Feature Story – Diego Fagúndez: Journey to MLS Cup Champion

LOS ANGELES, CA – From an early age, Diego Fagúndez became a household name within Major League Soccer. Following his career path starting with the signing of his first professional contract at the age of fifteen, his MLS Cup Final appearance in 2014, to then leaving his home of 10+ years & starting fresh in 2021, to then a shocking move in 2023 which forced him to embark on the biggest journey of his career, which includes his search for MLS Cup Final redemption while continuing to leave a massive impact in Major League Soccer. This is his journey.

Diego Santiago Fagúndez Pepe was born on February 14th, 1995, to parents Washington-Bocha Fagúndez and Alicia Pepe in Montevideo, Uruguay. He has one older sister (Fiorella) & one younger brother (Gary).

He grew up in Montevideo, Uruguay and moved to Leominster, Massachusetts at the age of 5-years-old.

“Getting introduced to soccer was basically through my dad, who played professionally as a goalkeeper in Uruguay. It kind of ran in the family, my mom played indoor and outdoor soccer. I had to play soccer basically. It wasn’t like I could play other sports. I was put into soccer. I was given a soccer ball when I was three years old, just kicking it and continue to do so today.”

Initially playing in local town leagues in Leominster. He began his youth club career playing for FC United (Massachusetts), where he was a State Cup finalist in 2005 and champion in 2006.

In 2007, Fagúndez left FC United (Massachusetts) and joined FC Greater Boston Bolts (2007-2009) where he played under coach Dan Colwell.

He won the Massachusetts State Cup with FC Greater Boston Bolts in 2008 & 2009.

During his time with FC United (Massachusetts) & FC Greater Boston Bolts, Diego also played for the Massachusetts Olympic Development Academy (ODP) from 2006-2009.

He served as captain of his ODP team starting in 2008 and held that position until he left the Olympic Development Academy in 2009.

In 2010, Fagúndez’ first major opportunity presented itself. “When I was 12 years old, a director of the New England Revolution Academy (Deven Apajee) saw my game and came to my dad and asked me if I would join the Academy (New England Revolution Academy).”

This was the second time he had been offered to try out for the Revolution Academy. His first offer came in early 2009.

“We decided to take the chance, and everything turned around from there.”

In his debut season with the New England Revolution U16s, he led the team to a first-place finish in the Northeast Division with a 14-7-8 record, where he scored 20 goals in 30 appearances.

His stellar performances with the Revolution Academy did not go un-noticed as his time at the academy level was quite short. After just a year and 1/2, Diego was approached after training by one of his coaches with some important news.

“One day, we were at practice and I was approached and they told me, ‘”Hey, Mike Burns (General Manager of New England Revolution at the time) wanted to meet my parents”‘, so, we went and we got to the office and I remember a table, my mom next to me, my dad next to me, and me with a water, and the first thing he said to me was that they wanted to offer me a contract.”

On November 15th, 2010, Diego Fagúndez signed the first ever Home-Grown-Player contract with the New England Revolution.

He became the youngest player since Freddy Adu to sign a Major League Soccer contract.

Upon signing, he chose to wear jersey number #16.

Reflecting on signing his first professional contract, Diego stated, “It was a dream come true to follow in my dad’s footsteps and sign a professional contract, especially with my local team. One out of a million people get the chance to go pro at 15, so I was surprised to get the offer so soon.”

On picking the number 16, Diego stated, “I remember that they had initially asked me what number to be, and I chose number #16 because I was going to be 16 years old and then at the end of the season, they had asked me again what number that I wanted, and I initially told them that I wanted the number #10. And they instantly told me that I had to earn it, so I chose the number #14 instead.”

Prior to the start of the 2011 season, Fagúndez had officially changed his jersey number to his signature number #14.

Playing under head coach Steve Nicol, his career in New England began right away. He made his professional debut on April 26th, 2011, against D.C. United in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup when he entered as a substitute in the 76th minute.

He made his league debut on August 6th, 2011, versus Chivas USA, where he entered in the 66th minute, drew a penalty which was converted in the 69th minute by teammate Shalrie Joseph, and then scored his first professional goal in the 85th minute.

