Émerson Leão (; born 11 July 1949) is a Brazilian former footballer and manager. He is regarded by pundits as one of best Brazilian goalkeepers of all time. A documentary video produced by

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

, ''FIFA Fever'', called him the third-most impressive defense player of all time. He was born in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo.

Playing career

He was a FIFA World Cup champion in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

as a reserve player, at age 20. He then played the two following World Cups as first team player. He was the first Brazilian goalkeeper in history to be team captain (during the

1978 World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June. The Cup was won by ...

). Dida repeated the feat in

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in a group stage match against

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. In the

1986 World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-tea ...

, Leão was a reserve player. He played 80 times for the Brazil national football team. At club level, he played for several clubs, his longest term being at

Palmeiras Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes. Palmeiras is one of the most popular clubs in South America, with around ...

, where he won several titles, like Campeonato Brasileiro and

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional association football, football league in the Brazilian States of Brazil, state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo. Run b ...

Managerial career

Leão has been a manager since 1987. He was São Paulo manager in 2005, winning the

of that year. He then moved to Vissel Kobe of Japan, where he stayed for only four matches. On 18 July 2005, he became the manager of Palmeiras, a position he held until March 2006. His peak as a manager was his second period at Santos, between 2002 and 2004, when he won the Campeonato Brasileiro in 2002, and was runner-up in both

Copa Libertadores de América The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club association football, football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level ...

and Campeonato Brasileiro in 2003. Leão is often seen as a hardliner, since he demands perfect physical shape of his players, along with discipline and mutual respect. He is not fond of having well-known players on his teams, since he believes that this might cause relationship problems within the squad. He was the manager of the Brazil nation team from 15 November 2000 until 9 June 2001. From 11 matches, his Brazil side won 4, drew 4 and lost 3. Like his predecessor Vanderlei Luxemburgo, he struggled having top players available for qualifying matches. He tried to centre the squad around

Romário Romário de Souza Faria Figueiredo (born 29 January 1966), known simply as Romário (), is a Brazilian politician and a former professional footballer. A prolific striker renowned for his clinical finishing, he scored over 750 goals and was ...

and younger players with little international experience. He also became the first sitting coach to travel to Europe to assess his players' activities there, where he was asked by the Europeans to not release Rivaldo and Roberto Carlos for matches that were not crucial. Leão was dismissed by Atlético Mineiro on 4 May 2009 following a defeat to arch-rivals Cruzeiro in the final of a regional championship. This ended his third stint as Atlético head coach. On 3 June 2009, Sport Recife's have signed the coach for the up-coming 2009 Brasileirão championship. On 26 April 2010, Leão was named as the new manager of Goiás. On 24 October 2011, São Paulo announced it had hired Leão for a second managerial spell in charge of the club. On 30 August 2012, after two months unattached, Leão was hired by São Caetano, then participating in Série B.

Controversies

Leão is known for his controversial attitudes and declarations. In 1997, after a game between his Atlético Mineiro and Argentine side Lanús in the

Conmebol Cup The Copa CONMEBOL ( en, CONMEBOL Cup) was an annual football cup competition organized by CONMEBOL between 1992 and 1999 for South American football clubs. During its time of existence, it was a very prestigious South American club football cont ...

final, Leão was involved in a massive fight with adversaries. Leão had to rebuild his face after the incident. In 2002, when he coached Santos, and ''Peixe'' faced Paysandu, Leão was involved again in a fight. This time, when his players faced policemen, the coach received an aggression in his eyes by a pepper spray. In 2006, then coaching Palmeiras, Leão had problems with television pundit Milton Neves, that had kicked another television pundit, Sílvio Luiz, according to Leão. Leão said to Neves: "When you kicked Silvio Luiz's ass, a 70-year-old man, you boasted. Come to kick mine!" In 2010, training Goiás, Leão discussed again with two another television pundits, Renata Fan and

Neto Neto may refer to: General * Neto (deity), an Iberian god *Neto (suffix), a name suffix distinguishing a man from his grandfather (including a list of people with the name) * Neto 1, a human gene Places *Agostinho Neto Airport, an airport in Cap ...

