Brazilian starts with elite squad in the hands of foreign coaches

Starts this Saturday (9) a Brazilian Championship with multiple foreign accents. Never before has the competition started with so many coaches from abroad, responsible for 9 of the 20 teams in action in the first division.

Named as the main favorites for investment and recent results, Atlético Mineiro, Flamengo and Palmeiras are respectively managed by an Argentine (Antonio Mohamed), a Portuguese (Paulo Sousa) and a Portuguese (Abel Ferreira).

These teams were the top three in the 2021 edition. Next, Fortaleza, which is commanded by Argentine Juan Pablo Vojvoda, and Corinthians, which recently replaced Brazilian Sylvinho with Portuguese Vítor Pereira, appeared in the table.

Today, Santos (Fabián Bustos, Argentinian), Internacional (Alexander Medina, Uruguayan), Botafogo (Luís Castro, Portuguese) and Coritiba (Gustavo Morínigo, Paraguayan) also have foreign commanders. There is thus a record.

There have never been more than seven outside technicians at the same time. Last year, considering all the rounds, there were eight (non-simultaneous). So, right away, the 2022 Brazilian already establishes itself as the one with the most non-Brazilian coaches.

The portrait of the opening round, compared to the records of the last ten years, shows that clubs have started more and more to look for non-homemade solutions. Until 2019, what was seen was the competition to start with a foreign professional, at most two.

The resounding success of Portuguese Jorge Jesus that year at Flamengo made other teams repeat the model. The also Portuguese Abel Ferreira then lined up titles at Palmeiras and contributed to the multiplication.

No wonder, the Portuguese are the majority, a list of four names pulled by Abel himself. There are three Argentines, one Uruguayan and one Paraguayan, technicians who in fact try to establish concepts different from those usually seen in Brazil.

The situation is different from that observed until the beginning of the century, with coaches who were born in other countries, but were established in Brazilian territory. Corinthians, for example, had names like the Uruguayan Darío Pereyra, São Paulo’s idol when he was a player.

“Vítor Pereira is basically the first foreign coach in the sense that Corinthians seeks knowledge from outside,” says historian Celso Unzelte, a specialist in the history of the white-and-white club.

“The Fleitas Solich [paraguaio que dirigiu a equipe entre 1962 e 1963], when he arrived, he was already the Flamengo Wizard. the Reganeschi [Armando, argentino, 1978] had taken Londrina to the Brazilian semifinals. So it had nothing to do with importing a coach.”

Now, the idea really seems to be importing ideas. It was the path followed by Atlético Mineiro after the departure of Cuca, who led the team in winning the Brazilian Championship last year. The board even negotiated with Jesus and closed with Mohamed, not getting excited about the local names available.

Flamengo, dissatisfied with the work of Renato Gaúcho, went to look for another Portuguese, Paulo Sousa, trying to revive the success achieved with Jesus. The beginning has been complicated, with conflicts with the squad and the loss of titles disputed so far.

At Palmeiras, there was no reason to change. With the morale of someone who has won the last two editions of the Copa Libertadores, Abel continues to lead the alviverde team, which in 2022 has already won the Recopa Sul-Americana and the Campeonato Paulista.

The number of foreigners is not seen with favor by Rogério Ceni, who won the Brazilian with Flamengo in 2020 and shortly after was fired. Now at São Paulo, he fights to surprise the favorites and leave the title in the hands of a Brazilian coach.

“I’m sorry. I think there are great coaches in Brazil,” said the Paranaense. “We have great friends who could play this role in big clubs. It’s going to take this wave of coaches from outside until failure also exists and people start thinking about coaches here again.”

The Brazilian starts with four games on Saturday. At 4:30 pm, at Maracanã, Fluminense and Santos will face off, with Premiere broadcast, which will also feature Atlético-GO x Flamengo, at 7:00 pm. Then, at 9 pm, Palmeiras will host Ceará, with SporTV and Premiere.

Foreign coaches who started the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A in the last 10 years*

2014

Miguel Ángel Portugal (ESP): Athletico

2015

Diego Aguirre (URU): International

2016

Edgardo Bauza (ARG): Sao Paulo
Diego Aguirre (URU): Atletico Mineiro

2018

Diego Aguirre (URU): Sao Paulo

2019

Jorge Sampaoli (ARG): Santos

2020

Domènec Torrent (ESP): Flamengo
Eduardo Coudet (ARG): International
Jorge Sampaoli (ARG): Atletico MG

2021

Abel Ferreira ( POR): Palmeiras
Hernan Crespo (ARG): Sao Paulo
Juan Pablo Vojvoda (ARG): Fortaleza
Miguel Ángel Ramírez (ESP): International

2022

Abel Ferreira ( POR): Palmeiras
Alexander Medina (URU): International
Antonio Mohamed (ARG): Atletico Mineiro
Fabian Bustos (ARG): Santos
Gustavo Morínigo (PAR): Coritiba
Juan Pablo Vojvoda (ARG): Fortaleza
Luís Castro ( POR): Botafogo
Paulo Sousa ( POR): Flamengo
Vitor Pereira ( POR): Corinthians

*The 2012, 2013 and 2017 editions had no foreigners in the 1st round