“Everything happened so fast and after that, everything worked out the right way, I was able to play in a game when I was sixteen, score in my first game that I’d ever played.”

In his debut season, Fagúndez went on to make 6 appearances (3 starts) where he tallied 2 goals and 1 assist. Upon conclusion of the 2011 season, Steve Nicol stepped down as head coach of the Revolution. He was replaced by Jay Heaps.

Diego made the most of his chances in New England under head coach Jay Heaps. During the 2012 campaign, Diego’s playing time significantly increased where he made 20 appearances (8 starts) and went on to tally 2 goals and 2 assists.

He became a regular starter during the 2013 season and managed to tally 13 goals and 7 assists, a team best, which led him to receive the Team MVP award at the conclusion of the season. Diego & New England made the MLS Cup Playoffs; however, they were defeated in the Conference Semifinals against #2 seeded Sporting Kansas City 4-3 on aggregate. This was the first time in his career that he had made the MLS Cup Playoffs.

During the 2014 campaign, Diego tallied 5 goals and 4 assists as New England finished the regular season in 2nd place in the MLS Eastern Conference. During their playoff run, New England knocked off #3 Columbus Crew (7-3 on aggregate) in the Conference Semifinals & #4 seeded New York Red Bulls (4-3 on aggregate) in the Conference Finals. They reached the 2014 MLS Cup Final as the #2 seed and faced off against the #2 seeded Los Angeles Galaxy, who would host the final at Dignity Sports Health Park in Carson, CA. Unfortunately for Diego, the New England lost 2-1 in Extra Time. Fagúndez did not play a single minute during this entire playoff run. This was the second time in his career that he had made the MLS Cup Playoffs.

Prior to the start of the 2015 season, a lot had happened for Fagúndez.

In January, he was called up to the Uruguay National Team to represent them in the 2015 South American Youth Championship. He appeared in Uruguay’s 1-0 victory over Columbia and went on to win a third-place medal in the tournament.

Also in January, reports began to fly in for Diego regarding international interest from teams in Europe.

Diego confirmed that Spanish side FC Barcelona, English side Birmingham City FC, Italian sides Atalanta B.C., ACF Fiorentina, Torino FC 1906, & A.C. Chievo Verona, along with Uruguayan side Club Nacional de Football were all monitoring him in 2015 in New England.

Only Atalanta B.C., ACF Fiorentina, & Club Nacional de Football sent official scouts to New England throughout the season.

None of the clubs had sent an offer that matched New England’s $4,000,000 price tag for Diego.

He would end up remaining in New England.

Across the 2015 & 2016 campaigns, Diego tallied 12 goals and 10 assists. The 2015 season ended in defeat during the first round of the MLS Cup Playoffs against #5 seeded D.C. United 2-1. This was his third time in his career that he had made the MLS Cup Playoffs. The 2016 season resulted in New England failing to make the playoffs.

Also, during the 2016 campaign, Diego signed a three-year contract plus a club option for an additional fourth year with New England.

Prior to signing his contract extension, Fagúndez confirmed that he had received interest from Liga MX sides CD Cruz Azul & C.F. Pachuca. Neither club made an official offer.

Starting the 2017 campaign on his new contract, Diego continued to contribute for New England where he tallied 7 goals and 8 assists. New England failed to reach the playoffs for the second consecutive season which resulted in the dismissal of head coach Jay Heaps, who had coached the club since 2011.

“With Jay, he was the definition of a “player” coach. It was evident that his emotions showed what type of player that he was on the field and for me, I was trying every day to prove that I wanted to keep playing on the field and made sure that when I had my chances to score and assist while on the field that I did whatever it takes to stay on that field. I really enjoyed my time playing under him.”

New England went on to replace Jay Heaps in November of 2017 with Brad Friedel for his first ever professional coaching job.

In his first season under new coach Brad Friedel, Diego tallied 9 goals and 10 assists, however, once again, New England missed the playoffs.

Prior to the start of the 2019 season, it was publicly confirmed that Uruguayan top-flight team, Club Nacional de Football, had sent an offer to New England for Fagúndez’ signature. New England once again declined the offer.

