Diego Cocca

Diego Cocca
Cocca in 2014
Personal information
Full name Diego Martín Cocca
Date of birth (1972-02-11) 11 February 1972 (age 52)
Place of birth Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s) Right-back
Team information
Current team
Valladolid (head coach)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1990–1992 River Plate 25 (1)
1993 Deportivo Español 18 (0)
1994–1996 Ferro Carril Oeste 74 (0)
1996–1997 Lleida 11 (0)
1997–1999 Argentinos Juniors 72 (1)
1999–2001 Atlas 81 (1)
2001–2002 Banfield 48 (0)
2003–2004 Veracruz 50 (1)
2004 Banfield 18 (0)
2005 Querétaro 23 (0)
2005–2006 Argentinos Juniors 14 (0)
Total 434 (4)
International career
1991 Argentina U20
Managerial career
2007–2008 C.A.I.
2008–2009 Godoy Cruz
2010 Gimnasia LP
2011 Santos Laguna
2011–2012 Huracán
2013–2014 Defensa y Justicia
2014–2015 Racing Club
2016 Millonarios
2017 Racing Club
2017–2018 Tijuana
2019–2020 Rosario Central
2020–2022 Atlas
2023 Tigres UANL
2023 Mexico
2024– Valladolid
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  Mexico (as manager)
CONCACAF Nations League
Third place 2023 United States Team
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Diego Martín Cocca (born 11 February 1972) is an Argentine professional football manager and former player who played as a right-back. He is the current head coach of La Liga side Real Valladolid.

Playing career

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Club

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Cocca started his career with River Plate in 1990. He was part of the squad that won the Apertura 1991 title. Subsequently, the defender had spells with Deportivo Español and Ferro Carril Oeste in the Argentine Primera División, before joining Lleida in Spain for the 1996–97 season.

Cocca returned to Argentina in 1997 to play for Argentinos Juniors. In 1999, he went to Mexico to play for Atlas.

In his later career, he had two spells with Banfield, and played for Veracruz and Querétaro in Mexico. He then returned to Argentinos Juniors in 2005. In 2006, he retired at the age of 34.[1]

International

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In 1991, Cocca was selected to join the Argentina U20 team to play in the 1991 FIFA World Youth Championship.

Managerial career

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Cocca took his first step into management by taking over at Comisión de Actividades Infantiles in the Argentine second division.[2] On 29 October 2008, he took over managerial duties at first division team Godoy Cruz, after then-coach Daniel Oldrá stepped down to return to the club's youth divisions. On 3 November 2009, Cocca left Godoy Cruz.[3]

On 23 December 2009, Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata hired Cocca as its coach on a one-year deal.[4] The former defender helped Gimnasia avoid relegation from the first division during the 2009–10 season, after defeating Atlético de Rafaela in the relegation playoff. However, Cocca resigned from his managerial duties after the 8th fixture of the 2010–11 season, due to the team's bad results during the start of the season.[5]

Cocca on 21 February 2011 was named manager of Mexican side Santos Laguna after coach Ruben Omar Romano was fired for making an insulting gesture to Santos fans after a defeat against Querétaro. On 4 September, he was sacked from his job as Santos Laguna manager after a series of defeats.[6]

As manager of Atlas, Cocca won the Mexican championship with the club in Apertura 2021, their first title since 1951, and again in the Clausura 2022 season.

On 16 November 2022, Tigres UANL appointed Cocca as their new head coach for the upcoming tournament. After it was revealed that Cocca held private talks with the Mexican Football Federation to become the new manager of the Mexico national team, he was fired on 8 February 2023.[7]

On 10 February 2023, Cocca was named manager of Mexico. On 19 June, following a disappointing showing at the 2023 CONCACAF Nations League Finals that included a 3–0 semifinal loss to the United States, he was relieved of his duties.[8]

On 14 December 2024, Cocca was appointed manager of La Liga side Real Valladolid, signing a contract until the end of the season.[9]

Managerial statistics

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As of match played 20 December 2024
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team Nat From To Record
G W D L GF GA GD Win %
C.A.I. Argentina 15 October 2007 5 June 2008 27 11 7 9 40 35 +5 040.74
Godoy Cruz 30 October 2008 2 November 2009 38 12 12 14 42 52 −10 031.58
Gimnasia LP 1 January 2010 30 September 2010 29 8 8 13 27 39 −12 027.59
Santos Laguna Mexico 21 February 2011 3 September 2011 11 5 0 6 21 18 +3 045.45
Huracán Argentina 2 October 2011 27 February 2012 15 4 5 6 15 17 −2 026.67
Defensa y Justicia 1 July 2013 30 June 2014 43 21 13 9 68 46 +22 048.84
Racing Club 1 July 2014 31 December 2015 69 40 14 15 101 57 +44 057.97
Millonarios Colombia 17 August 2016 31 December 2016 11 7 1 3 21 14 +7 063.64
Racing Club Argentina 1 January 2017 27 November 2017 36 18 8 10 53 46 +7 050.00
Tijuana Mexico 1 January 2018 30 October 2018 45 15 14 16 43 48 −5 033.33
Rosario Central Argentina 19 March 2019 30 June 2020 33 12 11 10 41 44 −3 036.36
Atlas Mexico 11 August 2020 4 October 2022 95 35 25 35 106 94 +12 036.84
Tigres UANL 1 January 2023 9 February 2023 5 3 2 0 9 2 +7 060.00
Mexico 10 February 2023 19 June 2023 7 3 3 1 10 8 +2 042.86
Valladolid Spain 14 December 2024 present 1 0 0 1 0 3 −3 000.00
Total 464 193 123 148 596 523 +73 041.59

Honours

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Player

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River Plate

Manager

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Racing

Atlas

Individual

References

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  1. ^ (in Spanish) Argentine Primera statistics[usurped] at Futbol XXI
  2. ^ (in Spanish) Olé article about becoming manager of CAI Archived 2007-10-19 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "Cambio de mando". Archived from the original on 24 May 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2009.
  4. ^ Diego Cocca es el nuevo técnico de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ "Cocca se fue de Gimnasia". Cancha Llena (in Spanish). 29 September 2010. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
  6. ^ "Diego Cocca fue cesado de Santos Laguna" (in Spanish). 4 September 2011. Retrieved 5 September 2011.
  7. ^ "Tigres confirma la salida de Diego Cocca para tomar la Selección Mexicana" (in Spanish). TUDN. 9 February 2023.
  8. ^ "Página Oficial de la Selección Nacional de México". miseleccion.mx (in Spanish). 19 June 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  9. ^ "Diego Cocca, nuevo entrenador del Real Valladolid" [Diego Cocca, new manager of Real Valladolid] (in Spanish). Real Valladolid. 14 December 2024. Retrieved 14 December 2024.
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