River Plate coach Ramon Diaz renews contract

Ramon Diaz

Buenos Aires, Aug 31 (IANS): Argentine football team River Plate coach Ramon Diaz agreed to renew his contract till December 2015, club’s vice-president Diego Turnes said.

Turnes said at a press conference Friday that “no matter what happens in the (club’s) elections” at the end of the year, Diaz will stay on as coach, reports Xinhua.

“We reached an agreement for Ramon’s continuation with this club. On behalf of management, we are totally pleased. We want to ratify a project that began some time ago and with which we are satisfied. Every project needs to have continuity,” said Turnes.

The official denied the decision to extend Diaz’s contract was politically motivated by the club’s president Daniel Passarella, who is looking to get re-elected despite the fans being unhappy with the team’s recent losses.

River Plate fans blame Passarella for the team slipping into the second division in June 2011 for the first time in history.

“Looking at it from a political perspective is absurd,” said Turnes.

Diaz, 54, is the most successful coach in the history of the Buenos Aires-based team with five local and two international championship wins during his two initial contract periods (1995-99 and 2001-02).

During his third period as coach, which began in December 2012, the team took second place in the Closing Tournament after losing by three points to Argentina’s Newell’s. Diaz, meanwhile, thanked the managers for offering to extend his contract which was going to expire in December, saying he believed “in what we are doing and planning to do”.

River is one of the country’s two most popular teams — the other is its arch-rival Boca Juniors — and the club with the most number of national title wins.