Alexandre Henrique Borges Guimarães (born 7 November 1959) is a Costa Rican
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities o ...
and former player who played as a
midfielder
A midfielder is an outfield position in association football.
Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...
. He is the current manager of
América de Cali
América de Cali S. A., best known as América de Cali or América, is a Colombian professional football club based in Cali. It competes in the Categoría Primera A, the top-flight league of Colombian football. The team plays its home games at ...
.
Born and raised in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, Guimarães played for the
Costa Rica national team in the
1990 FIFA World Cup
The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being Me ...
, and was also their manager in the
2002
File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
and
2006 editions. He had successful runs with teams like
Al Wasl in United Arab Emirates,
Tianjin Teda
Tianjin Jinmen Tiger Football Club is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Tianjin, and their home stadium is t ...
in China and
Deportivo Saprissa
Deportivo Saprissa is a Costa Rican sports club, mostly known for its football team. The club is based in San Juan de Tibás, San José, and play their home games at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá. The team's signature colours are purple ...
in Costa Rica. His son
Celso Borges
Celso Borges Mora (born 27 May 1988), is a Costa Rican professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Liga FPD club Alajuelense and the Costa Rica national team.
Early years
His father is Alexandre Guimarães, Brazilian-born, Co ...
currently plays for
Alajuelense
Liga Deportiva Alajuelense (LDA, ), commonly known as Alajuelense and nicknamed La Liga (), is a Costa Rican multisport club based in the borough of El Llano, Alajuela, Alajuela province. Although they compete in a number of different sports, Ala ...
.
Club career
Born in
Maceió
Maceió (), formerly sometimes Anglicised as Maceio, is the capital and the largest city of the coastal state of Alagoas, Brazil. The name "Maceió" is an Indigenous term for a spring. Most maceiós flow to the sea, but some get trapped and form la ...
,
Alagoas
Alagoas (, ) is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil and is situated in the eastern part of the Northeast Region. It borders: Pernambuco (N and NW); Sergipe (S); Bahia (SW); and the Atlantic Ocean (E). Its capital is the city of Maceió. It ...
, in the northeast of Brazil, Guimarães moved to Costa Rica in 1971 at the age of twelve
[ and became a Costa Rican citizen in 1980.][ He played basketball for Asturias but as a football player, Guimarães started his career at second division side Durpanel San Blas where he became the league's goalscorer with 16.][ He then played for top flight clubs Municipal Puntarenas, ]Deportivo Saprissa
Deportivo Saprissa is a Costa Rican sports club, mostly known for its football team. The club is based in San Juan de Tibás, San José, and play their home games at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá. The team's signature colours are purple ...
, and Turrialba.
He was national champion three times with Saprissa in 1982, 1988 and 1989 and scored 95 goals in 377 official matches.[Guima - The boy from Brazil]
/ref>
International career
Guimarães made his debut for Costa Rica
Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...
in a March 1985 friendly match
An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...
against Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
and earned a total of 16 caps, scoring 2 goals.[ He represented his country in 5 ]FIFA World Cup qualification
The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup.
Qualifying tournaments are hel ...
matches and played in three matches in the 1990 FIFA World Cup
The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being Me ...
.
His final international was in that World Cup's Round of 16 match against Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
.
International goals
:''Scores and results list Costa Rica's goal tally first.''
Managerial career
After retiring as a player, he became one of the most successful coaches in Costa Rica's history. He started coaching Belén, then moved to Herediano
Club Sport Herediano (), commonly known as Herediano and nicknamed El Team, is a Costa Rican multisport club based in Heredia, Heredia province. Although they compete in a number of different sports, Herediano is mostly known for its association ...
in summer 1996, where he achieved good results with both teams. He was hired by Saprissa, where he worked for several years, winning three national tournaments with them. His last Costa Rican team was Cartaginés, whom he joined in June 2003, a stint that was catastrophic, ending with his dismissal in November 2003 as the team was almost relegated to the second tier and in financial troubles due to high salaries on players that did not show their quality. He has also coached several teams internationally, such as Comunicaciones
Comunicaciones Fútbol Club S.A., better known as Comunicaciones F.C. or Comunicaciones, are a football club based in Guatemala City. They compete in the Liga Nacional, the top tier of Guatemalan football. The most popular and successful footba ...
of Guatemala
Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...
, Irapuato
Irapuato is a Mexican city (and municipality) located at the foot of the Arandas Hill (in Spanish: ''Cerro de Arandas''), in the central region of the state of Guanajuato. It lies between the Silao River and the Guanajuato River, a tributary of t ...
and Dorados de Sinaloa
Dorados de Sinaloa, or Dorados, is a Mexican professional football club based on Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico.
History
Dorados de Sinaloa was founded on August 9, 2003. The Dorados was the youngest team to play on First Division de México, hav ...
in Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
.
He is best known for his great achievements as a member of Costa Rica's national squad, and as a head coach, leading them to an almost perfect qualifier for the 2002 FIFA World Cup
The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...
. Not having advanced to the second round, ''Guima'' was replaced as the head coach of the national team. Later he would regain his position, but was handed a National squad in a poor state. Still, he led Costa Rica's team to the 2006 World Cup, after which he quit from the squad, given the team's poor performance in the tournament.
