Daniel Alberto "Cata" Díaz (born 13 July 1979) is an Argentine professional

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

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. After starting at

Rosario Central Club Atlético Rosario Central (), more commonly referred to as Rosario Central, or simply Central, is a sports club based in Rosario, Argentina, that plays in the Argentine Primera División. The club was officially founded on 24 December 1889, ...

, he went on to spend most of his career in Spain, amassing

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

totals of 174 matches and three goals over six seasons, mainly with

Getafe Getafe () is a municipalities in Spain, municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality. Getafe is located 13 km south of Madrid's city c ...

. He also had two spells with

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 ...

. Díaz appeared for

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

at the

2007 Copa América The 2007 Campeonato Sudamericano Copa América, known simply as the 2007 Copa América or 2007 Copa América Venezuela, was the 42nd edition of the Copa América, the South-American championship for international association football teams. The c ...

Club career

Nicknamed ''Cata'' because of his origins from

San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca () is the capital and largest city in Catamarca Province in northwestern Argentina, on the Río Valle River, at the feet of the Cerro Ambato. The city name is normally shortened as Catamarca and is also kno ...

, Díaz started playing at youth amateur local Juventud de Catamarca before moving in 1997 to

, still as a junior. Three years later, he first appeared professionally with the latter team. Díaz moved 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 ...

in 2003. After only one season with the Mexican club, he returned to Argentina to become

Alfio Basile Alfio "Coco" Basile (born 1 November 1943) is an Argentine football manager and former player. He played for Racing Club de Avellaneda and Huracán before becoming a manager. He coached many teams during his career, being most notable Racing Cl ...

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Colón de Santa Fe Colón, the primary Spanish translation of Christopher Columbus, may refer to: Places ;Argentina * Colón, Entre Ríos * Colón Department, Córdoba * Colón Department, Entre Ríos * Colón, Buenos Aires ;Colombia * Colón, Nariño * Coló ...

; he subsequently drew attention from Argentine giants

and

Club Atlético River Plate Club Atlético River Plate is an Argentine professional sports club based in the Belgrano, Buenos Aires, Belgrano neighborhood of Buenos Aires. Founded in 1901, the club is named after the English name for the city's estuary, Río de la Plata. ...

, but as Basile was at that time the former's coach, the player decided to make the move for around US$3 million. Díaz made his debut for Boca in a 4–1 victory over

Gimnasia y Esgrima de Jujuy Club Atlético Gimnasia y Esgrima de Jujuy , (usually known as Gimnasia de Jujuy or just GEJ) is an Argentine sports club based in San Salvador de Jujuy, Jujuy Province. The club was founded in 1931 and is best known for its football team, whic ...

, and was a big part in the side's 2005 ''Apertura''-winning campaign. He added the South American Supercup (win over

Once Caldas Once Caldas S.A., simply known as Once Caldas, is a professional Colombian Association football, football team based in Manizales, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. The club plays its home games at Estadio Palogrande. The club wa ...

of Colombia), and the South American Cup (defeat of Mexico's

Club Universidad Nacional Club Universidad Nacional, A.C., simply known as Pumas UNAM, is a professional association football, football club based in Mexico City. The club competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football league system, Mexican football. Founded ...

). In the middle of 2007, Díaz moved to Spain's

Getafe CF Getafe Club de Fútbol S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Getafe, a city in the Community of Madrid. They compete in La Liga, the top tier of the Football in Spain, Spanish football. The team has pla ...

for €4 million, being a defensive cornerstone from the very beginning as the

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

outskirts team reached the quarter-finals of the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

in 2007–08. During his spell at the

Coliseum Alfonso Pérez Estadio Coliseum () is a municipally-owned football (soccer), football stadium in Getafe, Spain. It is the home ground of Getafe CF. Stadium The stadium was built in 1998 and currently, after several extensions, it has a capacity of 17,393 people ...

he rarely missed one game when healthy – for instance, in his third season, he appeared in 30 matches (2,700 minutes of action) to help them finish sixth and qualify for the Europa League. On 15 June 2012, at nearly 33, Díaz signed with fellow

side

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

for two years and €1 million. He was scarcely used during his only campaign by compatriot

