Marcelo Loffreda is a rugby player and coach, until recently head coach for the English

Guinness Premiership

The English Premiership, also currently known as the Aviva Premiership because of the league's sponsorship by Aviva, is a professional league competition for rugby union football clubs in the top division of the English rugby system. There are twelve clubs in the Premiership...

 club power Leicester Tigers

Leicester Tigers

Leicester Tigers is an English rugby union club that plays in the Aviva Premiership.Leicester are the most successful English club since the introduction of league rugby in 1987, a record 9 times English champions - 3 more than either Bath or Wasps, the last of which was in 2010...

. Loffreda won 44 caps

Cap (sport)

In sports, a cap is a metaphorical term for a player's appearance on a select team, such as a national team. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of association football...

 with one as captain, playing at centre for the Argentine rugby union side

Argentina national rugby union team

The Argentina national rugby team, nicknamed Los Pumas, represents Argentina in international rugby union matches. The team, which plays in sky blue and white jerseys, is organised by the Argentine Rugby Union .Argentina played its first international rugby match in 1910 against a touring British...

 (los Pumas). He played much of his career outside the legendary Hugo Porta

Hugo Porta

Hugo Porta is a former Argentine Rugby Union footballer, an inductee of both the International Rugby Hall of Fame and IRB Hall of Fame, and one of the best fly-halves the sport has seen...

 and scored 4 test tries.

In 1994 he hung up his playing boots and became a coach. In April 2000, he was appointed coach of Argentina and steered them to series victories over France

France national rugby union team

The France national rugby union team represents France in rugby union. They compete annually against England, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales in the Six Nations Championship. They have won the championship outright sixteen times, shared it a further eight times, and have completed nine grand slams...

, Wales

Wales national rugby union team

The Wales national rugby union team represent Wales in international rugby union tournaments. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 24 times outright, second only to England with...

 and Scotland

Scotland national rugby union team

The Scotland national rugby union team represent Scotland in international rugby union. Rugby union in Scotland is administered by the Scottish Rugby Union. The Scotland rugby union team is currently ranked eighth in the IRB World Rankings as of 19 September 2011...

, a draw with the British and Irish Lions

British and Irish Lions

The British and Irish Lions is a rugby union team made up of players from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales...

, a win against England

England national rugby union team

The England national rugby union team represents England in rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and Wales. They have won this championship on 26 occasions, 12 times winning the Grand Slam, making them the most successful team in...

 at Twickenham

Twickenham Stadium

Twickenham Stadium is a stadium located in Twickenham, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is the largest rugby union stadium in the United Kingdom and has recently been enlarged to seat 82,000...

 in November 2006 as well as coming close to securing the Pumas' first victories over South Africa

South Africa national rugby union team

The South African national rugby union team are 2009 British and Irish Lions Series winners. They are currently ranked as the fourth best team in the IRB World Rankings and were named 2008 World Team of the Year at the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards.Although South Africa was instrumental...

 and New Zealand. The Pumas went on to their all-time best finish of third at the 2007 World Cup

2007 Rugby World Cup

The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 20 October. France won the hosting rights in 2003,...

, including an opening win over hosts France, a pool win over Ireland

Ireland national rugby union team

The Ireland national rugby union team represents the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team competes annually in the Six Nations Championship and every four years in the Rugby World Cup, where they reached the quarter-final stage in all but two competitions The Ireland national rugby union...

, and another win over France in the third-place match. This success was Loffreda's swan song as Pumas coach, as he had announced months before the tournament that he would leave the Pumas after the World Cup for the Leicester job.

Loffreda graduated in civil engineering

Civil engineering

Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...

 at Universidad de Buenos Aires and was sales manager for Argentine textile

Textile

A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...

 and footwear

Footwear

Footwear consists of garments worn on the feet, for fashion, protection against the environment, and adornment. Being barefoot is commonly associated with poverty, but some cultures chose not to wear footwear at least in some situations....

 company Alpargatas http://www.ole.clarin.com/notas/2007/02/09/01360100.html.

He is married with 5 children, Sophia, Nicolas, Juana, Olivia and Marina (in age order)

Loffreda got sacked from his job as Head Coach at Leicester on the 6th June 2008, after just one season at the club. Although reaching two finals (EDF energy and Guinness premiership) he was sacked due to poor results. Leicester only just reached the premiership playoffs and Heineken Cup qualification, from a club of this standard this was seen as unacceptable.He has been succeeded as Leicester Tigers coach by the 40 year old South African, Heyneke Meyer

Heyneke Meyer

Heyneke Meyer is a rugby union coach, most recently Head Coach at Leicester Tigers in the Guinness Premiership. He is the former coach of the Blue Bulls in the Super 14 competition....

in late June 2008.

He now has gone back to coach in Argentina