| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Luis Diego López Breijo | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1974-08-22)22 August 1974 (age 51) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Montevideo, Uruguay | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position | 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) | |||||||||||||||
| 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 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2020 | Brescia | ||||||||||||||||
| 2022 | Universidad de Chile | ||||||||||||||||
| 2023–2024 | Barcelona SC | ||||||||||||||||
| 2025 | River Plate Montevideo | ||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
Luis Diego López Breijo (Latin American Spanish:[lwisˈðjeɣoˈlopes];[a] born 22 August 1974) is a Uruguayanfootball manager and former player who played as adefender. He was recently the manager ofRiver Plate Montevideo.
His career was intimately connected withCagliari in Italy, for which he appeared in over 300 competitive games in 12 years, playing as adefender.[1] Internationally, he representedUruguay in twoCopa América tournaments.
López served as Cagliari's manager in two spells, as well as three otherSerie A clubs. In2018, he won theUruguayan Primera División forPeñarol.
Born inMontevideo, López started playing professionally with localClub Atlético River Plate. Two years later he signed withRacing de Santander in Spain, playing 39La Liga games inhis debut season but receiving nineyellow cards and threered in the process;[2][3][4] inCantabria, he shared teams with compatriotsFernando Correa andJosé Zalazar.[5]
López moved to Italy in 1998 and joinedCagliari Calcio,recently promoted toSerie A. During his first seven seasons inSardinia, with the exception ofhis first year – only one match – he never made less than 26 league appearances and spent four years (2000–04) in thesecond division, also being eventually awardedteam captaincy.[6]
On 14 April 2009, following a tunnel brawl withACF Fiorentina'sFelipe Melo in a 2–1 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 the2009–10 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's2010–11 pre-season camp,[9] López announced his retirement from professional football, having appeared in 344 official matches for his main club.[6][10]
López made his debut forUruguay on 19 October 1994, in afriendly match withPeru in theEstadio Nacional José Díaz inLima (1–0 win).[11]The following year he represented the nation at theCopa 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 the2002 and2010FIFA World Cups, and earned a total of 32caps.
In July 2012, López was named at the helm of thePrimavera under-19 side of Cagliari and, on 2 October, was unveiled as new assistant coach for the main squad after theIvo Pulga-led club parted ways withMassimo Ficcadenti.[13] López and Pulga swapped roles in July 2013 after the former was admitted to the yearlyUEFA Pro Licence course, thus being allowed to serve as head coach in the Italian top flight; he was dismissed on 6 April 2014 by ownerMassimo Cellino, this being the 36th manager change he went through in 22 years of tenure.[14]
On 1 July 2014, López was appointed atBologna F.C. 1909 in the Italian second tier.[15] After a good start tothe season, he was relieved of his duties on 4 May 2015 following a negative streak.[16]
López was namedU.S. Città di Palermo's fourth manager ofthe 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 ofMassimo Rastelli.[19] At the end ofthe season, having avoided the drop, he left by mutual consent.[20]
López returned to his homeland in early June 2018, joiningPeñarol.[21] Starting from five points behind arch-rivalsClub Nacional de Football, he led the clubto a league title by beating that adversary 1–0 in the final;[22] after losing by the same margin to Nacional inthe next edition, he announced his exit in December 2019.[23]
On 5 February 2020, López returned to theItalian top division, signing with second-from-bottomBrescia Calcio followingEugenio Corini's sacking.[24] His contract with the club – also owned by Cellino – was terminated by mutual consent on 12 August followingrelegation, andLuigi Delneri succeeded him.[25] On 6 October, however, he returned to theStadio Mario Rigamonti.[26] He was shown the door again on 7 December, after a run of three defeats.[27]
He has three sons called Thiago, Ian and Inty. They were born in Italy and have been with theCagliari youth team.[28] The oldest son, Thiago,[citation needed] also played forPeñarol.[29]
| 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 |
| Universidad de Chile |  | 31 May 2022 | 9 September 2022 | 13 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 12 | 18 | −6 | 023.08 |
| Barcelona SC |  | 12 July 2023 | 19 April 2024 | 24 | 13 | 9 | 2 | 39 | 22 | +17 | 054.17 |
| River Plate Montevideo | | 30 December 2024 | 30 March 2025 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 15 | −7 | 000.00 |
| Total | 252 | 90 | 74 | 88 | 300 | 322 | −22 | 035.71 | |||
Uruguay
Peñarol
Uruguay squads | |||||||||||||
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