Diego Gómez (Spanish footballer)

Diego José Gómez Heredia (born 12 February 1990), simply known as Diego Gómez, is a Spanish retired footballer who is currently an assistant coach of USL Championship club Phoenix Rising FC.

Club career
Born in Salamanca, Castile and León, Diego joined FC Barcelona's La Masia in 2002, aged 11, after a stint at rivals Real Madrid. He was released in 2009, and made his senior debuts with CF Olesa de Montserrat in Tercera División.

On 10 December 2009 Diego joined Palamós CF, also in the fourth level. In July 2010 he moved to UDA Gramenet, but spent the vast majority of his spell exclusively the reserves, only appearing on the bench with the main squad on 2 January 2011, in a 1–1 away draw against CD Dénia.

In the summer of 2011, Diego signed for fourth-tier club Terrassa FC, being a regular starter for the side. In August 2013 he moved abroad for the first time in his career, joining Hong Kong Premier League side Southern District RSA.

Diego made his professional debut on 1 September 2012, starting in a 1–3 away loss against Hong Kong Rangers FC. He only appeared in one further match before being released in October.

Diego retired in December 2012, aged only 22, mainly due to injuries.

Coaching career
After retiring, Diego was a coach in an A.C. Milan youth setup in Hong Kong. In the 2014 summer he was appointed delegate of UE Sant Andreu's Juvenil squad.

In 2015 Diego moved to China to lead Teng Football Academy in Shenzhen.

In 2017 Diego joined the project of Spanish superstar David Villa on his DV7 Soccer Academy in South Korea directing the academy and coaching the U18 K League team.

Diego went to coach Queensboro FC II in the USL Academy and UPSL in 2021 and 2022, where he won the USL Academy Northeast and went to the national finals both season. In UPSL 2022 Queensboro FC won the UPSL East region championship and made it to the National Semifinals.

In 2023 Diego Gómez started his professional coaching career at Albion San Diego in NISA winning the Coach of the season award. Gomez was named head coach of NISA expansion team Irvine Zeta FC on January 22, 2024, but before he coached a game, he was hired as an assistant coach for Phoenix Rising FC on February 6, 2024.

In late June 2024, Diego was named interim head coach for Phoenix, following the dismissal of Danny Stone.