Enrique Maximiliano Meza Salinas (born 14 November 1979), sometimes known as Enrique Meza Jr., is a Mexican

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 ...

coach 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 ...

. Meza spent the majority of his playing career in his native country before retiring in 2007. He became a coach shortly after, working as an assistant and technical coach for several sides before taking over as a first team manager in 2014 with Costa Rican side

Santos de Guápiles Santos may refer to: People *Santos (surname) * Santos Balmori Picazo (1899–1992), Spanish-Mexican painter * Santos Benavides (1823–1891), Confederate general in the American Civil War Places *Santos, São Paulo, a municipality in São Paulo ...

. Meza is the son of

Enrique Meza Enrique Meza Enríquez (born 3 March 1948) is a Mexican professional football Manager (association football), manager who most recently coached C.D. Veracruz, Veracruz. Prior to pursuing a career in coaching, he was a Goalkeeper (association fo ...

, who is also a football manager.

Playing career

Born in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

, Meza made his senior debut with

Toluca Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the States of Mexico, state capital of the State of Mexico as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. Toluca has a population of 910,608 as of the 2020 census. The city forms the core of the Grea ...

on 2 September 2000, in a 3–2 home win over

Celaya Celaya (; Otomi: ) is a city and its surrounding municipality in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, located in the southeast quadrant of the state. It is the third most populous city in the state, with a 2005 census population of 310,413. The muni ...

. He then moved to

Necaxa Impulsora del Deportivo Necaxa S.A. de C.V. (); often simply known as Club Necaxa, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in Aguascalientes (city), Aguascalientes. It competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican ...

in 2001, but failed to establish himself as a regular starter for his new side and played for their reserve side at the time,

Gallos Hidrocálidos de Aguascalientes Club de Fútbol Gallos Hidrocálidos de Aguascalientes was a football club from Aguascalientes, Mexico. History The club was founded in 1994, when Jose Carmelo Gonzalez, bought a second division franchise which he relocated to Aguascalientes wh ...

. In 2003, Meza joined

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 ...

, but featured mainly for their reserve team

Cruz Azul Oaxaca Club Deportivo Cruz Azul Oaxaca, also known as Cruz Azul Oaxaca, was a professional football club in Mexico that last played in the Primera División "A". The club served as a reserve team for Cruz Azul and was based at the Estadio Benito Juár ...

before moving abroad with

Tacuary Club Tacuary is a Paraguayan First Division football team, based in the neighborhood of Jara in Asunción. The club was founded in 1923. Tacuary qualified for the Copa Libertadores tournament twice (in 2005 and 2007) and the Copa Sudamerican ...

for the 2005 season. His period abroad also did not last long, as he returned to his home country with

Atlético Mexiquense Deportivo Toluca F.C. Reserves and Academy are the current reserves and academy systems including the Toluca Premier team and the Atlético Mexiquense U20 and U17 sides that act to develop young footballers on behalf of Deportivo Toluca F.C. Atl� ...

. Meza subsequently represented

Indios de Ciudad Juárez Club de Fútbol Indios de Ciudad Juárez, commonly referred as Indios de Ciudad Juárez or simply Indios, was a Mexican football club. Founded in 2005 when CF Pachuca moved its Pachuca Juniors to Ciudad Juárez, it was promoted to the Primera Di ...

Alacranes de Durango Club de Fútbol Alacranes de Durango, is a Mexican football club based in the city of Durango, Durango, Mexico and currently play in the third level of the professional Mexican football league system. Their colors are green, white with black trim ...

and

Jaguares de Chiapas Jaguares Fútbol Club is a Mexican football club based in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, that plays in Liga Premier, the third level division of Mexican football. Founded in 2002 as Jaguares de Chiapas Fútbol Club, then changed its name to Chiapas ...

(where he featured mainly for their reserve team

Jaguares de Tapachula Jaguares Fútbol Club is a Mexican football club based in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, that plays in Liga Premier, the third level division of Mexican football. Founded in 2002 as Jaguares de Chiapas Fútbol Club, then changed its name to Chiapas ...

) before retiring after the 2007 Apertura tournament, aged just 27.

Coaching career

Early career

Shortly after retiring, Meza became his father's assistant coach at

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 ...

, being a part of the staff when the club won two

CONCACAF Champions' Cup The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, a ...

s and the 2007 Clausura. In 2009, while scouting for players in Ghana, due to heath scares about influenza, he was arrested for three days before being deported back to Mexico through Nigeria, despite having a permit to transit in the country. In October 2009, when

Paul Le Guen Paul Joseph Marie Le Guen (, ; born 1 March 1964) is a French professional football manager and former player. He was most recently the manager of French club Le Havre. During his playing career, Le Guen played as a midfielder, and enjoyed a suc ...

became manager of the Cameroon national team, Meza was invited to his coaching staff; he previously had spent a brief period with the national side back in 2008, when

Thomas N'kono Thomas N'Kono (born 20 July 1956) is a Cameroonian former professional footballer. One of the greatest goalkeepers from the continent of Africa, he was mainly associated with Espanyol, whom he represented for almost a decade playing more than 3 ...

was their manager. He only spent one month with Le Guen before rejoining his father's staff at former club Cruz Azul in December 2009. An assistant of his father and coach of the under-17 team, Meza led the under 17s to the final of the Mexican and South American clubs invitational Independence Cup, but lost the final to

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 ...

