{"id":690215,"date":"2026-05-24T07:58:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T07:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/690215\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T07:58:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T07:58:25","slug":"communicado-oficial-diego-mejia-set-for-ottawa-exit-liga-mx-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/690215\/","title":{"rendered":"Communicado Oficial: Diego Mejia Set For Ottawa Exit, Liga MX Return"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we reported on earlier this week, Atletico Ottawa head coach Diego Mejia will be departing the reigning Canadian Premier League champions <\/a>in favour of a move to their Liga MX sister club, Atletico San Luis.<\/p>\n

The Mexican top-flight side has been searching for a successor to Guillermo Abascal since late March, with Raul Chabrandt serving as interim coach while the candidates were evaluated. <\/p>\n

Diego Mejia had come close to a Liga MX move this winter, having been a lead candidate for a then-vacant Queretaro FC role he described as a \u2018dream come true\u2019. While he would later have his\u00a0option triggered<\/a>\u00a0for Atletico Ottawa\u2019s title defense campaign, he had shown a clear interest in coaching in Liga MX for the second time in his career.<\/p>\n

Support Independent Media \u2013 Supp<\/a>ort Northern Tribune On Patreon<\/a><\/p>\n

While Ottawa described his move simply as an \u2018exciting professional opportunity\u2019, news from two borders south has already locked in his next destination as San Luis.<\/p>\n

Mejia will now serve out two final matches with Atletico Ottawa, with his final home match as head coach coming this weekend before serving away to Pacific, who are going through a head coach change-up of their own<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see this as an amazing moment for Atletico Ottawa,\u201d says club CEO Manuel Vega. \u201cWhen we brought Diego into the club, it was part of a wider plan to build a structure that empowers professionals to develop on and off the pitch. Diego has earned the opportunity to take this next step in his career and shows the value of Atletico Ottawa in our associated global network.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 42-year-old is Atletico Ottawa\u2019s third-ever head coach after Spanish striker Mista<\/a> and Carlos Gonzalez<\/a>. Joining the side last January, he helped the side win its first-ever CPL championship in the most Canadian way \u2013 a blizzard featuring the infamous \u2018icycle kick\u2019 \u2013 and has led them to a 25-11-8 record in the time since.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cI came to Ottawa looking for an opportunity to do something special. I leave knowing that we created a moment that will never be forgotten,\u201d says Diego Mejia. \u201cOur North Star Cup victory was the outcome of a process where we established Atl\u00e9tico as the best team in Canada, playing the best football the Canadian Premier League has ever seen, and we earned our place in the Concacaf Champions Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mejia also helped the side make history this year, defeating Toronto FC<\/a> in a significant Canadian Championship cupset.<\/p>\n

The capital city club has already begun its search for Mejia\u2019s successor. In the meantime, assistant coach Diego Campos \u2013 who has filled in twice over the last two years while Mejia was sidelined for yellow card accumulation<\/a> \u2013 will take the reins while his replacement is found.<\/p>\n

The head coach move comes internally through Atletico Madrid\u2019s multi-club ownership model. Through this, Ottawa and San Luis have had a close relationship \u2013 in fact, there are a couple\u00a0Atletico San Luis loanees<\/a>\u00a0in the Canadian capital right now.<\/p>\n

\"\"Photo Credit: John Jacques<\/p>\n

The outbound Atletico Ottawa boss is well familiar with the Mexican football circuit, having featured during his playing career. He previously coached FC Juarez to a 6-6-16 record through the 2023 Apertura and Clausura, with his final victory as a head coach there having come against \u2013 you guessed it \u2013 Atletico San Luis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Atletico Ottawa fans hoping to bid farewell to the gaffer can do so at TD Place with Sunday, May 24 in what is sure to be a spectacular clash against Hamilton\u2019s Forge FC.<\/p>\n

Header Image Photo Credit: John Jacques<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As we reported on earlier this week, Atletico Ottawa head coach Diego Mejia will be departing the reigning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":690216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[236131,49,48,20739],"class_list":["post-690215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-atletico-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ottawa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=690215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/690216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=690215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=690215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=690215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}