Starting off the 2019 season, New England were at an all-time low. Through 12-games, Diego had zero goal contributions & New England were 2W-2D-8L. Head coach Brad Friedel was fired on May 9th.

“With Brad Friedel, it was kind of like a military camp. It started off well, but after a little while, the players began to notice that he was trying to do everybody’s job in the facility, and it just didn’t work out in regard to team chemistry. In regard to coaching terms, I don’t think that he was a good coach at all.”

Less than 5 days later, the New England Revolution had announced that they had replaced Friedel with head coach Bruce Arena, the winningest coach in MLS History.

After Arena’s arrival, Fagúndez playing time decreased due to head coach Bruce Arena wanting to use the outside midfielder in a completely different role.

Diego stated, “When Bruce came in, he told me that he wanted to play me as a defensive midfielder, and I knew that was not my best position.”

Due to changes in the system and the positional change made by Arena, Fagúndez was moved from a starting role to a bench role. He managed to tally 2 goals and 3 assists during the season and aided in righting the ship for New England as they qualified for the 2019 MLS Cup Playoffs. This was his fourth time in his career that he had made the MLS Cup Playoffs. They were defeated by #2 seeded Atlanta United FC 1-0 in the first round. Following the conclusion of the season, Diego had his one-year contract option exercised in December.

The 2020 campaign was a historic, but difficult one for Fagúndez. He played in 19 total games, starting 9, however, it was his lowest contributions in his career. Diego had 1 goal and 0 assists all season. This also was the least number of appearances he had in a single season since his debut in 2011.

The one personal positive on the year was that on October 28th, 2020, Diego Fagúndez tied New England’s all-time regular season appearance record, which was 261 matches played, held by Shalrie Joseph.

Fagúndez unfortunately would never break this record.

On why Fagúndez never broke the appearance record, he stated, “Basically, when we went to sit down with him [Bruce Arena], we were talking about numbers [on a new contract]and at one point we were both agreeing to it and last second, he changed everything and put out a number that we didn’t like, and I couldn’t sign it. He [Bruce] basically said, ‘”If you don’t sign this, you won’t play for the club again.”‘. So, that’s exactly what happened. I didn’t sign, I was left off of the roster, I watched some games from home, I didn’t travel on away trips, everything essentially went downhill from there.”

New England managed to make the “MLS is Back Playoffs” where they defeated #1 seeded Philadelphia Union 2-0 in the first round and #4 seeded Orlando City SC 3-1 in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. They fell to eventual MLS Cup champions Columbus Crew in the Conference Finals 1-0. This was his fifth time in his career that he had made the MLS Cup Playoffs, however, just like in 2014, Fagúndez did not make a single appearance in the playoffs.

On playing for Bruce Arena, Diego stated, “Everybody knows Bruce based off of what he’s done in Major League Soccer. Everyone was excited when he was brought to the New England Revolution, but in the end, I just had my differences with him. It came down to the positions that he wanted me to play, and the contract talks, however, I don’t think that I fit his style of play well and that ended up reflecting on my playing time and had an effect on my future decision.”

Prior to the end of the season, Fagúndez confirmed that he received interest from a Spanish top-flight team, however, no offers were made.

On December 8, 2020, the Revolution announced their end of season roster moves. Fagúndez was listed as out of contract with the franchise. On his personal Instagram account, he posted a farewell statement to the Revolution and their fans stating that it was time for him to move on.

He left New England with 265 games played, 182 starts, 53 goals, 45 assists, 430 shots and 178 shots on goal in 16,443 minutes. At the time, he was the youngest player in MLS History to 50, 100, 150, 200, and 250 appearances as well as the youngest to 150 career starts. Additionally, he was the youngest player to score 50 regular season goals at 23 years, 254 days old, became the first HGP to eclipse 15,000 minutes, ranks 2nd all-time in Revolution goals (54), and ranks fourth all-time in Revolution assists (45).

On what led to Diego leaving New England after 10+ years, he stated, “I wasn’t happy in New England in the couple of last years that I was there [under Brad Friedel & Bruce Arena], and I wasn’t playing in the positions that I wanted to play, and overall, I felt that I wasn’t wanted there anymore. I needed something new.”

