Ramón Ángel Díaz (born 29 August 1959) is a former Argentine

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, rugb ...

and the current manager of

Saudi Professional League The Saudi Pro League (SPL for short) ( ar, دوري المحترفين السعودي, link=no, ''Dawriyy al-Muḥtarifayni as-Suʿūdī''), known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL for short) for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of associat ...

club Al Hilal. He played for River Plate as a striker, and coached it for three tenures, winning eight titles. He is also known by the nickname of ''El Pelado'' ("Baldy").

Club career

Díaz was born in the city of

La Rioja La Rioja () is an autonomous community and province in Spain, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital is Logroño. Other cities and towns in the province include Calahorra, Arnedo, Alfaro, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, an ...

in the province of the same name. He played as a forward and starred in River Plate's youth system under Norberto "El Pacha" Yacono. His opening game in the Argentine First Division was on 13 August 1978, a game where River Plate beat Colón de Santa Fe by 1–0. He scored his first goal on 30 August of that year, playing against Quilmes Atlético Club. Diaz went on to feature for clubs such as River Plate,

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter i ...

Yokohama Marinos is a Japanese professional football club based in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club competes in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Having won the J-League title four tim ...

, and

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

under famed manager

Arsène Wenger Arsène Charles Ernest Wenger (; born 22 October 1949) is a French former association football, football Manager (association football), manager and football player, player who is currently serving as FIFA's Chief of Global Football Developme ...

International career

Ramón Díaz was on the Argentina under-20 team that won the

1979 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship, the second staging of the FIFA World Youth Championship, was held in Japan from 26 August to 7 September 1979. It was the first FIFA tournament played in Asia. The tournament took place in four cities — K ...

, alongside

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona (; 30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the F ...

. Díaz and Maradona were the core of the attack-minded team, and together scored 14 of the team's 20 goals (70%). Díaz scored 8 goals, winning the Golden Boot for being the top scorer of the competition. Maradona scored 6 goals, winning the Best Player award. Ramón Díaz then went on to play in the

1982 FIFA World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain between 13 June and 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy, who defeated West Germany 3–1 ...

and scored against Brazil in Argentina's 3–1 defeat. It had been rumoured that he and Maradona were involved in a feud which prevented Diaz from playing for Argentina in the 1986 and 1990 World Cups. However, this was denied by Maradona in his autobiography ''Yo soy el Diego'', claiming that he had told the then-Argentina manager, Carlos Bilardo, that he wanted Diaz in both the 1986 and 1990 World Cup squads.

Managerial career

Díaz served as the manager of River Plate between 1995 and 2003, in that time he guided the club to victory in the 1996

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

as well as collecting five league titles and the

Supercopa Sudamericana The Supercopa Libertadores (English: ''Libertadores Supercup''), also known as the Supercopa Libertadores João Havelange, Supercopa João Havelange or simply Supercopa, was a football club competition contested annually between 1988 and 1997 by ...

Oxford United

Ramón Díaz served as manager of League Two English club

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and th ...

between 2004 and 2005, despite already having achieved considerable success in his native Argentina. At the time, Diaz told the media: "I like English football and I wanted to get first-hand experience of it...I'd seen plenty of it on television... It's also very interesting to work at this level, because it's completely different from football at the top." It was also claimed that neither Diaz nor any of his five backroom staff were being paid by Oxford United for their services.

San Lorenzo 1st Term

On 24 December 2006, he was appointed head coach of

San Lorenzo San Lorenzo is the Italian and Spanish name for Lawrence of Rome, Saint Lawrence, the 3rd-century Christian martyr, and may refer to: Places Argentina * San Lorenzo, Santa Fe * San Lorenzo Department, Chaco * Monte San Lorenzo, a mountain on t ...

in the

Argentine Primera Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

, Díaz secured the title after the 17th round of fixtures, with two games still to play. Díaz led them to the Clausura 2007 championship title, the club's first title in six years.

