Luis Diaz born Luis Fernando Díaz Marulanda is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as a left winger for Premier League club Liverpool and the Colombia national team.
He is known for his speed, dribbling, and scoring ability. He has been ranked as the #no. 1 football player of Colombia as of January 2022.
Luis Diaz began his professional career in the Colombian Second Division at Barranquilla, before moving to Atlético Junior, winning Categoría Primera A, one Copa Colombia and one Superliga Colombiana.
In 2019, he joined Porto for a reported fee of €7 million, winning two doubles of Primeira Liga and Taça de Portugal, and one Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira.
After 14 league goals in 18 league games in the first half of 2021–22, Liverpool signed him in a transfer worth €45 million (£37.5 million).
He won the EFL Cup and FA Cup in his first season, and was man of the match in the latter final. Díaz made his senior international debut for Colombia in 2018.
He has earned over 30 caps for his national team, helping them to a third-place finish at the 2021 Copa América.
Additionally, he was awarded the Golden Boot as joint top goalscorer of the tournament alongside Argentina’s Lionel Messi.
Who is Luis Diaz?
Luis Diaz was born in Barrancas, La Guajira, and began playing football at the age of six. Nicknamed “Luchito”, he attended a small football school run by his father.
In 2014, at the age of 17, he attended an open trial hosted by Atlético Junior and impressed enough to join the youth team.
He was included in Colombia’s 22-man squad for the 2015 Copa Americana de Pueblos Indígenas, due to his Wayuu ethnicity.
After impressing during the tournament, he joined the senior team of Atlético Junior in 2016, being immediately assigned to farm team Barranquilla.
Given Díaz’s slender build and a potentially malnourished appearance, he was given a dietary plan by Barranquilla to gain 10 kg.
Díaz made his senior debut on 26 April 2016, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 2–1 Categoría Primera B home loss against Deportivo Pereira.
His first senior goal came on 14 May, as he scored the winner in a 2–1 home defeat of Cúcuta Deportivo.
On 6 June 2017, after already making his first team debut in the year’s Copa Colombia, Díaz was subsequently promoted to Junior’s main squad.
He made his Categoría Primera A debut on 27 August, replacing Matías Mier in a 3–2 loss at Once Caldas, and scored his first goal on 20 September in a 3–1 Copa Sudamericana home win against Cerro Porteño.
Díaz became a regular starter during the 2018 season, and scored his first goal in the top tier on 4 February of that year, by netting the game’s only in a home success over Atlético Bucaramanga.
He also added braces against Once Caldas, Atlético Huila and Rionegro Águilas, ending the campaign with 16 goals overall.
Who are Luis Diaz parents
Luis Diaz’s parents are Luis Manuel Diaz and Cilenis Marulanda. They are from Barrancas, La Guajira, Colombia.
About Luis Diaz father Luis Manuel Diaz
Luis Diaz’s father Luis Manuel Diaz is a member of the Wayuu indigenous community, the largest in Colombia.
He is a football enthusiast and amateur player, who used to train teams from the local coal mine after the miners’ shifts.
He also coached his son Luis and his brothers Roger and Jesus, and inspired their passion for football.
He lives in Barrancas, La Guajira, Colombia.
About Luis Diaz mother Cilenis Marulanda
Cilenis Marulanda is also a member of the Wayuu indigenous community, the largest in Colombia.
She lives in Barrancas, La Guajira with her husband, Luis Manuel Diaz.
She is very proud of her son Luis and his achievements as a footballer.
What happened to luis diaz parents
Kidnapping of luis diaz parents
On 29 October 2023, Díaz’s parents were kidnapped by armed men on motorcycles at a gas station in Barrancas, their hometown.
His mother was rescued by police a day later, with a “major military search” announced to locate his father.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro claimed “all the public forces have been deployed” and the following day, General William Rene Salamanca announced a reward of up to 200 million pesos for information on Díaz’s father’s whereabouts.
According to Attorney General Francisco Barbosa, information has been obtained “regarding the possibility that his father could be in Venezuela”, which would “require intervention by President Petro”.
Luis Diaz was absent for Liverpool’s following Premier League match against Nottingham Forest, with his teammate Diogo Jota holding up Díaz’s shirt during a goal celebration.
After the game, Jürgen Klopp stated “it was clear we had to give the game an extra sense and it was fighting for Lucho.”
On 31 October, it was reported that Colombian forces had focused on their search on a mountain range between the border of Colombia and Venezuela. As of 5 November, his father is still missing.
On 2 November, Colombia’s National Liberation Army, the ELN, which had been identified as the culprits of the kidnapping, released a public statement, stating that they would release the father of Luis Díaz as soon as possible, with the process already starting.
Is Luis Diaz father free
Luis Diaz’s father will be released “as soon as possible,” ELN representative Juan Carlos Cuellar told a community meeting, in a video clip shared by the ELN.
The statement is as follows: We salute Colombia and the Caribbean.
We are in solidarity with the families who experience pain and tragedies due to unemployment, the criminal violence of paramilitarism and the abandonment of the State. The corruption of political clans is the main threat to the stability of the region.
The Northern War Front has commands with economic missions and one of them carries out a privation of freedom, which, after being reported and verified that it is the father of Lucho Diaz, is guided by his release because he is a family member of the great sportsman that we all love as Colombians.
From that moment on, the release process begins and we want to avoid any incident. Firm in the search for the paths of peace, with the necessary transformations that the country needs. From the Caribbean.
Liverpool’s Luis Diaz begs for release of kidnapped father .
Colombian footballer Luis Diaz has begged for the release of his father, who was kidnapped at gunpoint last month.
“Every second, every minute our anxiety grows,” the 26-year-old said in a statement on Sunday. “My mother, my brothers and I are desperate, anxious and have no words to describe what we are feeling. This suffering will only end when we have him home with us.”
After scoring for his club at Luton on Sunday afternoon, Luis Diaz lifted his shirt to reveal the words “freedom for papa” in Spanish.
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