. According to Leão, Neto "would not have psychological conditions to speak in a television channel". But the problems between them would happen since 1989, when Leão coached Neto in

. In 2013, in research made for sportive site UOL Esporte, Leão was elected the worst coach from Brazil. He had 16 votes.

Celso Roth Celso Juarez Roth (born 30 November 1957 in Caxias do Sul) is a Brazilian football manager and former player who played as a central defender. He is the current head coach of Juventude. Coaching career On 4 May 2009 the former Grêmio coach ...

was chosen the second one. Again in 2013, Leão said that Juvenal Juvêncio, president of São Paulo, club that he coached for two times (between 2004 and 2005 and, after, between 2011 and 2012), should abdicate, for his age, of his position, making like pope Benedict XVI. Juvêncio answered to Leão, saying that the coach "needs to find another job soon".

Career statistics

Club

International

Managerial

Honours

Player

;Club ;Palmeiras *1969 – Campeonato Brasileiro and Ramón de Carranza Trophy *1972 –

and Campeonato Brasileiro *1973 – Campeonato Brasileiro *1974 – Campeonato Paulista and Ramón de Carranza Trophy *1976 – Campeonato Paulista *1978 – Campeonato Brasileiro runner-up ;Vasco *1979 – Campeonato Brasileiro runner-up ;Grêmio *1980 – Campeonato Gaúcho *1981 – Campeonato Brasileiro *1982 – Campeonato Brasileiro runner-up ;Corinthians *1983 – Campeonato Paulista ;Sport *1987 – Campeonato Brasileiro ;Internacional *1970 –

1970 FIFA World Cup The 1970 FIFA World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's senior national teams. Held from 31 May t ...

in Mexico

Manager

;Sport *2000 –

Campeonato Pernambucano The Campeonato Pernambucano de Futebol (Pernambucan Football Championship, in English) is the football championship of Pernambuco state, Brazil, and is organized by the FPF. The first edition of the Campeonato Pernambucano was played in 1915, a ...

;Shimizu S Pulse *1992 – Kanagawa Cup ;Verdy Kawasaki *1996 –

Emperor's Cup , commonly known as or also Japan FA Cup is a Japanese football competition. It has the longest tradition of any football match in Japan, dating back to 1921, before the formation of the J.League, Japan Football League and their predecessor, J ...

;Atlético Mineiro *1997 – Copa Conmebol ;Santos *1998 – Copa Conmebol *2002 – Campeonato Brasileiro ;São Paulo *2005 – Campeonato Paulista

Individual

*1972 – Bola de Prata - Best Goalkeeper *1979 – FIFA XI

References

*''Enciclopédia do Futebol Brasileiro'', Volume 2 – Lance, Rio de Janeiro: Aretê Editorial S/A, 2001. *''Seleção Brasileira – 90 Anos'' – Rio de Janeiro: MAUAD, 2004.

External links

*
Sambafoot – Leão's career as a manager
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leao, Emerson People from Ribeirão Preto Brazilian footballers Association football goalkeepers 1970 FIFA World Cup players 1974 FIFA World Cup players 1978 FIFA World Cup players 1986 FIFA World Cup players 1979 Copa América players 1983 Copa América players FIFA World Cup-winning players Brazil international footballers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players 1949 births Living people Brazilian football managers Expatriate football managers in Qatar Expatriate football managers in Japan Campeonato Brasileiro Série A managers Campeonato Brasileiro Série B managers J1 League managers 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup managers Comercial Futebol Clube (Ribeirão Preto) players Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras players CR Vasco da Gama players Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense players Sport Club Corinthians Paulista players Sport Club do Recife players Sport Club do Recife managers Coritiba Foot Ball Club managers Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras managers Associação Portuguesa de Desportos managers São José Esporte Clube managers Esporte Clube XV de Novembro (Piracicaba) managers Shimizu S-Pulse managers Esporte Clube Juventude managers Club Athletico Paranaense managers Tokyo Verdy managers Clube Atlético Mineiro managers Santos FC managers Sport Club Internacional managers Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense managers Brazil national football team managers Cruzeiro Esporte Clube managers São Paulo FC managers Vissel Kobe managers Associação Desportiva São Caetano managers Sport Club Corinthians Paulista managers Al Sadd SC managers Goiás Esporte Clube managers Footballers from São Paulo (state)