This was the first time in his career that Fagúndez would be a free agent. With his mind set on looking for a new club, it didn’t take long for the midfielder to find a new home within MLS.

Diego had noted that he garnered interest from Eastern Conference side Orlando City SC, however, that is not where the midfielder would end up.

“One day during that offseason, me and my dad were actually out together at a lake and he asked me, ‘”hey where do you want to go?”‘, and I basically said, ‘”you know, it would be nice to go to Austin, it’s going to be a brand new team, brand new start for me, I would love to go there”‘, and I wish I was lying, but two days later, we got a phone call from Claudio Reyna. They called, we started negotiations and just hearing what him and Josh [Wolff] wanted out of me seemed what I wanted. The decision that I made at the time was the correct one.”

On January 5th, 2021, Fagúndez signed a one-year deal with a club option for an additional year with Western Conference side Austin FC.

Fagúndez became an instant starter for Austin FC under head coach Josh Wolff & made history on April 24th, 2021, in Austin FC’s second ever match, scoring their first ever MLS goal in their come from behind 3-1 victory over the Colorado Rapids.

THERE IT IS! @DiegolFagundez scores Austin FC's first-ever MLS goal 💥

(via @AustinFC)pic.twitter.com/q30aHCR03d

— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) April 25, 2021

“To be honest, when I scored the first goal, I was actually at a low point in life. I was going through relationship issues, and no one knew about that because, of course, I’m not trying to show emotions while I’m playing. Minute sixty, I had a chance to score and put my name in the history books that nobody will take away and its one of the biggest moments in my life.”

During Austin FC’s inaugural 2021 campaign, Fagúndez played in 33 of their 34 matches, starting in 30 of them while contributing 7 goals and 5 assists, his personal best since 2018. Austin FC failed to make the MLS Cup Playoffs.

Reflecting on his first season in Austin, Diego stated, “The decision that I made was the correct one. I came here [to Austin]to make the team better. I wanted to be a better player and to win trophies. I didn’t want to leave Austin without winning anything. I knew that I had to give my all every single game and in every single training session and show the people who I was and that I wanted to be here [in Austin].”

In the 2022 campaign, Fagúndez was rejuvenated and played in all 34 matches for Austin FC, starting in 32 of them while providing a career best 22 goal contributions as he tallied 6 goals and 16 assists. Fagúndez had returned to the MLS Cup Playoffs for just the fourth time in his career as Austin FC went on a magical run as they managed to defeat #7 seeded Real Salt Lake in the first round 2-2 (3-1 in penalties) and #3 seeded FC Dallas in the Western Conference Semifinals 2-1. They unfortunately fell in the Western Conference Finals to #1 seeded and eventual champions Los Angeles FC 3-0.

In October of 2022, Diego Fagúndez announced that he had signed with player agency group DV7 Management Group, owned and operated by former Spanish international legend David Villa.

Prior to the start of the 2023 season, Fagúndez then signed a new three-year contract with a club option for a fourth year with Austin FC.

Reflecting on signing the new contract with Austin FC, Diego stated, “I was very happy to sign this deal because I felt that I was making Austin my home. I loved the people there and it was an amazing place to be. The team, the culture, everything about it. The fans there became my family. I loved it down there.”

The 2023 season did not go the way Fagúndez had planned. 10 games into the season, Fagúndez had just 1 assist and Austin FC started the season 2W-3D-5L. During that span, Fagúndez became injured and missed 4 matches due to a grade 2 groin injury.

During this time, Fagúndez along with other teammates had indirectly received criticism from head coach Josh Wolff in press conferences and media events where he stated that players were not living up to their new contracts.

On August 1st, 2023, Diego was traded from Austin FC to the Los Angeles Galaxy in exchange for midfielder Memo Rodríguez, $300,000 in General Allocation Money and potentially another $600,000 in General Allocation Money add-ons if certain metrics were met.

At the time of his trade, Diego had contributed 2 goals and 2 assists in 19 total games for Austin FC’s 2023 season.

He leaves the club having made 95 appearances for Austin FC where he tallied 17 goals and was the all-time leader assists with 23.

