Enrique Maximiliano Meza Salinas (born 14 November 1979), sometimes known as Enrique Meza Jr., is a Mexican

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach and former player who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. Meza spent the majority of his playing career in his native country before retiring in 2007. He became a coach shortly after, working as an assistant and technical coach for several sides before taking over as a first team manager in 2014 with Costa Rican side

Santos de Guápiles Santos may refer to: People *Santos (surname) *Santos (DJ) (born 1971), Italian DJ * Santos Benavides (1823–1891), Confederate general in the American Civil War * Santos Balmori Picazo (1899–1992), Spanish-Mexican painter * Santos (footballer ...

. Meza is the son of

Enrique Meza Enrique Meza Enríquez (born 3 March 1948) is a Mexican professional football manager who most recently coached Veracruz. Prior to pursuing a career in coaching, he was a goalkeeper for Cruz Azul during their dynasty of the 1970s, albeit a backu ...

, who is also a football manager.

Playing career

Born in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

, Meza made his senior debut with

Toluca Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the States of Mexico, state capital of the State of Mexico as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. With a population of 910,608 as of the 2020 census, Toluca is the fifth most populous city in M ...

on 2 September 2000, in a 3–2 home win over

Celaya Celaya (; ) is a city and its surrounding municipalities of Mexico, municipality in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, located in the southeast quadrant of the state. It is the third most populous city in the state, with a 2005 census population of 3 ...

. He then moved to

Necaxa Impulsora del Deportivo Necaxa S.A. de C.V. (); often simply known as Necaxa, is a Mexican professional football club in Liga MX based in the city of Aguascalientes. It plays in the Estadio Victoria. History Foundation (Light and Power Comp ...

in 2001, but failed to establish himself as a regular starter for his new side and played for their reserve side at the time,

Gallos Hidrocálidos de Aguascalientes Club de Fútbol Gallos Hidrocálidos de Aguascalientes was a Association football, football club from Aguascalientes, Mexico. History The club was founded in 1994, when Jose Carmelo Gonzalez, bought a second division franchise which he relocated ...

. In 2003, Meza joined

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul or simply Cruz Azul () is a professional football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in the Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Because "azul" means "blue" in Spanish, the club has traditionally ...

, but featured mainly for their reserve team Cruz Azul Oaxaca before moving abroad with

Tacuary Tacuary Football Club is a Paraguayan First Division football team, based in the neighborhood of Jara, Asunción. The club was founded in 1923. Tacuary qualified for the Copa Libertadores tournament twice (in 2005 and 2007) and the Copa Su ...

for the 2005 season. His period abroad also did not last long, as he returned to his home country with Atlético Mexiquense. Meza subsequently represented

Indios de Ciudad Juárez Club de Fútbol Indios de Ciudad Juárez, commonly referred as Indios de Ciudad Juárez or simply Indios, was a Mexican football club. Founded in 2005 when CF Pachuca moved its Pachuca Juniors to Ciudad Juárez, it was promoted to the Primera Div ...

Alacranes de Durango Club de Fútbol Alacranes de Durango, is a Mexican football club based in the city of Durango, Durango, Mexico and currently play in the second level of the professional Mexican football league system. Their colors are green, white with black tr ...

and

Jaguares de Chiapas Chiapas Fútbol Club, commonly known as Jaguares de Chiapas, was a football club based in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico, that played in the Mexican football league system Liga MX. The team played their home matches at the Estadio Víctor Manuel Reyn ...

(where he featured mainly for their reserve team

Jaguares de Tapachula Chiapas Fútbol Club, commonly known as Jaguares de Chiapas, was a football club based in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico, that played in the Mexican football league system Liga MX. The team played their home matches at the Estadio Víctor Manuel Re ...

) before retiring after the 2007 Apertura tournament, aged just 27.

Coaching career

Early career

Shortly after retiring, Meza became his father's assistant coach at

Pachuca Pachuca (; ote, Nju̱nthe), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Hidalgo. It is located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca de Soto is also the name of the municipality of whic ...

, being a part of the staff when the club won two

CONCACAF Champions' Cup The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Ameri ...

s and the 2007 Clausura. In 2009, when scouting players in Ghana, he was arrested for three days before being deported back to Mexico through Nigeria, despite having a permit to transit in the country. In October 2009, when

Paul Le Guen Paul Joseph Marie Le Guen (, ; born 1 March 1964) is a French professional football manager and former player. He was most recently the manager of Ligue 2 club Le Havre. During his playing career, Le Guen played as a midfielder, and enjoyed a su ...

became manager of the Cameroon national team, Meza was invited to his coaching staff; he previously had spent a brief period with the national side back in 2008, when

Thomas N'kono Thomas N'Kono (born 20 July 1956) is a Cameroonian former professional footballer. One of the greatest goalkeepers from the continent of Africa, he was mainly associated with Espanyol, whom he represented for almost a decade playing more than 30 ...

was their manager. He only spent one month with Le Guen before rejoining his father's staff at former club Cruz Azul in December 2009. An assistant of his father and coach of the under-17 team, Meza led the under 17s to the final of the Mexican and South American clubs invitational Independence Cup, but lost the final to

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in the A ...

