Nelson Antonio Tapia Ríos (born 22 September 1966) is a former Chilean

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 ...

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

and current

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

. He is the current goalkeeping coach of

Rangers de Talca Club Social de Deportes Rangers is a Chilean football (soccer), football club based in the city of Talca. The club was founded November 2, 1902 and plays in the Chilean Primera División B, second level of the Chilean football system. Their home g ...

International career

He made his debut for the Chile national team in 1994 against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. After his last match thus far, a 0–5 loss against Brazil in 2005, the tally is at 73

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

. He played all four games for Chile at the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

, and he also won an Olympic bronze medal with Chile at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

Managerial career

While he was studying at the

INAF The National Institute for Astrophysics (, or INAF) is an Italian research institute in astronomy and astrophysics, founded in 1999. INAF funds and operates twenty separate research facilities, which in turn employ scientists, engineers and tech ...

(National Football Institute) to become a football manager, he worked as a goalkeeping coach of C.D. Universidad Católica at under-10 level and as the coach of the Molina football team, in his birthplace. In addition to this, he worked as coach at school and university level and as the Technical Director of both

Unión Temuco Club Deportivo Unión Temuco was a Chilean professional football club based in Temuco, La Araucanía Region. The club played at the Chilean Primera División B, Primera B, the second tier of the Chilean football, until 2013 when it was folded. The ...

and Colchagua. In 2015, he worked as a goalkeeping coach of Chile U17 and next he became the manager of

Independiente de Cauquenes Club de Deportes Independiente de Cauquenes, more commonly known as CD Independiente, is a Chilean Football club, their home town is Cauquenes, Chile. They currently play in the third level of Chilean football, the Segunda División de Chile. ...

in the third category of the Chilean football. After a time as an assistant coach in

Cobreloa Club de Deportes Cobreloa S.A.D.P. (), commonly referred to as Cobreloa, is a professional Chilean football league system, Chilean football club based in Calama, Chile, Calama, Región de Antofagasta, Chile. They compete in the Primera B de Ch ...

, in 2019 he moved to

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

and joined

Barcelona S.C. Barcelona Sporting Club (), internationally known as Barcelona de Guayaquil, is an Ecuadorian sports club based in Guayaquil, known best for its professional football team. They currently play in the Ecuadorian Serie A, the highest level of foo ...

as a goalkeeping coach. Next he joined Guayaquil Sport as manager, winning the 2020 Segunda Categoría. In

2021 season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, he won again the same title along with Libertad FC Tapia was sacked by Libertad on 22 September 2022. In December 2022, he signed with in the Ecuadorian third division. In February 2023, he switched to Olmedo in the

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

. In 2024, Tapia returned to Chile and joined the technical staff of

Audax Italiano Audax Club Sportivo Italiano () is a Chilean football club based in La Florida playing in the Campeonato Nacional, having has spent most of its history in the top tier of Chilean football. History The club was founded by Italian residents in S ...

, serving as assistant coach of Walter Erviti. After Erviti quit having led the team for four matches, Tapia assumed as interim coach. In 2025, Tapia assumed as the goalkeeping coach for

Personal life

He is nicknamed ''Simpson'' because during his career he wore a hair style similar to cartoon character

Bart Simpson Bartholomew Jo-Jo "Bart" Simpson is a character in the American animated television series ''The Simpsons'' who is part of the titular family. Bart made his television debut in the short " Good Night" on '' The Tracey Ullman Show'' on Apri ...

Honours

Player

Universidad Católica *

Copa Interamericana The Copa Interamericana () was an international association football, football competition endorsed by CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean) and CONMEBOL (South America). Established in 1969, it was discontinued in 1998 after CONCACAF ...

1994 Copa Interamericana The 1996 Copa Interamericana was the 16th. edition of the Copa Interamericana. The final took place between Argentine club Vélez Sarsfield and Costa Rican side Club Sport Cartaginés and was staged over two legs on February 17 and February 24, 19 ...

Copa Chile The Copa Chile (''Chile Cup'') is an annual cup competition for Chilean football teams. Due to time constraints and club pressure, the trophy was cancelled in 2000, but returned in 2008. Its precursor was the Campeonato de Apertura (''Opening Ch ...

1995 Copa Chile The 1995 Copa Chile was the 25th edition of the Chilean Cup tournament. The competition started on February 11, 1995, and concluded on September 14, 1995. Universidad Católica won the competition for their fourth time, beating Cobreloa 4–2 in ...

Primera División de Chile Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

: 1997 Apertura Cobreloa *

: 2003 Apertura, 2003 Clausura Santos *

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

: 2004 Chile *

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

: in Sydney 2000

Manager

Guayaquil Sport *

Segunda Categoría Ecuadorian Segunda Categoría is the third division of the Ecuadorian Football Federation The Ecuadorian Football Federation ( or ) is the governing body of football in Ecuador. Its headquarters are in Quito, and it organizes the country's v ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

Libertad *

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

References

External links

*
international career details
at

rsssf The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tapia, Nelson 1966 births Living people People from Curicó Province Footballers from Maule Region Chilean men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Chile men's international footballers Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics 1998 FIFA World Cup players 1999 Copa América players 2001 Copa América players Olympic footballers for Chile Olympic bronze medalists for Chile Chilean Primera División players Argentine Primera División players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A Categoría Primera A players O'Higgins F.C. footballers Deportes Temuco footballers C.D. Cobreloa footballers Club Deportivo Universidad Católica footballers Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield footballers Deportes Puerto Montt footballers Unión Española footballers Santos FC players Atlético Junior footballers Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Chilean expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Argentina Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Expatriate men's footballers in Brazil Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Expatriate men's footballers in Colombia Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Colombia Chilean football managers Chilean football coaches Association football goalkeeping coaches Barcelona S.C. managers Libertad F.C. (Ecuador) managers C.D. Olmedo managers Audax Italiano managers Chilean Primera División managers Chilean expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Ecuador Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Ecuador 20th-century Chilean sportsmen