Club América

On 15 May 2008, Diaz was confirmed as the new

Club América Club de Fútbol América S.A. de C.V., commonly known as Club América or simply América, is a professional association football, football club based in Mexico City. Nicknamed ''Las Águilas'' (The Eagles), it competes in Liga MX, the top tier ...

coach. Although the club did not reveal specific details about Diaz' contract, he was reportedly offered 1.5 million dollars per year including performance-related bonuses which could have taken his total earnings to 6 million dollars. Díaz failed to make Club América qualify to

. In the start of the Clausura 2009 season, Díaz won against Santos 2–1. After that, Díaz drew against

Toluca Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the 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 Mexico. The city ...

2-2. Díaz lost against

Morelia Morelia (; from 1545 to 1828 known as Valladolid) is a city and municipal seat of the municipality of Morelia in the north-central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. The city is in the Guayangareo Valley and is the capital and lar ...

1–0. Díaz lost again against

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 wh ...

3–1. After two consecutive league losses, and the club being in 12th position in the league table, Club América sacked coach Ramón Díaz on Tuesday 10 February 2009.

San Lorenzo 2nd Term

On 25 May 2010, it was made official by President Savino that Ramón Díaz was appointed for the second time. Díaz had a one-year contract with San Lorenzo. Ramón Díaz resigned because of poor results and said there is no turning back. In addition, he said that this has nothing to do with Abdo: "I thank the president because he gave me everything, just like the players."

Independiente

On 12 September 2011, Independiente hired Díaz to replace

Antonio Mohamed Ricardo Antonio Mohamed Matijević (born 2 April 1970) is an Argentine football manager and former player. Mohamed played as a striker, making his senior debut with Huracán in 1988 and being sold to Italian club Fiorentina in 1991. He nev ...

who resigned. On 5 March 2012, Ramón Díaz quit Independiente, resigning from his position at the King of Cups, who had been struggling and found themselves at the very bottom of the table. Ramón Díaz was replaced by

Christian Díaz Christian Lionel Díaz (born 12 May 1976) is an Argentine football manager and former player who played as a left back. He is the current manager of Bolivian club Jorge Wilstermann. Playing career Born in Florencio Varela Partido, Buenos Ai ...

River Plate 3rd term

On 30 November 2012, Ramón Díaz was appointed coach of River Plate for the third time in his management career. Ramón won the Toreno Final in 2014, and he also won the Superfinal against

1–0. On 27 May 2014, Díaz left River Plate.

Paraguay National Team

On 5 December 2014, Ramón left River Plate to become the manager of the Paraguay national team. He said "It's one of the biggest challenges of my career... There's a lot of work to do". Ramón first major competition was the 2015 Copa América. His first match in the Copa América was against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

which they drew 2-2. Ramón's second match was against

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispa ...

which they won 1–0. The last match of the group stages was against

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

which they drew 1-1. Paraguay finished 2nd with five points in their group. Paraguay won the quarterfinal against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

1-1 (3-4 on penalties). Paraguay were hammered 6-1 by Argentina in the Semifinals which let them go to the third group playoff which they lost 2–0 against

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

which made Paraguay fourth in the Copa América. Ramón continued in the national team. On the Copa América Centenario, Paraguay were out of the competition in the group stage, by drawing against

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

and losing to

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...

2-1 and the US 1–0. On 12 June 2016, following an unsuccessful run at

Copa América Centenario The Copa América Centenario ( pt, Copa América Centenário, french: Coupe Amerique Centennaire, en, Centennial Cup America; literally ''Centennial America Cup'') was an international men's association football tournament that was hosted by the ...

, he resigned as manager of Paraguay.

Al-Hilal

On 13 October 2016 Ramón Díaz was appointed manager of

Al-Hilal FC Al Hilal Saudi Football Club ( ar, نادي الهلال السعودي), simply known as Al Hilal, is a professional multi-sports club based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Their football team competes in the Saudi Professional League. They are the m ...

after former manager Gustavo Matosas was sacked with a one-year contract.

