Fernando Damián Ortiz (born 25 December 1977) is an Argentine professional football

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and former

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 ...

Playing career

Ortiz was spotted by Argentine giants

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is best known for its men's professional Association football, football team which, since its promotion in 1913 ...

in 1997. He made his debut in 1998, and helped Boca to win the Primera División 1998 Apertura championship. He played eight games for Boca in all competitions, scoring three goals. In 1999, he was loaned to

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (, , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or RCD Mallorca, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Palma de Mallorca, ...

in Spain, where he played half-a-season for their B team ( RCD Mallorca B). He returned that same year to Argentina to play for San Lorenzo. Subsequently, he had spells at

Unión de Santa Fe Club Atlético Unión (; mostly known as Unión de Santa Fe ) is a sports club from Santa Fe, Argentina, Santa Fe, the capital city of the Santa Fe Province, in Argentina. The club was founded on 15 April 1907. Unión is mostly known for its asso ...

and Banfield, before joining

Estudiantes de La Plata ( lit. "La Plata Students"), simply referred to as Estudiantes de La Plata, is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Plata. The club's football team currently competes in the Primera División, where it has spent most of its histo ...

in 2004. Ortiz helped Estudiantes to win the 2006 Apertura. He was a starter in the championship playoff played against his former club Boca Juniors on 13 December, that Estudiantes won 2–1. Shortly after being crowned champion in Argentina, Ortiz signed with Mexican side

Santos Laguna Club Santos Laguna S.A. de C.V., simply known as Santos Laguna or Santos, is a Mexican professional football club based in Torreón, Coahuila. The club competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Founded in 1983 as Club Santos I ...

along with other players in order to help the team avoid relegation. He left Santos Laguna to join

Club América Club de Fútbol América S.A. de C.V., commonly known as Club 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 of Mexican football ...

on 17 December 2008. In August 2010, Ortiz returned to Argentina to play for Vélez Sársfield. Ortiz was a regular starter along Sebastián Domínguez in Vélez Sársfield's centre back during his two-year stay at the club, in which he won with the team the 2011 Clausura and reached the semifinals of the

2011 Copa Libertadores The 2011 Copa Libertadores de América (officially the 2011 Copa Santander Libertadores de América for sponsorship reasons) was the 52nd edition of the Copa Libertadores de América, South America's premier international club football tournamen ...

and quarter-finals of the 2012 Copa Libertadores. Aged 34, Ortiz did not renew his contract with Vélez after it expired in June 2012, signing instead for

Racing In sports, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific g ...

. However, despite a "free agent", Racing had to pay a fee to

Sud América Institución Atlética Sud América, usually known as Sud América or just IASA, is a football club from Montevideo. They currently play in the Uruguayan Segunda Division. History Sud América was formed from the team formerly known as the "Mo ...

, a proxy club for an unknown third parties. Racing received a warning for the transfer. After not being able to fully recover from a knee injury, he officially announced his retirement in 2014, and began his studies to become a coach.

Managerial career

Early career

Ortiz began his managerial career in 2016, being in charge of the Estudiantes reserve side. His first role as manager of a senior squad came the following year, being appointed manager of Paraguayan side Sol de América. He had a brief stint with Sportivo Luqueño in 2018 before returning to Sol de América that same year.

Mexico

In January 2022, Ortiz moved to Mexico and was announced as the new head coach of the

Under-20 side. On 3 March, Ortiz was appointed interim manager of the first team following the dismissal of Santiago Solari. On 21 May 2023, after losing in the semifinals to Chivas, Ortiz said, "As far as my staff and I are concerned, this is the end of an era here at Club America." On 29 May 2023,

Monterrey Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...

appointed Ortiz as their new manager. On 6 August 2024, Ortiz was dismissed from his position following an underwhelming group stage exit from the

Leagues Cup The Leagues Cup is an annual soccer competition between clubs from Major League Soccer (MLS), the main soccer league in the United States, and Liga MX, the main soccer league in Mexico. It is hosted in Canada and the United States. It began in ...

. On 23 November 2024,

announced Ortiz as their new head coach for the upcoming tournament. On 5 May 2025, Ortiz was removed from his position.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Club

;Boca Juniors *

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 ...

(1): 1998 Apertura ;Estudiantes LP *

(1): 2006 Apertura ;Santos Laguna *

Mexican Primera División 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 Divi ...

(1): 2008 Clausura ;Vélez Sársfield *

(1): 2011 Clausura

Individual

*Mexican Primera División Best Central Defender: 2008 Clausura

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ortiz, Fernando Living people 1977 births Footballers from Córdoba Province, Argentina Argentine men's footballers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Men's association football defenders Argentine Primera División players Boca Juniors footballers San Lorenzo de Almagro footballers Unión de Santa Fe footballers Club Atlético Banfield footballers Estudiantes de La Plata footballers Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield footballers Racing Club de Avellaneda footballers RCD Mallorca B players Liga MX players Santos Laguna footballers Club América footballers Tigres UANL footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Club Sol de América managers Sportivo Luqueño managers