Fans were immediately upset due to the club trading a fan favorite. Later than night, Fagúndez met with members of Austin FC’s supporter groups to say his goodbyes.

Diego Fagundez: A farewell to fans at Hopsquad pic.twitter.com/yawgcdtz8A

— Phil West ⚽ (@philwest) August 2, 2023

Diego stated to me that he was notified that he was being traded while at home [in bed]with his family.

“My phone rung and to be honest I did not know what to expect, so I answered and suddenly they said, ‘”Hey, you’re being traded to LA Galaxy'”. Initially, I was a little shocked because it was the first phone call of the day, but at the end of the day, after I took a couple minutes to myself, I started thinking that if I was going to go anywhere, this is where I wanted to be.”

Reflecting on his time playing under Josh Wolff at Austin FC, Diego stated, “With Josh, we had a really good team that was doing well and scoring well. We as a team thought that things were going in the right direction and right after we lost to Los Angeles FC in the 2022 Western Conference Final, we came back in January for the new season and everything had changed.”

“We weren’t playing the same way and had a difficult start to the season. To start it off, we switched from a four-back to a five-back and not everyone was adapting well, and it reflected on us not getting the results that we had wanted. I personally think that it was easier for him [Josh Wolff] to blame the players rather than to place blame on himself in the end.”

“Overall, I had a lot of fun in Austin and sometimes things just don’t go the right way. We as players knew that we needed to step it up, at the end of the day, they thought they needed to make certain moves, and I guess that’s why they decided to trade me. If I didn’t get traded from Austin to LA, who knows what could’ve happened in regard to my career.”

Welcome to Los Angeles, Diego 💙🤍💛#LAGalaxy acquire midfielder Diego Fagundez from Austin FC.

📰: https://t.co/idaW3QIz6S | @kinecta pic.twitter.com/CJuBuhMqV3

— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) August 1, 2023

Due to his signature #14 jersey being occupied by Designated Player forward Javier Hernández, Fagúndez would wear a new number for the first time in over a decade.

He chose #21 in honor of Uruguayan legendary forward “El Matador” Edinson Cavani.

After joining LA Galaxy late in 2023, Fagúndez began to deliver under new head coach Greg Vanney, where he made 11 total appearances in the 2023 season and recorded 1 goal and 4 assists.

Both Austin FC & LA Galaxy failed to make the MLS Cup Playoffs.

Reflecting on his first season with Los Angeles, Diego stated, “I was received pretty well. The guys were amazing, and I think everybody knew me from around the league playing all these years. They came with open arms and welcomed me into their locker room and brought me in right away.”

Upon conclusion of the season, Fagúndez once again changed his number, this time from jersey #21 to jersey #7.

On why he moved on from the number 21 after one season, Diego stated, “I didn’t want to wear the #14 again and didn’t want to wear #21 anymore and I thought that #7 was the right fit for my position. It’s my lucky number, #7.”

In early March of 2024, Diego announced via social media that he had officially obtained his United States citizenship.

Reflecting on his goals for the 2024 season, Diego stated, “In 2023, when I got here, we were trying to make playoffs, and we failed. So, entering this season, everyone decided to come into the preseason more prepared and motivated to make sure that we got somewhere during the year. That was our main goal. The Galaxy is a team that should always make playoffs, and I think that everybody stepped up.”

On when he knew the team was going to have a competitive 2024 season, Diego reminisced on preseason.

“I remember when we went to preseason, it was evident how good of a team we could be, and in the first game against Inter Miami CF (1-1 draw on opening day), we set the tone and realized that we could make it far.”

Ambitious to get back on track and regain his past form, Diego went on to appear in all 34 matches for LA Galaxy during the 2024 regular season, where he started in 19, and tallied 4 goals and 5 assists in the process.

He became the 10th player in MLS history to tally 70 goals and 70 assists in regular season play and recorded his 400th career MLS appearance (across both regular season and playoff matches).

He assisted in LA Galaxy’s 2nd place finish in the Western Conference, which marks his 5th time in his career that he has qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs.