2016/17 Season

Ramón's first match was against

Al-Fateh SC Al Fateh Sports Club ( ar, نادي الفتح الرياضي) is a Saudi Arabian multi-sports club based in Al-Mubarraz, Al-Ahsa. It is mainly known for its professional football club. The club derives its nickname, "Al-Namothaji" (T''he Parag ...

where Al-Hilal won 1–0. On 25 November, Rámon played his first important match against Al-Ahli where they won 2–1. Ramón drew the Riyadh Derby against

Al-Nassr FC Al Nassr Football Club ( ar, نادي النصر السعودي; '' Naṣr'' meaning ''Victory'') is a Saudi Arabian football club based in Riyadh. Formed in 1955, the club plays its home games at the Mrsool Park. Their home colours are yellow ...

1-1. Ramón won 4–2 against Al-Taawon FC. He won against

Ittihad FC Al-Ittihad Saudi Arabian Club ( ar, نادي الإتحاد العربي السعودي), referred to as Al-Ittihad, is a professional football club based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, founded in 1927. The club has spent its entire history in the to ...

3–1. Ramón Diaz drew 0–0 against Al-Ahli, but he won against Al-Shabab 2–1 to Secure the title. Al-Hilal lifted the league against Al-Nassr in the Riyadh Derby after winning 5–1 in the league. Ramón Díaz renewed his contract for one more year for 1.5 million dollars. Ramón made Al-Hilal first in the Champions League group stages after winning against Al-Rayyan 4–3. Ramón made Al-Hilal qualify to the King's Cup final after beating Al-Taawon 3–4. Ramón Díaz won the King's Cup against Al-Ahli in final 3–2. Rámon Díaz won the Champions League Round of 16 first leg against

Esteghlal Khuzestan F.C. Esteghlal Khuzestan Football Club ( fa, باشگاه فوتبال استقلال خوزستان, ''Bašgâh-e Futbâl-e Esteqlâl-e Xuzestân''), commonly known as Esteghlal Khuzestan, is an Iranian football club based in Ahvaz, Iran. The club c ...

2–1. Díaz won the second leg 2-1 again -4 on AGGmaking Al-Hilal go to the Quarterfinals of the AFC Champions League.

2017/18 Season

On 4 June, Díaz signed Mukhtar Fallatah to make him the first signing of the season. On 19 June 2017, Ramòn Díaz made Omar Kharbin a permanent signing after he was on loan, the fee 11 million dollars (44 million riyals) and signed a four-year contract with Al-Hilal. On 21 June, Díaz signed Ali Al Bulaihi for free from Al-Fateh. On 3 July, Al-Hilal signed Mohamed Kanno and Hasan Kadish from Ettifaq.
On 10 August, Díaz won the first match of the season 2–1 against league debutant Al-Fayha. On 15 August, Ramón Díaz won his second match of the season which was against Al-Taawoun 4–3. On 21 August, Díaz made Al-Hilal draw against

Al Ain Al Ain ( ar, ٱلْعَيْن, , ) is a city in the western side of Tuwwam region and the seat of the administrative division of its namesake, Al Ain in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It is bordered to the east by the Omani ...

0–0 in the

2017 AFC Champions League The 2017 AFC Champions League was the 36th edition of Asia's premier club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 15th under the current AFC Champions League title. Urawa Red Diamonds defeated Al-Hilal ...

quarter finals. On 11 September, Díaz made Al-Hilal qualify to the semi final of the AFC Champions League after beating Al-Ain 3–0. After that, he signed Gelmin Rivas to become his sixth registered foreigner player in the 2017–18 season. On 16 September, Ramón Díaz won the third match of season against Ohod 1–0. On 21 September, Al-Hilal drew against Al-Ittihad 1-1. On 26 October, Diaz made Al-Hilal won the Riyadh Derby against

Al-Nassr Al Nassr Football Club ( ar, نادي النصر السعودي; '' Naṣr'' meaning ''Victory'') is a Saudi Arabian football club based in Riyadh. Formed in 1955, the club plays its home games at the Mrsool Park. Their home colours are yellow ...