On November 7, 2006, on his 47th birthday, Guimarães was chosen as the head coach for the Panama national football team
The Panama national football team ( es, Selección de fútbol de Panamá) represents Panama in men's international football and is governed by the Panamanian Football Federation. The team represents all three FIFA, CONCACAF and the regional UNC ...
but he was dismissed in June 2008.
In April 2009, he has moved to the Middle East to start a new challenge coaching the famous United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...
Club, Al Wasl FC
Al Wasl Football Club ( ar, نادي الوصل لكرة القدم) is an Emirati professional football club based in Dubai, that competes in the United Arab Emirates Football League. It is a part of the multi-sports club Al Wasl SC. Argen ...
, starting from the 2009/2010 Season. With Al Wasl he managed to win the Gulf Clubs Championship in a final against Qatar SC
Qatar Sports Club ( ar, نادي قطر الرياضي) is a sports club based in Doha, Qatar. It is best known for its football team which competes in the Qatar Stars League. The club was founded in 1961 as a merger of two Qatari football club ...
, the first and only international honour for this club. Then he moved on to Al Dhafra in 2010. In May 2011 he returned to Saprissa for a one-year spell.
On 1 June 2012, Chinese Super League side Tianjin Teda
Tianjin Jinmen Tiger Football Club is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Tianjin, and their home stadium is t ...
announced that they had officially signed Guimarães as new head coach after Croatian coach Josip Kuže
Josip Kuže (13 November 1952 – 16 June 2013) was a Croatian football manager and footballer. He was a player and later a manager of Dinamo Zagreb where he played for 10 years, making a total of 384 appearances and scoring 14 goals.
Playing c ...
was sacked, completing the first season with excellent results, emerging from the bottom of the table to near the first positions. Before his second season, the club suffered a sanction with -6 points due to irregularities in the mid-2000s years and the team had to battle for finishing in a comfortable position, which finally happened. Guimaraes didn't come to an agreement to renew the contract for the next season.
On 19 April 2016, the Indian Super League
The Indian Super League (ISL) is an Indian professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Indian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Organised by the All India Football Federat ...
franchise Mumbai City FC signed Guimarães as their new head coach, replacing French international Nicolas Anelka
Nicolas Sébastien Anelka (; born 14 March 1979) is a French professional Manager (association football), football manager and retired Football player, player who played as a Forward (association football), forward. As a player, he regularly fe ...
. He left the role in August 2018.
On 17 June 2019, he was appointed manager of América de Cali
América de Cali S. A., best known as América de Cali or América, is a Colombian professional football club based in Cali. It competes in the Categoría Primera A, the top-flight league of Colombian football. The team plays its home games at ...
. This same year he took América de Cali to win their 14th Colombian Championship, on December 7, 2019. The final was held over a 2-game tie against Junior de Barranquilla. The first leg was a no goal tie in Baranquilla. The 2nd leg was played in Cali, and saw America win 2–0.¡Ya está en Cali! Alexandre Guimaraes, nuevo DT de América, arribó a la ciudad
elpais.com.co, 15 June 2019
Personal life
He is a son of doctor Luis de Souza Borges and María Alice Guimarães and has two brothers and a sister.
- Nación He is married to Lina Mora and has two children, Mauro and Celso,[El buzón de Rodrigo]
- Nación who also plays for the Costa Rica national team and as of 2022 season for Costa Rican club Liga Deportiva Alajuelense
Liga Deportiva Alajuelense (LDA, ), commonly known as Alajuelense and nicknamed La Liga (), is a Costa Rican multisport club based in the borough of El Llano, Alajuela, Alajuela province. Although they compete in a number of different sports, Ala ...
.
References
External links
*
Guima, un terco soñador
- Nación
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guimaraes, Alexandre
1959 births
Living people
Costa Rican people of Brazilian descent
People from Maceió
Costa Rican footballers
Association football midfielders
Puntarenas F.C. players
Deportivo Saprissa players
Liga FPD players
Costa Rica international footballers
1990 FIFA World Cup players
CONCACAF Championship-winning players
Costa Rican football managers
C.S. Herediano managers
Deportivo Saprissa non-playing staff
Deportivo Saprissa managers
Comunicaciones F.C. managers
Costa Rica national football team managers
Irapuato F.C. managers
Dorados de Sinaloa managers
Panama national football team managers
Al-Wasl F.C. managers
Tianjin Jinmen Tiger F.C. managers
Mumbai City FC head coaches
América de Cali managers
Liga MX managers
UAE Pro League managers
Chinese Super League managers
Indian Super League head coaches
2001 Copa América managers
2002 FIFA World Cup managers
2006 FIFA World Cup managers
Costa Rican expatriate football managers
Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Guatemala
Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Mexico
Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Panama
Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates
Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in China
Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in India
Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Colombia
Expatriate football managers in Guatemala
Expatriate football managers in Mexico
Expatriate football managers in Panama
Expatriate football managers in the United Arab Emirates
Expatriate football managers in China
Brazilian emigrants to Costa Rica
Naturalized citizens of Costa Rica
Mumbai City FC managers