Nelson Tapia

He made his debut for the Chile national team in 1994 against France. After his last match thus far, a 0–5 loss against Brazil in 2005, the tally is at 73 caps. He played all four games for Chile at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, and he also won an Olympic bronze medal with Chile at the 2000 Summer Olympics.

While he was studying at the INAF (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 and Colchagua. In 2015, he worked as a goalkeeping coach of Chile U17 and next he became the manager of Independiente de Cauquenes in the third category of the Chilean football. After a time as an assistant coach in Cobreloa, in 2019 he moved to Ecuador and joined Barcelona S.C. as a goalkeeping coach. Next he joined Guayaquil Sport as manager, winning the 2020 Segunda Categoría. In 2021 season, 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 Aampetra in the Ecuadorian third division. In February 2023, he switched to Olmedo in the Serie B. In 2024, Tapia returned to Chile and joined the technical staff of Audax Italiano, 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 Rangers de Talca. On 22 July of the same year, he was appointed as the manager of Constitución Unido in the Chilean Tercera A and left them in June 2026. In July 2026, Tapia took in charge Imperial Unido.

He is nicknamed Simpson because during his career he wore a hair style similar to cartoon character Bart Simpson. In 2012, Tapia took part in the Chilean reality show Mundos Opuestos. On 7 August 2026, Tapia suffered a serious car accident on Route 5, Retiro commune, allegedly by drunk driving. He had another accident under a similar situation in 2010.

Player

Universidad Católica

Copa Interamericana: 1994 Copa Interamericana Copa Chile: 1995 Copa Chile Primera División de Chile: 1997 Apertura Cobreloa

Primera División de Chile: 2003 Apertura, 2003 Clausura Santos

Serie A: 2004 Chile

Olympic Games: in Sydney 2000

Manager

Guayaquil Sport

Segunda Categoría: 2020 Libertad

Segunda Categoría: 2021