Diego López (footballer, born August 1974)

Luis Diego López Breijo (American Spanish: [lwizˈðjeɣo ˈlopes];[lower-alpha 1] born 22 August 1974) is a Uruguayan former footballer who played as a defender, and is a current manager.

For other people named Diego López, see Diego López (disambiguation).

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is López and the second or maternal family name is Breijo.
Diego López
Personal information
Full name Luis Diego López Breijo
Date of birth (1974-08-22) 22 August 1974
Place of birth Montevideo, Uruguay
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Defender
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
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

His career 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 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]

López moved to Italy in 1998 and joined Cagliari Calcio, recently promoted to Serie A. During his first seven seasons in Sardinia, with the exception of his first year – only one match – he never made less than 26 league appearances 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 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 dismissed 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 relieved of 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 the Italian top division, signing with second-from-bottom Brescia Calcio following Eugenio Corini's sacking.[24] His contract with the club – also owned by Cellino – was terminated by mutual consent on 12 August following relegation, and Luigi Delneri succeeded him.[25] On 6 October, however, he returned to the Stadio Mario Rigamonti.[26] He was shown the door again on 7 December, after a run of three defeats.[27]

Managerial statistics
As of match played 5 December 2020[28][29]
Managerial record by team and tenure
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 −15 021.21
Bologna 1 July 2014 4 May 2015 40 16 15 9 47 35 +12 040.00
Palermo 26 January 2017 11 April 2017 10 1 2 7 8 26 −18 010.00
Cagliari 18 October 2017 7 June 2018 31 9 6 16 28 49 −21 029.03
Peñarol 8 June 2018 17 December 2019 67 36 17 14 98 60 +38 053.73
Brescia 5 February 2020 20 August 2020 16 2 4 10 15 38 −23 012.50
Brescia 6 October 2020 7 December 2020 9 3 2 4 14 13 +1 033.33
Total 206 74 57 75 241 267 −26 035.92

Honours

Player

Uruguay

Manager

Peñarol

Notes
  1. In isolation, Luis and Diego are pronounced [lwis] and [ˈdjeɣo] respectively.

References
  1. "López fa 300" [López reaches 300] (in Italian). Cagliari Calcio. 5 October 2008. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  2. Calleja, José Luis (9 September 1996). "El Sporting decepciona" [Sporting disappoint]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  3. Carbajosa, Carlos (11 March 1997). "Perdona el Racing" [Racing forgive]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  4. Vicario, Ernesto (23 June 1997). "El Racing sale goleado" [Racing take a beating]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  5. Machín, Álvaro (10 August 2011). "Stuani promete "muchos goles"" [Stuani promises "many goals"]. El Diario Montañés (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 February 2017.
  6. "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.
  7. "Lengthy bans for Serie A fighters". FIFA. 14 April 2009. Retrieved 13 November 2010.
  8. "Lopez rinnova" [López renews] (in Italian). Cagliari Calcio. 20 July 2009. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
  9. Adamu, Nicola (18 June 2010). "Ecco i convocati per il pre-ritiro – Mancano Lopez, Barone e Dessena" [Here are the called for pre-season – Lopez, Barone and Dessena missing] (in Italian). Tutto Cagliari. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  10. "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.
  11. Tabeira, Martín. "Uruguay – International Matches 1991–1995". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 23 July 2010. Retrieved 8 July 2010.
  12. Tabeira, Martín. "Copa América 1995". RSSSF. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
  13. "Nuovo corso" [New path] (in Italian). Cagliari Calcio. 2 October 2012. Retrieved 2 October 2012.
  14. "Serie A: Cagliari owner Massimo Cellino sacks coach Diego Lopez". Sky Sports. 7 April 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  15. Cappelli, Dino (2 July 2014). "Diego López, nuevo entrenador del Bolonia" [Diego López, new manager of Bologna]. Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  16. "Diego López, despedido como DT del Bologna" [Diego López, fired as Bologna HC] (in Spanish). Ovación Digital. 4 May 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  17. "Official: Palermo appoint Diego Lopez". Football Italia. 26 January 2017. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  18. "Official: Salerno, Lopez out at Palermo". Football Italia. 11 April 2017. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  19. "Official: Lopez returns to Cagliari". Football Italia. 18 October 2017. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  20. "Official: Lopez to leave Cagliari". Football Italia. 30 May 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  21. 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.
  22. "Diego López, de incógnita a conquistador" [Diego López, from unknown to conqueror]. El Observador (in Spanish). 13 November 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  23. "Diego López se despidió del club" [Diego López said farewell to the club] (in Spanish). La Red 21. 16 December 2019. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  24. "Brescia sack Corini, appoint Diego Lopez". Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata. 5 February 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  25. "Official: Delneri new Brescia coach". Football Italia. 12 August 2020. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  26. "Official: Brescia sack Delneri, recall Lopez". Football Italia. 6 October 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  27. "Official: Brescia sack Lopez". Football Italia. 7 December 2020. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  28. "Diego López". Footballdatabase. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  29. Diego López coach profile at Soccerway
  30. Tabeira, Martín. "Copa América 1999". RSSSF. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
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