Luis Francisco Zubeldía is an Argentine former football player and current coach of Club Atlético Lanús. He was the coach of Club Atlético Lanús and was notable, at the time, for being the youngest person to be in charge of an Argentine first division professional soccer team. He is the brother of trainer Gustavo Zubeldía and former soccer player Juan Zubeldía.
Playing career
Club
Zubeldía debuted at Club Atlético Lanús on 30 October 1998 with a draw at home by 2 goals against Independiente. He made 57 appearances, scoring 3 goals. In 2004, he retired from football at 23 years of age due to osteochondritis dissecans of his knee.
International
He played for the U-17 and U-20 Argentina selections. He was part of the Argentine squad at the South American and World Under-17 1997 and the FIFA U-20 1999. He was also part of the South American Under-20 Championship 2001.
Club Atlético Lanús
In June 2008, Zubeldia was announced as manager of Lanús, replacing Ramón Cabrero, at the age of 27, making him the youngest coach in the history of First Division Argentina. After leading the team to fourth place in the Torneo Apertura 2008 and qualifying 2009 Copa Libertadores, Lanús ended Torneo Clausura 2009 in third place. Under his technical leadership, Lanus finished the 2008/2009 season as the best team, with a total of 75 points. So far, this is the best record in club history.
Barcelona SC
On June 23, 2011, he was hired to direct the Barcelona Sporting Club with a contract for 18 months until the end of 2012. On April 8, 2012, after the tie to 1 against Liga de Quito, the president of Barcelona, Antonio Noboa, entered the dressing rooms, having a strong discussion with the young coach. After discussion, the next day Luis Zubeldía gave a press conference announcing his irrevocable resignation to Barcelona, which stated: His replacement was his compatriot Gustavo Costas. At the end of 2012, Barcelona was crowned Champion Ecuadorian after almost 15 years. Zubeldía was recognized for his role in putting together the team that won the championship.
In the middle of Torneo Clausura 2012, Zubeldía took over the technical direction of Racing Club de Avellaneda replacing Alfio Basile, accompanied by the same body technician in his previous teams: Snapper Maximilian as adjutant and Pablo Sanchez as trainer. The group led by Zubeldía managed to reach the end of the Copa Argentina 2011/2012, after his team beat penalties to River Plate. In the end, Racing lost 2–1 against Boca Juniors. Luis Zubeldía took hold in the first team several youth of the lower, as Ricardo Centurion, Rodrigo De Paul, Luis Fariña and Luciano Vietto. In 2012 Initial Tournament Racing achieved the best season the club in short matches from the championship got "Mostaza" Merlo in Torneo Apertura 2001. Racing finished in fifth place with a total of 33 points, won 9 games, 6 draws, and 4 defeats, with 26 goals for and 12 against. The final tournament in 2013, Racing achieved sixth place with 8 games won, lost 5, and tied 6 with 24 goals for and 17 against. Because of these two seasons, Zubledía's team ends up being the highlight of the past 12 seasons. On August 25, 2013, he dismissed by the leadership due to bad start to the season.
Liga de Quito
After the departure of technical director Edgardo Bauza League, the leader of the club decided to hire the strategist Luis Francisco Zubeldía as a replacement to lead the 2014 season on January 18, the Argentine made his presentation during "White Night" before the América de Cali, winning the match 3–0. The start of the 2014 season had a surplus balance the participation of several young players on the professional staff as Luis Cangá, Jefferson Intriago, Hancel Battle, and Francisco Cevallos. These names more experienced players, made League will qualify for the South American 2015 goal set at the beginning of the year. After rumors that Luis Zubeldia would be hired by Leon of Mexico, the Argentine decided to renew for another year for the Quito institution. In 2015, Liga de Quito becomes the winner of the first stage of Ecuadorian soccer with 47 points after earning a record of 21 unbeaten dates. Thus, he qualified for the 2015 tournament finals and won the qualification for the 2016 Copa Libertadores. After his team classified first in the regular phase with 89 points in 44 games, one point ahead of Club Sport Emelec, they played the final of the Ecuadorian soccer championship 2015 two round games with the Club Sport Emelec on December 16 and 20, obtaining the sub championship after losing 1–3 and 0–0 draw against Emelec in Portoviejo and Quito, respectively, which closed its cycle in the team from the capital of Ecuador.
On 28 November 2015, Zubeldía announced that he would go to Santos Laguna once he completed the Ecuadorian tournament with Liga de Quito to Clausura 2016 of Mexican tournament. In his debut, he achieves a very good performance by placing the team within the last eight of the Liga MX. The team also reached semi-finals of the Champions League FA Cup, being eliminated by the American after a dramatic overtime. During the period of preparation in the United States, Santos Achieves the Socio Cup Mx, Conquering one Pumas and later the mighty Cruz Azul. On 15 August 2016, it was surprisingly dismissed by leadership, due to a bad start of the season.
Lanús
Zubeldía returned to Lanús in 2018, replacing Ezequiel Carboni as coach.
