MONTERREY, Mexico — A real bombshell rocked Liga MX on Tuesday. Tigres made a surprise announcement that Argentine coach Guido Pizarro had decided to step down as the team’s head coach, just a few days before the third matchday of the Apertura tournament.
In a post on its social media accounts, the club explained that the coach’s departure was due to personal reasons. “We inform our fans that today Guido Pizarro made the decision to step down as head coach of Club Tigres for personal reasons. We thank Guido for his time with the team, and we will announce the new coaching staff that will take over the team at a later date,” the club stated.
Pizarro, 36, brings to a close a 13-year uninterrupted tenure with the Monterrey-based club. As a midfielder, he played for the blue-and-gold team in two stints (2013–2017 and 2018–2025), establishing himself as a fan favorite and winning four league titles. After retiring in the middle of last year, he immediately took over as head coach and, in his debut season, led Tigres to the championship final, which they lost to Toluca.
Following the club’s official announcement, Pizarro published an emotional farewell letter in which he thanked the board of directors and the team staff for their support, as well as the Tigres fans for their unwavering support over more than a decade.
The coach was emphatic in clarifying that his resignation is not linked to the team’s shaky start to the current Apertura season, in which they suffered a 3-1 loss on the road against Tijuana and a 2-2 draw against Atlético de San Luis. “I want to make it clear that this is not a decision motivated by results, but rather the result of a process of discussions and reflection that has been ongoing for some time,” the Argentine emphasized.
Interestingly, Pizarro did not cite the obvious lack of reinforcements for this season as a trigger—a situation that was recently exacerbated by the significant loss of forward Ángel Correa. The World Cup champion with Argentina left the university team last week to join River Plate.
While the board works to find a permanent successor, Tigres confirmed that Hernán Elizondo, the current head coach of the U-21 team, will take over as interim head coach for next Saturday’s match, when the team visits Querétaro.
