteran contributed with 18 games as his team again managed to avoid relegation, after finishing in 16th position.
On 9 September 2010, after not being called up to Cagliari's 2010–11 pre-season camp,[9] López announced his retirement from professional football, having appeared in 344 official matches for his main club.[6][10]
International
López made his debut for Uruguay on 19 October 1994, in a friendly match with Peru in the Estadio Nacional José Díaz in Lima (1–0 win).[11] The following year he represented the nation at the Copa América, with the tournament being held on home soil and won by the hosts, who conceded just four goals in six matches.[12]
López was overlooked, however, for the squads which appeared at the 2002 and 2010 FIFA World Cups, and earned a total of 32 caps.
Coaching career
In July 2012, López was named at the helm of the Primavera under-19 side of Cagliari and, on 2 October, was unveiled as new assistant coach for the main squad after the Ivo Pulga-led club parted ways with Massimo Ficcadenti.[13] López and Pulga swapped roles in July 2013 after the former was admitted to the yearly UEFA Pro Licence course, thus being allowed to serve as head coach in the Italian top flight; he was sacked from his position on 6 April 2014 by owner Massimo Cellino, this being the 36th manager change he went through in 22 years of tenure.[14]
On 1 July 2014, López was appointed at Bologna F.C. 1909 in the Italian second tier.[15] After a good start to the season, he was removed from his duties on 4 May 2015 following a negative streak.[16]
López was named U.S. Città di Palermo's fourth manager of the campaign, on 26 January 2017.[17] He was sacked on 11 April, after a run of bad results.[18]
On 18 October 2017, López returned to Cagliari as head coach after the dismissal of Massimo Rastelli.[19] At the end of the season, having avoided the drop, he left by mutual consent.[20]
López returned to his homeland in early June 2018, joining Peñarol.[21] Starting from five points behind arch-rivals Club Nacional de Football, he led the club to a league title by beating that adversary 1–0 in the final.[22] After losing by the same margin to Nacional in the next edition, he announced his exit in December 2019.[23]
On 5 February 2020, López returned to Serie A, signing with second-from-bottom Brescia Calcio after the dismissal of Eugenio Corini.[24]
Managerial statistics
- As of match played 22 June 2020[25]
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 | Present | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 9 | −6 | 0.00 | |
Total | 186 | 69 | 53 | 64 | 215 | 225 | −10 | 37.10 |
Honours
Player
Uruguay
- Copa América: 1995; Runner-up 1999
Manager
Peñarol
Notes
References
- ^ "López fa 300" [López reaches 300] (in Italian). Cagliari Calcio. 5 October 2008. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
- ^ "El Sporting decepciona" [Sporting disappoint]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 9 September 1996. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
- ^ "Perdona el Racing" [Racing forgive]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 11 March 1997. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
- ^ "El Racing sale goleado" [Racing take a beating]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 23 June 1997. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
- ^ "Stuani promete "muchos goles"" [Stuani promises "many goals"]. El Diario Montañés (in Spanish). 10 August 2011. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
- ^ a b "Diego Lopez lascia il calcio: "Cagliari è la mia casa"" [Diego Lopez quits football: “Cagliari is my home”] (in Italian). Calcio News 24. 9 September 2010. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
- ^ "Lengthy bans for Serie A fighters". FIFA. 14 April 2009. Retrieved 13 November 2010.
- ^ "Lopez rinnova" [López renews] (in Italian). Cagliari Calcio. 20 July 2009. Retrieved 30 June 2010.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Ecco i convocati per il pre-ritiro – Mancano Lopez, Barone e Dessena" [Here are the called for pre-season – Lopez, Barone e Dessena missing] (in Italian). Tutto Cagliari. 18 June 2010. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
- ^ "Presenze assolute – top 20" [All-time appearances – top 20] (in Italian). Cagliari Calcio. 9 July 2014. Archived from the original on 9 July 2014. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
- ^ Uruguay – International Matches 1991–1995 Archived 23 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine; at RSSSF
- ^ Copa América 1995; at RSSSF
- ^ "Nuovo corso" [New path] (in Italian). Cagliari Calcio. 2 October 2012. Retrieved 2 October 2012.
- ^ "Cellino sacks Lopez as Cagliari coach just hours after sealing Leeds takeover". Daily Mail. 7 April 2014. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
- ^ "Diego López, nuevo entrenador del Bolonia" [Diego López, new manager of Bologna]. Marca (in Spanish). 2 July 2014. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
- ^ "Diego López, despedido como DT del Bologna" [Diego López, fired as Bologna HC] (in Spanish). Ovación Digital. 4 May 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
- ^ "Official: Palermo appoint Diego Lopez". Football Italia. 26 January 2017. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
- ^ "Official: Salerno, Lopez out at Palermo". Football Italia. 11 April 2017. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
- ^ "Official: Lopez returns to Cagliari". Football Italia. 18 October 2017. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
- ^ "Official: Lopez to leave Cagliari". Football Italia. 30 May 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
- ^ Savia, Jorge (8 June 2018). "Vida y obra de Diego López, el flamante director técnico aurinegro" [Life and work of Diego López, the brand new yellow-and-black head coach]. Ecos (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 June 2018.
- ^ a b "Diego López, de incógnita a conquistador" [Diego López, from unknown to conqueror]. El Observador (in Spanish). 13 November 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
- ^ "Diego López se despidió del club" [Diego López says farewell to the club] (in Spanish). La Red 21. 16 December 2019. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
- ^ "Brescia sack Corini, appoint Diego Lopez". ANSA. 5 February 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
- ^ "Diego López career sheet". footballdatabase. footballdatabase. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
External links
- Diego López at TuttoCalciatori.net (in Italian)
- Diego López at BDFutbol
- "National team data" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 14 April 2009. Retrieved 26 November 2008.
- Diego López at National-Football-Teams.com
- Diego López – FIFA competition record (archived)
- Use dmy dates from July 2013
- 1974 births
- Living people
- Sportspeople from Montevideo
- Uruguayan footballers
- Association football defenders
- Uruguayan Primera División players
- River Plate Montevideo players
- La Liga players
- Racing de Santander players
- Serie A players
- Serie B players
- Cagliari Calcio players
- Uruguay under-20 international footballers
- Uruguay international footballers
- 1995 Copa América players
- 1999 Copa América players
- 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup players
- Copa América-winning players
- Uruguayan expatriate footballers
- Expatriate footballers in Spain
- Expatriate footballers in Italy
- Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Spain
- Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Italy
- Uruguayan football managers
- Serie A managers
- Cagliari Calcio managers
- Bologna F.C. 1909 managers
- S.S.D. Palermo managers
- Peñarol managers
- Brescia Calcio managers
- Uruguayan expatriate football managers
- Expatriate football managers in Italy