López started coaching in the early 1990s, with
Atlético's reserves. After one season apiece in amateur football, also in the
Madrid area, he took charge of the
Bolivia national team, first as an assistant to
Xabier Azkargorta, and eventually appeared with it them as head coach at two
Copa América tournaments. He then returned to club action with
Club Bolívar, followed by a spell in his homeland with
Lleida in the second tier – whilst at the
Catalan side, he briefly accumulated with his work as the national coach of the
South American country, which he left for good in 1997 to sign with
Sporting de Gijón of the Spanish second tier, being dismissed shortly after his arrival. Three years after his last job, with
Club Bolívar, López was hired by
Valencia as assistant to
Rafael Benítez. However, after the sacking of Italian
Claudio Ranieri, he managed the first team for 14 games as the
Che, the
previous league champions, eventually
finished seventh. López became
Tenerife's second head coach of the
following campaign in November 2005, being fired himself after only six second-division matches. Two years later, he joined
Hristo Stoichkov's staff at
Celta in the same tier. With the
Galicians constantly battling relegation until the last month of
competition, he was named
interim coach for the final three months In
2010–11 López, who was assistant to Stoichkov at
Mamelodi Sundowns of the
South African Premier Division, took over the reins of the senior team. They made their best-ever start to a season and topped the standings at the end of the first round, eventually staying in contention for the league title until the second-last match; he resigned in February citing personal reasons, and went back to Spain. In January 2012, López was appointed director of the Target Football Academy in
Bangkok,
Thailand. On 13 July he signed for South African club
Bidvest Wits, agreeing to a two-year contract but leaving on 4 January of the following year. In August 2014, after a short spell in Atlético Madrid's youth system, López was named coach of
ATK in the
Indian Super League. On 25 October he was given a four-match suspension and fined for his involvement in a spat with
Goa's
Robert Pires, which was reduced to two upon appeal. After a dip in form from midway through
the season, López led his team to
the semi-finals by drawing with Goa, meeting the same opponent once again and defeating them on
penalties. In the
decisive match, against
Kerala Blasters, he benched marquee player
Luis García and also-compatriot
Jofre, for which he was praised by critics, and the side won thanks to a goal by
Mohammed Rafique in
extra time. On 25 April 2016, López was appointed at fellow top-tier club
Pune City. On 16 September 2017, after a run-in with the board of directors, he left his position. In May 2019, López returned to ATK. On 14 March 2020, in
a final played behind closed doors, he won the national championship against
Chennaiyin to become the first manager to achieve the feat twice with the same team. López signed with the newly formed
ATK Mohun Bagan on 15 March 2020. In his
first season his side finished level with
Mumbai City in the first stage, but pushed down to second place on head-to-head points and lost
the final 2–1. On 3 April 2021, he agreed to a one-year contract extension. On 18 December 2021, he resigned after a poor run of results. López returned to Mohun Bagan – now renamed Mohun Bagan Super Giant – in June 2023, as technical director. He was appointed their interim head coach the following 3 January, after the sacking of
Juan Ferrando. On 25 July 2024, López was appointed as the head coach of
I-League club
Inter Kashi. He led the club to a second-place finish in his debut campaign in the
2024–25 I-League, but a final ruling by the
Court of Arbitration for Sport saw them surpass
Churchill Brothers to win the championship and secure promotion. ==Managerial statistics==