Diego Cocca

Diego Cocca

Personal information
Full name	Diego Martín Cocca
Date of birth	November 2, 1972 (1972-11-02) (age 39)
Place of birth	Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position	Right back
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1990–1992	River Plate	25	(1)
1993	Deportivo Español	18	(0)
1994–1996	Ferro Carril Oeste	74	(0)
1996–1997	Lleida	11	(0)
1997–1999	Argentinos Juniors	72	(1)
1999–2001	Atlas	?	(?)
2001–2002	Banfield	48	(0)
2003–2004	Veracruz	50	(1)
2004	Banfield	18	(0)
2005	Querétaro	?	(?)
2005–2006	Argentinos Juniors	14	(0)
National team
1991	Argentina U-20	?	(?)
Teams managed
2007–2008	C.A.I.
2008–2009	Godoy Cruz
2010	Gimnasia LP
2011	Santos Laguna
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Diego Martín Cocca (born 2 November 1972 in Buenos Aires) is a former Argentine footballer and the current manager of the Mexican Primera División club Santos Laguna. He played professional football for a number of clubs in Argentina, Spain and Mexico.

Playing career

Club

Cocca started his career with River Plate in 1990. He was part of the squad that won the Apertura 1991 title. Subsequently, the defender had spells with Deportivo Español and Ferro Carril Oeste in the Argentine Primera División, before joining UE Lleida in Spain for the 1996–97 season.

Cocca returned to Argentina in 1997 to play for Argentinos Juniors. In 1999, he went to Mexico to play for Atlas.

In his later career he had two spells with Banfield, and played for Veracruz and Querétaro in Mexico. He the returned to Argentinos Juniors in 2005. In 2006, he retired at the age of 34.^[1]

International

In 1991 Cocca was selected to join the Argentina U-20 team to play in the 1991 FIFA World Youth Championship.

Honours

Season	Team	Title
Apertura 1991	River Plate	Primera División Argentina

Managerial career

Cocca took his first step into management by taking over at Comisión de Actividades Infantiles in the Argentine second division.^[2] On 29 October 2008, he took over managerial duties at first division team Godoy Cruz, after then-coach Daniel Oldrá stepped down to return to the club's youth divisions. On 3 November 2009, Cocca left Godoy Cruz.^[3]

On 23 December 2009, Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata hired Cocca as its coach on a one-year deal.^[4] The former defender helped Gimnasia avoid relegation from the first division during the 2009–10 season, after defeating Atlético de Rafaela in the relegation playoff. However, Cocca resigned from his managerial duties after the 8th fixture of the 2010–11 season, due to the team's bad results during the start of the season.^[5]

Cocca on 21 February 2011 was named manager of Mexican side Santos Laguna after coach Ruben Omar Romano was fired for supposely making an insulting gesture to Santos fans after a defeat against Queretaro FC.

On 4 September 2011, Cocca was sacked from his job as Santos Laguna manager after a series of defeats. ^[6]

References

1. ^ (Spanish) Argentine Primera statistics at Futbol XXI
2. ^ (Spanish) Olé article about becoming manager of CAI
3. ^ Cambio de mando
4. ^ Diego Cocca es el nuevo técnico de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata
5. ^ "Cocca se fue de Gimnasia" (in Spanish). Cancha Llena. 2010-09-29. http://www.canchallena.com/1309505-cocca-se-fue-de-gimnasia. Retrieved 2010-09-29. 
6. ^ "Diego Cocca fue cesado de Santos Laguna" (in Spanish). 2011-09-04. http://www.mediotiempo.com/futbol/mexico/noticias/2011/09/03/diego-cocca-fue-cesado-de-santos-laguna. Retrieved 2011-09-05. 

Persondata
Name	Cocca, Diego
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	2 November 1972
Place of birth	Buenos Aires, Argentina
Date of death
Place of death