Diego Forlán Takes Over Uruguay National Team
The legendary striker will lead both the senior squad and the under-20 team, announced the Uruguayan Football Association.
The legendary striker will lead both the senior squad and the under-20 team, announced the Uruguayan Football Association.
The Uruguayan Football Association has appointed Diego Forlán as the new head coach of the senior national team and the under-20 squad. This decision came after Uruguay was eliminated in the group stage of the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
The 47-year-old Forlán will replace Argentine Marcelo Bielsa on the bench, whose tenure ended following a disappointing performance at the World Cup. The news was confirmed in a brief statement released by the association on Thursday, August 6, 2026.
"Diego Forlan returns to us to take charge of the under-20 and senior national teams," the statement from the Uruguayan Football Association read. Contract details, including its duration and financial terms, were not disclosed.
Forlán's first major test as the youth team coach will be the continental tournament for under-20 teams, scheduled for January 2027.
Forlán is the third-highest scorer in Uruguay's national team history with 36 goals in 112 appearances. The pinnacle of his international career came at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, where he led Uruguay to the semifinals and was named the tournament's best player. A year later, in 2011, he won the Copa América with Uruguay, which remains the team's last major trophy.
At the club level, Forlán won titles with some of Europe's biggest clubs. With Manchester United, he claimed the English Premier League in the 2002/03 season and the FA Cup in 2003/04. He won the Intertoto Cup with Villarreal in 2004 and lifted the Europa League trophy with Atlético Madrid in the 2009/10 season. He finished his European career at Inter, where he played from 2011 to 2013.
Unlike his playing career, Forlán's coaching résumé is quite modest. In 2020, he managed Uruguayan top-flight side CA Peñarol for just 11 matches, and in 2021, he was in charge of second-division club Atenas for 12 games.
After retiring from professional football in 2018-having played in Japan, Uruguay, India, and Hong Kong after his time at Inter-Forlán seriously took up tennis in 2019, a sport in which he showed great promise as a child. In recent years, he has regularly competed in veterans' tournaments, and two years ago, he even played at a professional Challenger event in Uruguay in the doubles category.
