LUIZ FELIPE SCOLARI (BRAZIL) 2002
Picture : Luiz Felipe Scolari and the World Cup 2002
IFFHS – THE WORLD’S BEST NATIONAL COACH 2002 : LUIZ FELIPE SCOLARI (BRAZIL) 2002
PRESENTATION
Luiz Felipe Scolari, born 9 November 1948 in Passo Fundo, was a former professional footballer before being one of the leading managers in the World with the greatest Trophy in football, the World Cup 2002 with Brazil, for the year 2002 he received also the IFFHS Award of THE WORLD’S BEST NATIONAL COACH.
Playing as defender, he began his footballer career in Caxias for 6 years (1973-1979) before moving to Juventude (1980), Novo Hamburgo (1980-81) and CSA (1981). It was there in his last club that he won his only major title as a player, the 1981 Campeonato Alagoano with CSA.
CSA was also his first club as manager in 1982, where he began a very long managerial career at 34 years old. He stayed one year and joined Juventude (1982/83), Brazil de Pelotas (1983), Al-Shabab (1984/85), Pelotas (1986), Juventude (1986/87), Gremio (1987), Goes (1988) before winning his first title , the Kuwait Emir Cup 1989 as manager in Al Qadisiya (1988 to 1990) !
His success in the kuwait club opened him the door of the Kuwait National team where he won as manager the Arabian Gulf Cup 1990. Back to Brazil, he won the Copa do Brazil 1991 with Criciuma. Scolari continued his way in Asia at Al-Ahli (1991), returned to Al Qadisiya (1992), then to Brazil to Grêmio (1993-1996), where he won his first major champion titles, the Copa Libertadores 1995, the Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A 1996, also the Copa del Brazil 1994 and the Recopa Sudamericana ! His success in Grêmio brought him to Japan in Jubilo Iwata (1997) and back to Brazil to Palmeiras (1998-2000). There, he won the Copa do Brazil 1998, the Copa Mercosur 1998 and the Copa Liberadores 1999 ! New challenge in Cruzeiro (2000-2001) where he won the Copa Sul-Minas.
The National Team of Brazil was his natural next station (2001-2002) and he leaded the team with Ronaldo and Ronaldinho to the World Cup win 2002, his greatest success in his long career. Scolari was then appointed as manager of the Portugal National team from july 2003 to june 2008. He led Portugal to the final of the 2004 Euro (defeat 0-1 against Greece) and to the 4th place in the 2006 World Cup in Germany , before resigning at the Euro 2008.
After a return to club management in Chelsea in the Premier League ((2008-2009), in Bunyodkor where he won the Uzbek League 2009 and in Palmeiras , where he won again the Copa do Brazil (2012), Scolari was hired again as manager of the Brazilian National team in 2012. He won the FIFA Confederations Cup 2013 and reached the semi final in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, where his team finished at the 4th place after defeats against Germany (1-7) and Netherlands (0-3) ! His contract was not renewed, so he joined again Grêmio (2014-2015), went to China to Guangzhou Evergrande in 2015. He won there the Chinese Super League 2015, 2016 , 2017 ; the AFC Champions League 2015 ; the Chinese FA Cup 2016 and the Chinese FA Super Cup 2016, 2017 !
After these fantastic three years in China, he came back to Brazil and Palmeiras in 2018. He won again the Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A 2018 and hi is the current manager of the team with high ambitions for the future.