Early career After his retirement, aged almost 34, Pizzi played
polo in the
Barcelona region, then started his coaching career. Together with
José del Solar he managed
Argentine Primera División's
Colón at the beginning of the
Clausura 2005, but both were sacked after three losses in the first three matches. On 13 April 2006, Pizzi became the coach of
Universidad San Martín in the
Peruvian Primera División. He returned to his country of birth five years later, working with Rosario Central and
San Lorenzo and
winning the 2013 Inicial with the latter.
Valencia On 26 December 2013, Pizzi returned to Valencia after 20 years, being appointed manager. His first game in charge was on 4 January of the following year, a 2–0
derby home win over
Levante. Pizzi was sacked on 2 July 2014, after new owner
Peter Lim took over. It was the first time in 16 years that Valencia had
failed to qualify for Europe, after an eighth-place finish.
Chile after winning the
Copa América Centenario On 29 January 2016, after one year at the helm of
León in the
Liga MX, Pizzi replaced
Jorge Sampaoli at the
Chile national side. He took the nation to
victory in the
Copa América Centenario in the United States, notably disposing of
Mexico 7–0 in the last-eight stage and defeating
Argentina on
penalties in the decisive match. Pizzi took the team to
the final of the
2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, Chile's first ever final in a FIFA competition and the fifth South American country to do so, losing 0–1 to
Germany. However, after failing to
qualify for the next year's World Cup – they reached the last matchday in third place, falling to sixth following the 3–0 away loss against
Brazil – he resigned.
Saudi Arabia On 28 November 2017, Pizzi was appointed to manage
Saudi Arabia, becoming the third man to hold the position in as many months. The team's run at the
2018 World Cup ended after the first three games (one win and two losses); On 21 January 2019, after
round-of-16 elimination at the
AFC Asian Cup and not having been approached by the
Saudi Arabian Football Federation regarding the renewal of his contract, he resigned.
Later career Pizzi returned to San Lorenzo in June 2019, six years after his first managerial spell. On 31 October, he was dismissed due to poor results. On 21 January 2021, Pizzi was appointed at
Racing Club. His team lost the
Supercopa Argentina 5–0 to River in March and the
Copa de la Superliga final to Colón. He was removed by club president Víctor Blanco on 9 August after a 1–0 defeat to
city rivals Independiente. On 29 June 2022, Pizzi signed a one-year contract at
Al-Wasl of the
UAE Pro League. Having finished fifth in his
only season, he returned to international management with
Bahrain. At the
2023 AFC Asian Cup in Qatar, his team finished their group ahead of
South Korea before being eliminated by Japan in the last 16. He left by mutual consent on 16 February 2024, seven months into a two-year deal. Remaining in the Middle East, Pizzi was hired on 16 July 2024 as manager of
Kuwait. He succeeded
Rui Bento, with the team in the
third round of World Cup qualifiers for the first time in 20 years. with 1 win in 15 matches, news distributed Pizzi left work without informing the federation and stayed out of contact. The Federation announced they are looking for a new Replacement on April 1 later revealed that he’d leave after his contract expired at the end of the qualifiers. ==Career statistics==