Marcelo Díaz

Universidad de Chile

Early years

Díaz began his career in Universidad de Chile youth academy, being immediately accepted by Jorge Cabrera, then coach of the club's lower divisions. He played in the Club Julio Covarrubias of Padre Hurtado before arriving to Universidad de Chile, with Díaz saying that he felt kind of lucky for being accepted in the club, because he was a very low profile player. He progressed over all categories in the lower divisions, mainly acting as a playmaker. He was promoted to the first team in 2004 at the age of 18, but he was only called to three matches and not debuted in any of them. The next season, Díaz made his professional debut in a 3–2 loss with Everton for the first week of the 2005 Apertura Tournament. In the 2006 season, he played 29 matches between the Apertura and the Clausura Tournament. After the one season, in the Apertura Tournament 2008, Díaz was a frequently starter in the squad of Arturo Salah, and scored his first professional goal with the club on 23 March, in a 3–2 loss with Huachipato, it was his first goal for Universidad de Chile. During the year he played 36 games between the Apertura and Clausura tournaments. After of the departure of Arturo Salah and the arrival of the Uruguayan coach Sergio Markarián, Díaz was used as a left back, unlike Salah that used him as an attacking midfielder. On 28 January 2009, he scored his first international goal in a 1–0 home victory to Pachuca. In the first semester of…

Youth

In January 2005, aged 19, Díaz caught the attention of José Sulantay, who called up the player to play the South American Youth Championship held in Colombia. He made his U-20 debut during the championship. Following the qualification of the Chilean national youth team to the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship, he was in the 23-man squad to play the world championship, but he didn't play during the tournament.

Senior

Six years after his participation with the U-20 team, on 7 September 2011, Díaz was called up by Claudio Borghi to play in the 2014 World Cup qualification against Uruguay and Paraguay, in place of Carlos Carmona, who was banned for his participation in the scandal of "Bautizazo". On 11 November, Díaz officially debuted for the Chile senior team in a 4–0 away loss at Centenario Stadium, being replaced by Milovan Mirosevic in the 61st minute. Due to his good performances for Universidad de Chile, he was called up for the match against Ghana at PPL Park, in where he played well in a 1–1 draw. He started again the qualifiers against Bolivia and Venezuela, both 2–0 away victories, where Díaz excelled.

2015 Copa América

Díaz started all six matches in the 2015 Copa América, helping Chile win in a penalty shootout against Argentina, to win their first major international honor. For his performances he was named in the Team of the tournament.

Club

As of match played 16 July 2025

International

As of match played 8 February 2025

Scores and results list Chile's goal tally first.

Still a player of Universidad de Chile, Díaz graduated as a football manager at INAF (National Institute of Football, Sports and Physical Activity of Chile) in December 2024.