Luis Arturo Mena Irarrázabal (born 28 August 1979) is a retired Chilean professional footballer. He is the only player in Chilean football history to win more than 10 domestic league titles. He also holds more than 300 appearances for Colo-Colo, with 7 goals. Because of this, Mena has been dubbed by Chilean press and Colo Colo fans as the "historic one" (el historico).

Football career

He made his professional debut with Colo-Colo more than a decade ago on November 26, 1996, in the final of the Copa Chile against

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

. He has spent his entire career, except one year when he was playing on loan at

Puerto Montt Puerto Montt (Mapuche: Meli Pulli) is a port city and commune in southern Chile, located at the northern end of the Reloncaví Sound in the Llanquihue Province, Los Lagos Region, 1,055 km to the south of the capital, Santiago. The commune spa ...

, playing with Colo-Colo as a defender. In the 2000s, and whilst he was playing for Colo-Colo, he also studied a technical-professional career in physical activity at the University of the Americas, where also was classmate of his teammates Claudio Bravo,

Fernando Meneses Fernando Andrés Meneses Cornejo (born 27 September 1985) is a Chilean footballer who last played for Chilean Segunda División side Rodelindo Román as a midfielder. Football career In 2004, he debuted in Colo-Colo. In those years, he also stu ...

and

Miguel Riffo Miguel Augusto Riffo Garay (born 21 June 1981) is a Chilean former professional football player and the current assistant manager of Coquimbo Unido. Club career Product of Colo-Colo youth ranks, he won eight titles in his career with that club. ...

. Mena was the captain of the Under-20 Chile national team between 1998 and 1999, also winning the L'Alcúdia Tournament in 1998. He has been described as "not the most flashiest or talented footballer", but Mena is known for his loyalty to Colo-Colo and his calm leadership on the field.

Managing career

Luis Mena became the interim head coach for Colo-Colo women in January 2021, replacing

Vanessa Arauz Vanessa Arauz León (born 5 February 1989) is an Ecuadorian football manager was the head coach of the Chilean club Colo-Colo women's team until 2020. She was the head coach of Ecuador at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2015 FIFA Women ...

. On 24 February 2021, he was officially appointed as the head coach.

Honours

;Colo-Colo * Primera División de Chile (11):

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, 1997–C,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, 2002–C, 2006–A, 2006–C, 2007–A, 2007–C, 2008–C, 2009–C, 2014–C * Copa Chile:

;Chile U20 * L'Alcúdia International Tournament (1):

References

External links

* 1979 births Living people People from Puente Alto Chilean people of Basque descent Chilean footballers Chile international footballers Chile under-20 international footballers Colo-Colo footballers Puerto Montt footballers Chilean Primera División players University of the Americas (Chile) alumni Association football defenders Footballers from Santiago Chilean football managers {{Chile-footy-defender-stub