From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Marcelo Loffreda (born May 17, 1959 in Buenos Aires, Argentina) is a rugby player and coach, until recently head coach for the English club power Leicester Tigers. Loffreda won 44 caps with one as captain, playing at centre for the Argentine rugby union side (los Pumas). He played much of his career outside the legendary Hugo Porta and scored 4 test tries.
In 1994 he hung up his playing boots and became a coach. In April 2000, he was appointed coach of Argentina and steered them to series victories over France, Wales and Scotland, a draw with the British and Irish Lions, a win against England at Twickenham in November 2006 as well as coming close to securing the Pumas' first victories over South Africa and New Zealand. The Pumas went on to their all-time best finish of third at the 2007 World Cup, including an opening win over hosts France, a pool win over Ireland, and another win over France in the third-place match. This success was Loffreda's swan song as Pumas coach, as he had announced months before the tournament that he would leave the Pumas after the World Cup for the Leicester job.[1]
Loffreda graduated in civil engineering at Universidad de Buenos Aires and was sales manager for Argentine textile and footwear company Alpargatas [1].
He is married with 5 children, Sophia, Nicolas, Juana, Olivia and Marina (in age order)
Loffreda got sacked from his job as managing director at Leicester on the 6th June 2008, after just one season at the club. Although reaching two finals (EDF energy and guiness premiership) he was sacked due to poor results. Leicester only just reached the premiership playoffs and heineken cup qualification, from a club of this standard this was seen as unacceptable.
[edit] References
This rugby union biography is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
