ATLANTA – Atlanta United today announced that Eugenio Villazón will join Gonzalo Pineda’s coaching staff as an assistant coach.
Villazón rounds out Pineda’s staff alongside Rob Valentino (assistant), Diego de la Torre (assistant), Liam Curran (goalkeeping) and Erik Marquis (video), in addition to support staff Ryan Alexander (Director of Sports Science), Jack Kimber (fitness) and Ricardo Oliveira (fitness).
“Eugenio is a well-respected coach from Mexico and we’re very excited to add him to our coaching staff,” head coach Gonzalo Pineda said. “He will bring a lot of experience, knowledge and good human values. Eugenio will be pivotal for the development of not only our players but the whole coaching staff.”
Villazón spent his entire playing career at Liga MX side Toluca, where he won three league titles and made 79 appearances as a defender and scored four goals between his debut in 1994 and retirement in 2002.
“Eugenio brings a wealth of professional experience and complements our coaching staff well,” Vice President and Technical Director Carlos Bocanegra said. “After an extensive search that included several candidates, it was evident that Eugenio was the best fit for Gonzalo and our team.”
The Mexico City, Mexico native made the transition to coaching in 2003, joining his former manager Enrique Meza’s staff as an assistant at Cruz Azul. Villazón would follow Meza to Toluca in 2004 and Pachuca in 2006, where the team won the 2006 Copa Sudamericana, 2007 and 2008 Concacaf Champions Cup and the Liga MX Clausura title in 2007. Villazón continued as an assistant on Meza’s staff at stints at Cruz Azul (2009-2012), Toluca (2012-2013), Pachuca (2013-2014) and Morelia (2015-2016). In 2017, Villazón was named Director of Morelia’s reserves and academy. Most recently, he served as an assistant coach with Toluca in 2021.
