Diego Fernando Pérez Aguado (; born 18 May 1980), nicknamed ''"Ruso"'' (Spanish for ''"Russian"''), is a Uruguayan

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

and former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. He has played 89 matches for the

Uruguay national football team The Uruguay national football team (), nicknamed ''La Celeste'' ("The Sky Blue") and ''Los Charrúas'' ("The Charrúa, Charrúas"), have represented Uruguay in international men's Association football, football since their first international m ...

, including the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

and the

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

and

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

editions of the

Copa América The CONMEBOL Copa América (; known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship), often simply called the Copa America, is the top men's quadrennial association football, football tournament contested among list of men's national ass ...

. He is currently the manager of Uruguay A' and Uruguay under-18 national teams.

Club career

Pérez was born in

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

. At the age of 19, Pérez joined one of the clubs of his hometown,

Defensor Sporting Defensor Sporting Club is a sports club based in Montevideo, Uruguay. Founded in 1913, Defensor has several sports sections, with football and basketball being the most important and the ones in which the club has achieved significant achievement ...

, soon becoming a first-team regular. He joined a larger club from Montevideo, C.A. Peñarol, in 2003 but only played 13 games with them before being shipped off to France to play for

Didier Deschamps Didier Claude Deschamps (; born 15 October 1968) is a French professional football manager and former player who has been managing the France national team since 2012. He played as a defensive midfielder for several clubs, in France, Italy, Engl ...

AS Monaco Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club, commonly referred to as AS Monaco (), is a professional football club based in Fontvieille, Monaco. Although not in France, they are a member of the French Football Federation (FFF) and currently ...

. During his time at Monaco he had to battle for his place in the defensive midfield spot against Lucas Bernardi, Akis Zikos and

Gerard López Gerard López Segú (; born 12 March 1979), usually known as just Gerard, is a Spanish former professional footballer, currently manager of the Catalonia national team. An all-around midfielder, he was known for precision passes and ball contro ...

and was especially favored by the manager

Francesco Guidolin Francesco Guidolin (; born 3 October 1955) is an Italian association football, football manager and former player, most recently the manager of Premier League team Swansea City A.F.C., Swansea City. He has coached various Italian club sides in Se ...

during the Italian's reign in the 2005–06 season.

Bologna

On 31 August 2010, he was signed by Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

team

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

for €2.1 million (including 5% solidarity contribution to youth clubs).Bologna FC 1909 Accounts and Report No fee was scheduled to pay on that day, but 2 equal installments was scheduled on 31 December 2010 and 30 June 2011. At Bologna, he has teamed up with fellow Uruguayan internationals, Henry Damián Giménez, Gastón Ramírez and Miguel Britos, before this left the squad to join

S.S.C. Napoli Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli (), commonly known as SSC Napoli or simply Napoli, is an Italian professional football club based in Naples, Campania that currently competes in the Serie A, the highest league of Italian football. Napoli are am ...

. In Pérez first season in the

, Bologna managed 16th place and finished six points clear of relegation, confirming a fourth successive season in the Italian top flight. He also managed three assists during the campaign, tied for most on the team along with Riccardo Meggiorini. After being without a club for months, Pérez signed a new two-year contract with Bologna in August 2013. He retired at the end of the 2014–2015 season.

International career

Pérez was capped for Uruguay in four successive editions of the

, helping his country lift their 15th South American championship in 2011. He was also selected to

. On 16 July 2011, he scored his first goal for the national team in a match against hosts Argentina in the Copa America quarterfinals, although he was also sent off in the same match. Pérez was back for the final match against

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

, starting in defensive midfield in a 3–0 win.

Managerial career

Pérez was the assistant manager of the Uruguay under-20 team which won the

2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 23rd edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth Association football, football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since i ...

and finished as runners-up at the

2023 South American U-20 Championship The 2023 South American U-20 Championship was the 30th edition of the South American U-20 Championship (, ), the biennial international youth football championship organised by CONMEBOL for the men's under-20 national teams of South America. It wa ...

. In May 2024, Pérez was named as the first ever manager of the Uruguay A' national team.

Personal life

His older brother Omar Pérez is also a professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

er, who played for Cerro as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Career statistics

International

:Source:

International goals

Honours

International

;Uruguay *

Winner:

; Third Place:

; Fourth Place:

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

Fourth Place:

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

References

External links

Diego Perez atYahoo! sports
*
Unofficial Diego Perez fan site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perez, Diego 1980 births Living people Footballers from Montevideo Men's association football midfielders Uruguayan men's footballers Uruguay men's under-20 international footballers Uruguay men's international footballers Uruguayan expatriate men's footballers Defensor Sporting players Peñarol players AS Monaco FC players Bologna FC 1909 players 2001 Copa América players 2004 Copa América players 2007 Copa América players 2010 FIFA World Cup players 2011 Copa América players Uruguayan Primera División players Ligue 1 players Serie A players Serie B players Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Monaco Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Monaco Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Italy 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2014 FIFA World Cup players Copa América–winning players