Diego Placente

Diego Rodolfo Placente (born 24 April 1977) is an Argentine manager and former footballer who played as a left-back. He is the current manager of the Argentina U20 national team.

Diego Placente

Placente with Bordeaux in 2009
Personal information
Full name	Diego Rodolfo Placente
Date of birth	(1977-04-24) 24 April 1977 (age 48)
Place of birth	Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s)	Left-back
Team information
Current team	Argentina U20 (manager)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1995–1997	Argentinos Juniors	36	(0)
1997–2001	River Plate	110	(5)
2001–2005	Bayer Leverkusen	123	(3)
2005–2007	Celta Vigo	59	(0)
2008	San Lorenzo	14	(0)
2008–2010	Bordeaux	9	(0)
2010–2011	San Lorenzo	16	(0)
2011–2012	Nacional	11	(0)
2012–2013[1]	Argentinos Juniors	16	(1)
Total		394	(9)
International career
1997	Argentina U20	7	(1)
2000–2005	Argentina	22	(0)
Managerial career
2014–2015	Argentinos Juniors (assistant)
2017–2024	Argentina U15 (assistant)
2023–2024	Argentina U17
2025–	Argentina U20
Medal record Men's football Representing  Argentina (as player) FIFA U-20 World Cup Winner 1997 Malaysia South American U-20 Championship Winner 1997 Chile Representing  Argentina (as manager) South American U-17 Championship 2023 Ecuador South American U-20 Championship Runner-up 2025 Venezuela
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Born in Buenos Aires, Placente started playing professionally in 1996 with Argentinos Juniors, before moving to Argentine giant River Plate in 1997. He transferred to Bayer 04 Leverkusen in 2001, where he played until 2005 when his contract expired. Subsequently, he turned down an offer from English club Everton FC to join Celta de Vigo. While at Leverkusen he played in the 2002 UEFA Champions League Final.

In 2008, he returned to Argentina to play for San Lorenzo de Almagro. In the 2008 summer transfer window, he transferred to the French side of Bordeaux, and penned a two-year contract.^[2] After finishing that contract, he returned to San Lorenzo on a free transfer.^[3]

International career

He played his first match with the Argentina national football team in 2001, and was capped 22 times.

Career statistics

International

Argentina national team[4]
Year	Apps	Goals
2000	1	0
2001	2	0
2002	5	0
2003	6	0
2004	6	0
2005	2	0
Total	22	0

Honours

Club

Argentinos Juniors

• Primera B Nacional: 1996–97

River Plate

• Argentina Primera Division: 1997 Apertura, 1999 Apertura, 2000 Clausura
• Supercopa Libertadores: 1997

Bayer Leverkusen

• DFB-Pokal Runner-up: 2001–02
• UEFA Champions League Runner-up: 2001–02

Bordeaux

• Ligue 1: 2008–09
• Trophée des Champions: 2008, 2009
• Coupe de la Ligue: 2009

Nacional

• Uruguayan Primera División: 2012

International

Argentina U-20

• South American Youth Championship: 1997
• FIFA U-20 World Cup: 1997

Argentina

• Copa América: Runner-up 2004
• FIFA Confederations Cup: Runner-up 2005