In the first round of the 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs, the Los Angeles Galaxy defeated #7 seeded Colorado Rapids in the first-round best of three series in just two games, where they won 5-0 and 4-1 respectively. In the Conference Semifinals, they faced #6 seeded Minnesota United FC where they won 6-2. In the Conference Finals, LA then defeated #4 seeded Seattle Sounders 1-0, which sent the Los Angeles Galaxy back to the MLS Cup Finals for the first time since 2014, where they last defeated Diego Fagúndez and the New England Revolution.

BEST IN THE WEST pic.twitter.com/8z7qkG2GZc

— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) December 1, 2024

Even with the season ending ACL injury to midfielder Riqui Puig, Diego knew on Monday (a week before the match) that he would not start in the match. He remained focused & prepared to contribute for Los Angeles at any given moment.

In the final, the #2 seeded Los Angeles Galaxy hosted the #7 seeded New York Red Bulls at Dignity Sports Health Park in Carson, CA. Just 15 minutes into the MLS Cup Final, Los Angeles had a 2-0 advantage from goals by Joseph Paintsil & Dejan Joveljić . Entering the 28th minute Sean Nealis pulled one back for RBNY. The match entered halftime with LA ahead 2-1.

The second half was an absolute battle with both sides fighting and earning chances.

After 78 minutes of action, Fagúndez entered the match. Eager to make his mark in the match, Fagúndez had a crunching tackle less than 15 seconds after entering the match.

When reflecting on that moment in time, Diego stated, “They [his teammates]know what kind of player I am; they know I can make a difference in this game. I wanted to show my teammates that I was ready for this game and the first thing I had to do was try to make sure that they knew that I was coming in.”

After making tactical changes, Los Angeles defended for the final minutes like their lives depended on it.

After the 90+6 minutes of play, the final whistle sounded in Carson, California with Fagúndez on the ball.

14 years into his professional career, Diego Fagúndez had won his first career MLS Cup Final.

Following the match, in the locker room, Justin Ruderman of Upper 90, asked Diego what it felt like to win the MLS Cup for the first time. Diego stated, “It’s amazing. I can have goals, I can have assists, I can have everything, games played, but today, I wanted to be a champion and today I was able to do it. I’m very happy, I’m going to celebrate all night, maybe into tomorrow, who knows when the party ends. You have to live these moments. You don’t always play a final at home, you don’t always win a final, I lost one [with New England in 2014]and today I was able to win one. So, I need to enjoy this moment with my teammates and hopefully there’s many more but now I can say I am a champion here in MLS.”

Reflecting further on the victory, Diego stated, “I wanted this more than anyone and everyone knows that. 10 years too long.”

“I believe in destiny and 10-years ago to lose it at Dignity against LA… And then 10-years later to the day to win it with LA… in LA… If you don’t believe in destiny, then you couldn’t tell this is true.”

As Diego reminisced on the moment, he went on to note, “I said it at the celebration the day afterwards as well, if you can’t beat them [LA], join them.”

Looking ahead to the 2025 season, Diego stated, “Next year is a new year. We have to start all over and everybody needs to be ready. It’s a quick turnaround; the season starts in 2 months? So, goal is to enjoy the moment as we are right now and then hopefully many more memories.”

In regard to future goals, Fagúndez stated that he hopes to one day break the all-time appearances record (514 matches played) held by goalkeeper Nick Rimando, who played for Miami Fusion, D.C. United & Real Salt Lake from 2000-2019 as well as crack the allusive 100-100 club (100 goals & 100 assists) in Major League Soccer.

He currently sits on 404 career appearances (293 starts) with 73 goals, 78 assists, 39 yellow cards and 0 red cards at 29-years-old.

For now, Fagúndez is looking forward to celebrating and spending more time with friends & his family.

In the upcoming MLS season, the Los Angeles Galaxy will look to repeat as MLS Cup Champions and look to take home to Campeones Cup during the 2025 season.

Be sure to follow Diego on all of his social medias below:

Instagram – Diego Fagundez (@DiegoFagundez14) / Instagram

Twitter – (2) Diego Fagundez (@DiegolFagundez) / X

Kick (Video Game Streaming) – diegofagundez14 Stream – Watch Live on Kick

Twitch (Video Game Streaming) – diegof14 – Twitch