. He left the club in 2013, and spent a period between January and May 2014 in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

to undertake courses. In 2012, with the authorization of General Secretary: Horace Reid, Enrique consulted on technical analysis and report for the

Jamaica Football Federation The Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) is the governing body of football in Jamaica and is in charge of the Jamaica national football team and the Jamaica National Premier League. History Early history (1893–1962) According to the JFF, th ...

during the

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA#Structure, FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil national football team, Bra ...

matches for

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football,, ; french: Confédération de football d'Amérique du Nord, d'Amérique centrale et des Caraïbes, . Dutch uses the English name. abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typese ...

region.

Santos de Guápiles

On 16 May 2014, Costa Rican side

announced Meza as the club's technical director and head coach. After finishing ninth, he left the club on a mutual agreement in December.

Cartaginés

On 14 January 2015, Meza was appointed manager of Cartaginés, still in Costa Rica. He was sacked on 12 March, after only three wins in 11 matches.

Querétaro

In 2016, Meza was the head coach and technical director of

Querétaro Querétaro (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Querétaro ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Querétaro, links=no; Otomi language, Otomi: ''Hyodi Ndämxei''), is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. I ...

's under-20 team. In June of that year, he was highly linked to become the manager of Guatemalan side Suchitepéquez, but the move never materialized.

Melgar

In January 2017, Meza moved to Peru and took over

FBC Melgar Foot Ball Club Melgar, known simply as FBC Melgar or Melgar, is a Peruvian Association football, football club based in Arequipa, Peru. It is one of Peru's oldest football teams, founded on 25 March 1915 by a group of football enthusiasts from A ...

's youth team. On 5 October of that year, he was named manager of the first team, and took the club to the

2018 Copa Libertadores The 2018 Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores was the 59th edition of the CONMEBOL Libertadores (also referred to as the ''Copa Libertadores''), South America's premier club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. River Plate defeated Boca Juniors in ...

. Meza was maintained as manager for the 2018 campaign on 18 December 2017, but resigned on 29 April 2018.

Celaya

On 5 July 2018, Celaya presented Meza as head coach and technical director for the club. He was dismissed from the club on 6 December, with the side in the last position after 14 matches.

Veracruz

In June 2019, Meza returned to his home country to join his father's staff at

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

, as an assistant coach. In September, as his father was sacked, he also left the club.

Toluca

On 21 October 2019, Meza returned to his first senior club Toluca, being named new manager of the ''Fuerzas Básicas'', the club's youth teams. The following 11 June, he was sacked.

Carlos A. Mannucci

On 7 November 2021, Peruvian side

Carlos A. Mannucci Carlos A. Mannucci, known simply as Mannucci, is a professional football (soccer), football club based in Trujillo, Peru, Trujillo, La Libertad Region, La Libertad, Peru. The club is the most important in the city having represented Trujillo, Peru ...

announced that Meza will serve as their head coach for the 2022 season. He left on a mutual agreement the following 7 March, as the club failed to win any of their first four matches into the new season.

Personal life

Meza's father, also named

Enrique Enrique () is the Spanish language, Spanish variant of the given name Heinrich (given name), Heinrich of Germanic origin. Equivalents in other languages are Henry (given name), Henry (English), Enric (Catalan), Enrico (Italian), Henrik (Swedish, D ...

, was also a footballer and also works as a football manager. His brother José Diego is also a manager, and is often a part of his technical staff.

References

External links

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Esmas statistics on Enrique Maximiliano Meza
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meza, Enrique Maximiliano 1979 births Living people Footballers from Mexico City Mexican footballers Association football midfielders Deportivo Toluca F.C. players Club Necaxa footballers Cruz Azul footballers Cruz Azul Hidalgo footballers Atlético Mexiquense footballers Indios de Ciudad Juárez footballers Alacranes de Durango footballers Chiapas F.C. footballers Club Tacuary footballers Mexican expatriate footballers Mexican expatriate sportspeople in Paraguay Expatriate footballers in Paraguay Mexican football managers C.F. Pachuca non-playing staff Cruz Azul non-playing staff Querétaro F.C. non-playing staff C.D. Veracruz non-playing staff Deportivo Toluca F.C. non-playing staff Peruvian Primera División managers FBC Melgar managers Mexican expatriate football managers Mexican expatriate sportspeople in Costa Rica Mexican expatriate sportspeople in Peru Expatriate football managers in Costa Rica Expatriate football managers in Peru Carlos A. Mannucci managers