Diego Forlan agrees to take charge of Uruguay on an interim basis after Marcelo Bielsa’s exit

Diego Forlan has agreed to become Uruguay head coach on an interim basis. The 47-year-old, remembered in England for a bumpy but ultimately fondly recalled two years at Manchester United, replaces Marcelo Bielsa, who stepped down after Uruguay failed to qualify from their World Cup group. It is a strikingly Premier League-flavoured handover: a former Old Trafford forward taking over from the man who dragged Leeds United back into the top flight.

What has actually been agreed

Forlan will take charge for Uruguay’s friendlies this autumn, with a permanent manager due to be appointed at the end of this year or the start of 2027. He has also been named head coach of Uruguay’s Under-20 side, meaning he holds both roles at once.

That dual appointment is the clearest signal of intent. Uruguay are not hiring a long-term project manager right now; they are buying time, auditing a generation, and putting a trusted name in the dressing room while the search runs in the background.

Why Bielsa’s reign ended — and the Leeds connection

Bielsa took the Uruguay job in May 2023 and won just 15 of his 39 games in charge before stepping down after the group-stage exit. For a coach of his reputation, that is a thin return across two and a half years.

English audiences know the pattern. Bielsa arrived at Leeds United in 2018, transformed a Championship side into the division’s most watchable team, won promotion to the Premier League in 2020, and delivered a ninth-place first season back in the top flight before the intensity caught up with his squad and he was sacked in February 2022. Brilliant, exhausting, and finite — the Uruguay spell followed a familiar arc.

Forlan’s Old Trafford years, revisited

Forlan scored 10 goals for Manchester United between 2002 and 2004, a return that looks modest on paper and misses the point entirely. He arrived from Independiente as a 23-year-old and went 27 appearances without a league goal, a drought that became a running joke on English television.

Then came December 2002 at Anfield: two goals in three minutes to beat Liverpool, the shirt whipped off, the celebration that outlived the transfer fee. He was never a guaranteed starter under Sir Alex Ferguson, but he left with an FA Cup winner’s medal and a reputation as one of the more likeable near-misses of that era.

What happened next reframed everything. At Villarreal he won the European Golden Shoe in 2004-05. At Atletico Madrid he won it again in 2008-09 with 32 league goals, then scored both goals in the 2010 Europa League final against Fulham in Hamburg. Later that summer he was named the best player at the 2010 World Cup, and in 2011 he lifted the Copa America.

How much coaching experience does he bring?

This is the honest gap in the appointment. Forlan’s managerial CV is short — a spell in charge of Penarol in 2021 and work within Uruguayan domestic football — and this is his first job in international management.

That is precisely why the word interim is attached. Uruguay get a figure with unquestioned standing among the players and a direct line into the youth setup, without committing to a full World Cup cycle on the strength of a name. If the autumn goes well, the conversation about the permanent job changes on its own.

What comes next for Uruguay

There is no competitive football on the immediate horizon, so Forlan will be judged on friendlies, selection calls and atmosphere rather than points. It is about as forgiving a debut window as international management offers.

The bigger decision lands at the end of 2026 or in early 2027, when Uruguay name their permanent head coach. Until then, Forlan runs both the senior side and the Under-20s — and gets a genuine chance to make the temporary job permanent.

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