Rubén Darío Insúa

Insúa was born in Buenos Aires. He played most of his career in the Argentine top league. He was part of the Independiente team that won the 1988–89 Primera title. He also played for Barcelona in Ecuador and Deportivo Cali in Colombia, and had a spell with Spanish side UD Las Palmas.

As a player, Insúa was regarded as a swift midfielder with an excellent touch and a penchant for scoring from free kicks. These qualities earned him his nicknames "el Poeta del Gol" (the Goal Poet) and "el Poeta del Futbol" (the Football Poet). Although he was primarily an attacking midfielder, he was also capable of playing as a striker.

Insúa coached for Ecuador's Barcelona to a national title in 1997, and the Copa Libertadores finals in 1998. He coached San Lorenzo de Almagro to the Copa Sudamericana 2002 title.

Insúa coached Ecuador's Deportivo Quito to the 2009 Campeonato Ecuatoriano de Fútbol Serie A title.

On 1 October 2010, Insúa reached a verbal agreement with Barcelona's president Eduardo Maruri to return and coach the club that won his last national title achievement in 1997.[1] On 25 March 2011, he was fired from Barcelona and replaced with Alex Aguinaga.

Insúa was Deportivo Cali's manager since approximately October 2011[2] until 4 March 2012.[3]

As of match played 19 October 2023

Managerial record by team and tenure

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Barcelona SC		1 January 1997	31 December 1998	72	32	23	17	127	81	+46	044.44
Ferro Carril Oeste		1 January 1999	31 December 1999	5	0	1	4	3	13	−10	000.00
Barcelona SC		1 January 2000	31 December 2000	44	15	15	14	60	55	+5	034.09
San Lorenzo		1 July 2002	16 July 2003	46	20	12	14	75	60	+15	043.48
Barcelona SC		1 January 2004	31 December 2004	26	14	6	6	44	21	+23	053.85
Alianza Lima		1 January 2005	12 May 2005	17	4	8	5	27	23	+4	023.53
Jorge Wilstermann		1 January 2007	30 June 2007	22	10	5	7	29	23	+6	045.45
Talleres		1 July 2007	1 March 2008	12	4	2	6	19	25	−6	033.33
Deportivo Quito		18 December 2008	12 August 2010	83	37	18	28	91	83	+8	044.58
Barcelona SC		2 October 2010	25 March 2011	21	5	9	7	19	24	−5	023.81
Deportivo Cali		1 October 2011	5 March 2012	18	5	5	8	14	21	−7	027.78
Deportivo Quito		1 August 2012	31 December 2013	67	29	20	18	85	79	+6	043.28
El Nacional		29 May 2015	26 October 2015	19	7	3	9	18	25	−7	036.84
Bolívar		1 January 2016	25 April 2016	20	5	8	7	29	29	+0	025.00
LDU Portoviejo		4 February 2019	6 November 2020	61	19	23	19	79	74	+5	031.15
Binacional		7 April 2021	9 May 2021	3	0	1	2	2	5	−3	000.00
San Lorenzo		18 May 2022	present	76	31	31	14	78	53	+25	040.79
Total				612	237	190	185	799	694	+105	038.73

• Rubén Darío Insúa at BDFutbol
• Rubén Darío Insúa at BDFA (in Spanish)