. He left the club in 2013, and spent a period between January and May 2014 in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

to undertake courses. In 2012, with the authorization of General Secretary: Horace Reid, Enrique consulted on technical analysis and report for the

Jamaica Football Federation The Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) is the governing body of football in Jamaica and is in charge of the Jamaica national football team and the Jamaican football league system, including the Jamaica Premier League. History Early history ( ...

during the

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA#Structure, FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil national football team, Bra ...

matches for

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typeset for branding purposes since 2018 as Concacaf), is one of FIFA's six continental governing bodies for association football. Its 4 ...

region.

Santos de Guápiles

On 16 May 2014, Costa Rican side

announced Meza as the club's technical director and head coach. After finishing ninth, he left the club on a mutual agreement in December.

Cartaginés

On 14 January 2015, Meza was appointed manager of Cartaginés, still in Costa Rica. He was sacked on 12 March, after only three wins in 11 matches.

Querétaro

In 2016, Meza was the head coach and technical director of

Querétaro Querétaro, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Querétaro, is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Querétaro, 18 municipalities. Its capital city is Querétaro Cit ...

's under-20 team. In June of that year, he was highly linked to become the manager of Guatemalan side Suchitepéquez, but the move never materialized.

Melgar

In January 2017, Meza moved to Peru and took over

FBC Melgar Foot Ball Club Melgar, known simply as FBC Melgar or Melgar, is a Peru, Peruvian professional Association football, football club based in Arequipa. It is one of Peru's oldest football teams, founded in 1915 under the name Juventud Melgar by a ...

's youth team. On 5 October of that year, he was named manager of the first team, and took the club to the

2018 Copa Libertadores The 2018 Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores was the 59th edition of the CONMEBOL Libertadores (also referred to as the ''Copa Libertadores''), South America's premier club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. River Plate defeated Boca Juniors in ...

. Meza was maintained as manager for the 2018 campaign on 18 December 2017, but resigned on 29 April 2018.

Celaya

On 5 July 2018, Celaya presented Meza as head coach and technical director for the club. He was dismissed from the club on 6 December, with the side in the last position after 14 matches.

Veracruz

In June 2019, Meza returned to his home country to join his father's staff at

Veracruz Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entit ...

, as an assistant coach. In September, as his father was sacked, he also left the club.

Toluca

On 21 October 2019, Meza returned to his first senior club Toluca, being named new manager of the ''Fuerzas Básicas'', the club's youth teams. The following 11 June, he was sacked.

Carlos A. Mannucci

On 7 November 2021, Peruvian side

Carlos A. Mannucci Carlos A. Mannucci, known simply as Mannucci, is a professional football club based in Trujillo, La Libertad, Peru. The club is the most important in the city having represented Trujillo in the first division of Peruvian football in multiple occ ...

announced that Meza will serve as their head coach for the 2022 season. He left on a mutual agreement the following 7 March, as the club failed to win any of their first four matches into the new season.

Personal life

Meza's father, also named

Enrique Enrique () is the Spanish variant of the given name Heinrich of Germanic origin. Equivalents in other languages are Henry (English), Enric (Catalan), Enrico (Italian), Henrik (Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian), Heinrich (German), Hendrik, Henk (Du ...

, was also a footballer and also works as a football manager. His brother José Diego is also a manager, and is often a part of his technical staff.

References

External links

* *
Esmas statistics on Enrique Maximiliano Meza
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meza, Enrique Jr 1979 births Living people Footballers from Mexico City Mexican men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Deportivo Toluca F.C. players Club Necaxa footballers Cruz Azul footballers Cruz Azul Hidalgo footballers Deportivo Toluca F.C. Reserves and Academy footballers Indios de Ciudad Juárez footballers Alacranes de Durango footballers Jaguares F.C. footballers Tacuary footballers Mexican expatriate men's footballers Mexican expatriate sportspeople in Paraguay Expatriate men's footballers in Paraguay Mexican football managers C.F. Pachuca non-playing staff Cruz Azul non-playing staff Querétaro F.C. non-playing staff C.D. Veracruz non-playing staff Deportivo Toluca F.C. non-playing staff Peruvian Primera División managers FBC Melgar managers Mexican expatriate football managers Mexican expatriate sportspeople in Costa Rica Mexican expatriate sportspeople in Peru Expatriate football managers in Costa Rica Expatriate football managers in Peru Carlos A. Mannucci managers