Ramón Díaz


Ramón Ángel Díaz is a former Argentine footballer and manager. 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.

Club career

Díaz was born in the city of La Rioja 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, Yokohama Marinos, and Monaco under famed manager Arsène Wenger.

International career

Diaz won the World Youth Cup in 1979 with the Argentina under-20 team alongside Diego Maradona, winning the golden boot for being the topscorer of the competition. He then went on to play in the 1982 FIFA World Cup 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 as well as collecting five league titles and the Supercopa Sudamericana.

Oxford United

Ramón Díaz served as manager of League Two English club Oxford United 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 in the Argentine Primera, 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 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 Copa Libertadores. In the start of the Clausura 2009 season, Díaz won against Santos 2–1. After that, Díaz drew against Toluca 2-2. Díaz lost against Morelia 1–0. Díaz lost again against Pachuca 3–1. After two consecutive league losses, and the club being in 12th position in the league table, Club America 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 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.

River Plate 3rd term

On 30 November 2012, Ramón Díaz was appointed coach of River Plate for the third time in his managing career. Ramón won the Toreno Final in 2014, and he also won the Superfinal against San Lorenzo 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 America was against Argentina which they drew 2-2. Ramón's second match was against Jamaica which they won 1–0. The last match of the group stages was against Uruguay which they drew 1-1. Paraguay finished 2nd with five points in their group. Paraguay won the quarterfinal against Brazil 1-1. Paraguay were hammered 6-1 by Argentina in the Semifinals which them go to the third group playoff which they lost 2–0 against Peru which made them fourth in the Copa America. Ramón continued in the national team. On the Copa America Centenario, Paraguay were out of the competition in the group stage, by drawing against Costa Rica and losing to Colombia 2-1 and the US 1–0. On 12 June 2016, following an unsuccessful run at Copa América Centenario, he resigned as manager of Paraguay.

Al-Hilal

On 13 October 2016 Ramón Díaz was appointed manager of Al-Hilal FC after former manager Gustavo Matosas was sacked with a one-year contract.

2016/17 Season

Ramón's first match was against Al-Fateh SC 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 1-1. Ramón won 4–2 against Al-Taawon FC. He won against Ittihad FC 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. 2–1. Díaz won the second leg 2-1 again making Al-Hilal go to the Quarterfinals of the AFC Champions League.

2017/18 Season

In 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 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 0–0 in the 2017 AFC Champions League 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.
On 18 November, Diaz and his team drew in the first leg of the final of the AFC Champions League 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 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.

Career statistics

Club

International

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

;River Plate
;Internazionale
;Monaco
;Argentina
;River Plate
;San Lorenzo
;Al-Hilal