Diego Simeone Diego Pablo Simeone González (; ; born 28 April 1970), nicknamed "El Cholo" (), is an Argentine professional football manager and former player who played as a defender. He has been the manager of club Atlético Madrid since December 2011 mak ...

and, subsequently, returned to his homeland and Boca. On 23 July 2016, Díaz returned to Getafe after agreeing to a one-year deal for his first experience in

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

at the age of 37. On 1 September of the following year, after leaving the club due to his wife's direct criticism of manager José Bordalás, he joined

CF Fuenlabrada Club de Fútbol Fuenlabrada, S.A.D. is a football club based in Fuenlabrada, Community of Madrid, Spain, that currently competes in Primera División RFEF – Group 1, the third tier of the Spanish league system. It was founded in 1975. It holds ...

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

. Díaz announced his retirement in February 2019, for personal reasons. He went back on his decision shortly after, however, and signed with

Club Atlético Nueva Chicago Club Atlético Nueva Chicago is an Argentine sports club based in Mataderos, a neighborhood in the west side of Buenos Aires, formerly called "Nueva Chicago". The club's nickname, ''El Torito'' ("The Little Bull") is an allusion to legendary 1930 ...

of the

Primera B Nacional Primera Nacional (usually called simply Nacional B, (English "National B Division"), and known as Primera B Nacional until the 2019–20 season) is the second division of the Argentine football league system. The competition is made up of 38 team ...

International career

Díaz made his first appearance with the Argentina national team in 2003, and was called to the

squad as the nation finished second in Venezuela. On 6 June 2009, in a

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

qualifier against

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

, he scored his first and only international goal, finding the net in the 57th minute for a 1–0 home win; he would be, however, overlooked for the final stages in South Africa.

Coaching and later career

On 29 November 2019, Díaz's contract expired and he retired for the second and definitive time. Subsequently, it was reported he was going to be named Miguel Ángel Russo's assistant at Boca Juniors, but he ended up joining the reserves in the same capacity, under

Blas Giunta Blas Armando Giunta Rodríguez (born 6 September 1963, in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine former footballer who played as a midfielder and current youth coach at Boca Juniors. Career Giunta started his playing career at Club Atlético San Lorenzo ...

. However, 41-year old Cata, left the position at the end of September 2020 and came out of retirement, to play for Spanish club CD Móstoles URJC. He announced his retirement again on 23 May 2021. In the summer 2021, he returned to

in a management-role, collaborating in different aspects.¿Quiénes son y qué hacen los exjugadores que trabajan en Boca junto a Riquelme?
goal.com, 27 July 2021

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 ...

: Apertura 2005, Clausura 2006, 2015 Primera División *

Copa Argentina The Copa Argentina (English: ''Argentine Cup''), officially known as the "Copa Argentina AXION energy" due to sponsorship reasons, is an official football cup competition organized by the Argentine Football Association (AFA). The first editions ...

: 2014–15 *

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 ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

Recopa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana (), also known as Recopa Sudamericana or CONMEBOL Recopa, and simply as Recopa (, ; "Winners' Cup"), is an annual international club Association football, football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1988. It ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, also known as Copa Sudamericana (; ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL, the governing body of football in South America, since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club com ...

Atlético Madrid *

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 ...

: 2012–13 *

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup Association football, football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions: the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's offic ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

International

Argentina *

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 ...

runner-up:

References

External links

* *
Career details
at

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Diaz, Cata 1979 births Living people Copa Libertadores–winning players Sportspeople from Catamarca Province Argentine men's footballers Men's association football defenders Argentine Primera División players Primera Nacional players Rosario Central footballers Club Atlético Colón footballers Boca Juniors footballers Club Atlético Nueva Chicago footballers Liga MX players Cruz Azul footballers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Getafe CF footballers Atlético Madrid footballers CF Fuenlabrada footballers CD Móstoles URJC players Argentina men's international footballers 2007 Copa América players Argentine expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain