Manuel Lapuente

Manuel Lapuente
Personal information
Full name Manuel Lapuente Díaz
Date of birth (1944-05-15)15 May 1944
Place of birth Teziutlán, Puebla, Mexico
Date of death 25 October 2025(2025-10-25) (aged 81)
Place of death Puebla City, Puebla, Mexico
Height 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position Forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1964–1966 Monterrey
1966–1970 Necaxa
1970–1974 Puebla
1974–1975 Atlas
International career
1967–1973 Mexico 13 (5)
Managerial career
1978–1984 Puebla
1984–1986 Tigres UANL
1986–1987 Ángeles de Puebla
1987–1988 Atlante
1988 Cruz Azul
1988–1993 Puebla
1991 Mexico (caretaker)
1994–1997 Necaxa
1997–2000 Mexico
2001 Atlante
2001–2003 América
2006 América
2008 Tigres UANL
2010–2011 América
2013 Puebla
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  Mexico (as manager)
CONCACAF Gold Cup
Winner 1998 United States
FIFA Confederations Cup
Winner 1999 Mexico
Copa América
1999 Paraguay
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Manuel Lapuente Díaz (15 May 1944 – 25 October 2025) was a Mexican professional footballer and manager.

Over the course of more than three decades, Lapuente established himself as one of the most successful managers in Mexican football. He took charge of seven different clubs in Mexico and secured five Primera División championships with three of them. He is also remembered as the strategist who guided the Mexico national team to its greatest international triumph: the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup.