Darío Javier Franco Gatti (born 17 January 1969) is an Argentine

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 ...

manager and former player who played 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 ...

. He is the current manager of Arsenal Sarandí.

Playing career

Club

Franco made his football debut in his native country, briefly playing with

Newell's Old Boys Club Atlético Newell's Old Boys () is an Argentine sports club based in Rosario, Santa Fe. The club was founded on 3 November 1903, and is named after Isaac Newell of the English county of Kent, one of the pioneers of Argentine football. A ...

before joining

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

winning the 1994 Copa del Rey Final and the following

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

the

1995 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final The 1995 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final was a football match on 10 May 1995 contested between cup holders Arsenal of England and Zaragoza of Spain. The final was held at Parc des Princes in Paris. It was the final match of the 1994–95 UEFA Cup Win ...

against incumbent Champions and heavy favourites

Arsenal F.C. The Arsenal Football Club, commonly known as simply Arsenal, is a professional football club based in Islington, North London, England. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. In domestic football, Arsenal h ...

He arrived in Mexico in 1995 to play for

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditio ...

. After three years with the club, he was transferred to Monarcas Morelia, where he won the 2000 championship.

International

He played also for Argentina's national team, and scored two goals in the

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

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 ...

, which Argentina won. In the 1993 edition he was selected to replace the banned

Claudio Caniggia Claudio Paul Caniggia (; born 9 January 1967) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as forward or winger. Caniggia played 50 times for the Argentina national team. He appeared in three World Cups, and was a member of bot ...

, but was seriously injured in Argentina's first match.

Managerial career

After his playing career ended, Franco became the manager of

Tecos UAG Tecos Fútbol Club, simply known as Tecos, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in Zapopan, Jalisco, and associated with the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara (UAG). It competes in Liga Premier de México, Liga ...

. The president of the club fired him on Saturday August 18, 2007 after Tecos lost 4–1 to

Pachuca Pachuca (; ), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the east-central Mexico, Mexican States of Mexico, state of Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo, located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca Municipality, Pach ...

in their first game of the season and were then beaten 3–0 by

Atlante F.C. Atlante Fútbol Club, is a Mexican professional football club based in Mexico City, that competes in Liga de Expansión MX, the second level division of Mexican football. Founded in 1916 as Sinaloa, also later named as Lusitania, then as U-53 ...

in their third game. The only point he earned came from a 0–0 draw against

Chivas de Guadalajara Club Deportivo Guadalajara S.A de C.V. (;), nicknamed ''"Chivas"'' () and simply known as Guadalajara or internationally as Chivas de Guadalajara, is a Mexican professional football club based in the Guadalajara metropolitan area, Jalisco. It c ...

in the second game. In Clausura 2009, Franco managed

. After their second game, a 4–0 defeat to

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul S.A. de C.V., commonly referred to as Cruz Azul, is a professional association football, football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football league system, Mexican footba ...

, Franco was fired and was replaced by

Ricardo La Volpe Ricardo Antonio La Volpe Guarchoni (; born 6 February 1952) is an Argentine former professional footballer and manager. He is a World Cup-winning goalkeeper who played for most of his career in Argentina and Mexico. As a coach, La Volpe was i ...

. Between 2010 and 2013, Franco managed

San Martín de San Juan Club Atlético San Martín, mostly known as San Martín de San Juan, is an Argentine football club from the city of San Juan. The team currently plays in the Argentine Liga Profesional de Futbol, the first division of the Argentine football league ...

and Instituto. In 2013, Franco signed a contract with

Universidad de Chile The University of Chile () is a public research university in Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the co ...

, but he was fired after six months. He managed Aldosivi in 2013 and

Defensa y Justicia Club Social y Deportivo Defensa y Justicia, commonly known as Defensa y Justicia, is an Argentine football club from Florencio Varela, Buenos Aires, established in 1935.

in 2014. He departed Defensa y Justicia in 2015 and subsequently became manager of Colón. In 2016, after leaving Colón, he returned to Aldosivi to become the club's manager for the second time. He rejoined Instituto de Córdoba on 1 November 2017.

Honours

As Player

; Newell's Old Boys *

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; ), known officially as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Betano for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Argentina and the highest level of the Argentine football league system. Organ ...

: 1990-91 *

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

runner-up:

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

; Real Zaragoza *

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

: 1993-94 *

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

: 1994-95 ; Monarcas Morelia *

Liga MX Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divis ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

; Argentina *

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions The Finalissima or officially CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions, formerly known as European/South American Nations Cup and also called Artemio Franchi Cup, is an intercontinental football match organised by CONMEBOL and UEFA and contested by th ...

As Manager

; Universidad de Chile *

Copa Chile The Copa Chile (''Chile Cup'') is an annual cup competition for Chilean football teams. Due to time constraints and club pressure, the trophy was cancelled in 2000, but returned in 2008. Its precursor was the Campeonato de Apertura (''Opening Ch ...

: 2012-13

Personal life

His son Emiliano Franco is a footballer.

References

External links

* *
Club Atlético Monarcas

Profile at LFP.es
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Franco, Dario 1969 births Living people Footballers from Córdoba Province, Argentina Argentine emigrants to Mexico Naturalized citizens of Mexico Men's association football defenders Argentine men's footballers Mexican men's footballers Argentina men's international footballers Argentine Primera División players Liga MX players La Liga players Newell's Old Boys footballers Real Zaragoza players Atlas F.C. footballers Atlético Morelia players 1991 Copa América players 1993 Copa América players Copa América–winning players Argentine expatriate men's footballers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Argentine football managers Argentine expatriate football managers Mexican football managers Expatriate football managers in Chile Atlético Morelia managers Tecos F.C. managers Atlas F.C. managers Instituto managers San Martín de San Juan managers Club Universidad de Chile managers Club Atlético Aldosivi managers Defensa y Justicia managers Club Atlético Colón managers C.D. Olmedo managers Deportivo Binacional FC managers Quilmes Atlético Club managers Arsenal de Sarandí managers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Chile Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Ecuador Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Peru Expatriate football managers in Ecuador Expatriate football managers in Peru Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico 20th-century Argentine sportsmen 20th-century Mexican sportsmen