.
On 18 November, Diaz and his team drew in the first leg of the final of the

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

against Urawa 1–1 in Riyadh. On 25 November, they lost the second 1-0 making them runners-up in the tournament. On 1 December, Diaz led his team to win against title challengers Al-Ahli 2–0. On 17 December, Diaz and his team lost their first match in the league against Al-Fayha 2–1. After that, Diaz won against Ohod 4–1. On 20 January, Al-Hilal were kicked out of the

Kings Cup __NOTOC__ King's Cup (incl. translations), may refer to: Sports Football * Copa del Rey, Spanish for "King's Cup," the main national knockout tournament in men's football * King Cup (sometimes named King's Cup), Saudi Arabian men's football nati ...

by Al-Qadisyah in the round of 16. On 13 February, Al-Hilal drew their first match in their new stadium the King Saud University Stadium against Al-Ain 0–0 in the Champions League. On 20 February, Al-Hilal lost 1–0 against Esteghlal in Oman. On 21 February, Al-Hilal sacked Ramon Diaz due to unsatisfactory performances.

Botafogo

On 8 November 2020, Díaz was named manager of Série A side

Botafogo Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood (''bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills o ...

. He subsequently returned to his home country to make an emergency surgery to remove a tumor, and his absence was prolonged due to his clinical condition. On 27 November 2020, Botafogo announced the departure of Díaz and his staff from the club. He left the club without managing a single match for them, as the three matches played by them during the period (all losses) were managed by his assistant and son Emiliano Díaz.

Al Nasr

In February 2021, he agreed to a contract with Al Nasr to last until the summer of 2022.

Return to Al Hilal

On 14 February 2022, Díaz was named as the new coach of

club Al Hilal until the end of the season.

Career statistics

Club

International

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

River Plate *

Primera División Argentina Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, c ...

: 1979 Metropolitano, 1979 Nacional, 1980 Metropolitano, 1981 Nacional, 1991 Apertura Internazionale *

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

: 1988–89 Monaco *

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

1990–91 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

Argentina U20 *

FIFA World Youth Championship The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 wh ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

Individual * FIFA World Youth Championship Golden Boot: 1979 * Primera División Argentina Top Scorer: 1991 Apertura *

J.League Top Scorer The J.League Top Scorer is awarded by the J.League to the top scoring player of the season. Wins by club See also * J.League awards *Japanese football champions, for Japan Soccer League predecessors. References ULTRAZONE Website : All-Time Aw ...

: 1993 *

J.League Best XI The J.League Best XI is an acknowledgement of the best eleven players in J.League. J1 League (1993–present) Multiple appearances Appearances by club Appearances by country * Only in two occasions there was a full-Japanese Best XI (20 ...

: 1993

Manager

River Plate * Primera División Argentina: 1996 Apertura, 1997 Clausura, 1997 Apertura, 1999 Apertura, 2002 Clausura, 2014 Final * Superfinal: 2013–14 *

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

Supercopa Libertadores The Supercopa Libertadores (English: ''Libertadores Supercup''), also known as the Supercopa Libertadores João Havelange, Supercopa João Havelange or simply Supercopa, was a football club competition contested annually between 1988 and 1997 by t ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

San Lorenzo * Primera División Argentina: 2007 Clausura Al-Hilal *

: 2016–17, 2021–22 *

King's Cup __NOTOC__ King's Cup (incl. translations), may refer to: Sports Football * Copa del Rey, Spanish for "King's Cup," the main national knockout tournament in men's football * King Cup (sometimes named King's Cup), Saudi Arabian men's football nat ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

Notes

References

49
فريق الهلال
49
يلا شوت
50
YallaShoot
51
الاسطورةموقع يلا شوتyalla shoot

External links