Leo Franco

Leonardo Neorén Franco Ansío, (San Nicolás de los Arroyos, Buenos Aires, Argentina, May 20, 1977) better known as Leo Franco, is a former soccer player and Argentine coach. He played in the goalkeeper position, was international with the Argentina soccer team, and the most important clubs in his career were Real Mallorca and Atlético de Madrid. Upon retiring as a player, he held the position of Director of External Relations of the Sociedad Deportiva Huesca, a club where after his promotion to the First Division of Spain, he began his career as a soccer coach.

Career

Beginnings

After playing children's soccer and in minor divisions at Club SOMISA (like Andrés Guglielminpietro and Nelson Vivas), from San Nicolás de los Arroyos, he moved to the city of Buenos Aires to play for Club Atlético Independiente in 1993.

Independent

He made his debut in Independiente in 1995 when he was only 18 years old. He was at the Avellaneda club until the end of the 1996/1997 season, and until that date he played a total of only two games, one in each season.

Merida

On August 1, 1997 he arrived in the First Division of Spain to play with the Club Polideportivo Mérida. In Mérida he would not play any games, and would be transferred to Mallorca.

Mallorca

A year later he signed for Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, where he played a season in the reserve team where he played a total of 23 games in addition to having good performances that would lead him to play in the first team. He played his first game in the First Division of Spain on August 29, 1999 in the match against Rayo Vallecano of Madrid at the Vallecas Soccer Field, which ended with the vermilion club's defeat by two to one.

He played five seasons with Real Mallorca, playing 148 league games. In the 2002-03 season he won the Copa del Rey, beating Recreativo de Huelva in the final.

Atletico Madrid

In 2004 he signed for Atlético de Madrid. In his last season he would play 37 league games, being one of the goalkeepers with the fewest goals scored. After surpassing 300 games in the Spanish league, Leo Franco decided to go to Galatasaray for one year.

Galatasaray

During the 2009-2010 season he arrived as a free agent at Galatasaray. In that season, Leo Franco would play 26 games, being, therefore, the Turkish team's starting goalkeeper, until the fateful superclásico against Fenerbahçe on December 28. March 2010 in which he made a mistake that gave the rival a narrow away victory. Leo Franco retired amid widespread booing, losing the support not only of the fans but also of the coaching staff and the team. leadership, marking the end of his time in Turkey

Real Zaragoza

On May 4, 2010, his contract with Galatasaray ended, so Leo returned to Spain and his signing for Real Zaragoza was announced. His debut in the team took place on August 29, 2010, maintaining his unbeaten goal against Deportivo La Coruña. The match would end with a tie at 0.

In his four years at Zaragoza, he did not become the undisputed starting goalkeeper that he was in previous years at Atlético or Mallorca, but he had his opportunities to be the starting goalkeeper in 67 games.

San Lorenzo de Almagro

On July 20, 2014, once his contract with Zaragoza ended, he decided to return to his country and was signed by San Lorenzo de Almagro. He will join the team from August 14, 2014 due to that the club is competing in the Copa Libertadores with Sebastian Torrico and Cristian Álvarez in goal, the latter will go to Rayo Vallecano in Spain and that is why Franco arrived at Boedo's team.

Huesca

On June 6, 2015, after six games played in San Lorenzo (four for the championship and two for the Argentine Cup), he decided to leave football for a short time because a month later his signing for Sociedad Deportiva Huesca of the Second Division was confirmed. from Spain. He would compete for a season as the starting goalkeeper on the team, which he helped to stay in the category, but with frequent injuries. Upon completion, the club offers you the possibility of renewing for another season, or of joining the club's organizational chart. The latter commitment that he accepts, retiring, at the age of 39, from active football, and becoming Director of the External Relations and Protocol Area of the club.

On May 29, 2018, he was confirmed as the new coach of Sociedad Deportiva Huesca in its new career in the First Division of the Spanish League. However, he was dismissed after only 8 games in the competition, in which he obtained 5 points.

Argentine National Team

He has been international with the Argentina soccer team for 15 games. His international debut was on August 18, 2004 in a friendly match against Japan.

He was called up by Argentine coach José Pekerman to the 2006 Soccer World Cup as a substitute goalkeeper. The only match he played in that World Cup was the quarter-final against the host team Germany, where he replaced Roberto Abbondanzieri who withdrew from that match due to an injury. He entered the 71st minute with the score 1-0 in favor, but just nine minutes later Miroslav Klose equalized the game. Finally, after extra time, the match was decided in a penalty shootout where Argentina would be defeated.

Some time later, when asked if he considered himself an expert in saving penalties, Leo Franco would declare: "No, not at all. I am not a specialist for one simple fact. The day I had to save the most important penalties of my life I couldn't catch them."

After the World Cup he was called up by Alfio Basile to play some friendlies, but always as a substitute for Roberto Abbondanzieri.

In total he played 15 games with his national team.

Participations in World Cups

Clubs

As a player

Club	Country	Year
Independent	Argentina	1995-1997
C. P. Mérida	Spain	1997-1998
R. C. D. Mallorca "B"		1998-1999
R. C. D. Mallorca		1999-2004
Atletico de Madrid		2004-2009
Galatasaray S. K.	Turkey	2009-2010
Real Zaragoza	Spain	2010-2014
San Lorenzo	Argentina	2014-2015
S. D. Huesca	Spain	2015-2016

As a coach

Club	Country	Year
S.D Huesca	Spain	2018

Statistics as a coach

Equipment	Div.	Tournament	Statistics
			PJ	G	E	P	GF	GC	DG	Points	Performance
S.D Huesca SpainSpain	1. a	2018-19	8	1	2	5	7	18	-11	5	20.83%
	Total		8	1	2	5	7	18	-11	5	20.83%
Total equipment			8	1	2	5	7	18	-11	5	20.83%

Palmarés

National Championships

International Cups