Tapia started playing professional football for Argentine club
River Plate in 1981, when then coach
Alfredo Di Stéfano named him for the first team, replacing football legend
Norberto Alonso. In 1985, he would move to River's hated rivals
Boca Juniors. He was a member of the
Argentine squad that won the
1986 World Cup, though he played only a few minutes during the tournament. He replaced
Jorge Burruchaga in the match against England and hit the post with his shot. He is one of the two Boca players to win the title, the other being
Julio Olarticoechea. Tapia is the only player in the history of Boca Juniors to have had four distinct spells with the club. In his last spell with Boca he helped them win the Apertura 1992 championship, their first league title in 11 years and the
Copa Oro in 1993. He played a total of 217 games for Boca in all competitions, scoring 46 goals. Abroad, Tapia played for
Brest in France,
Lugano in Switzerland and
Universidad de Chile in Chile. Tapia retired in 1994. ==Honours==