Fabio Araujo Lefundes is a Brazilian

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. He is currently head coach of Madura United F.C. in the Liga 1.

Career

Lefundes has extensive experience in professional football since 1995. He spent two seasons at Al Raed Sports Club in

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and one season at

Al-Mesaimeer Sports Club Al-Mesaimeer Sports Club ( ar, نادي المسيمير الرياضي) is a Qatari multi-sports club based in Mesaimeer. Its football department plays in the Qatari Second Division. It was previously known as ''Al-Nahda Sports Club'', then ''A ...

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. At Al Raed, he was assistant coach and fitness coach, and was also interim coach for two months in the 2010–2011 season. Lefundes first came to

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors ( ko, 전북 현대 모터스) is a South Korean professional football club based in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province that competes in the K League 1, the top tier of South Korean football. Playing at the Jeonju World Cup ...

as a physical coach in January 2011. His influence on the physical aspect of the team resulted in their being crowned as

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champion and Runner up of the

2011 AFC Champions League The 2011 AFC Champions League was the 30th edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 9th under the current AFC Champions League title. The winners, Al-Sadd qualified for ...

.2011 AFC Champions League results
/ref> The following year Lefundes was rewarded with a three-year contract and moved up to the assistant coach position whilst still co-ordinating the club's fitness program. During the first half of 2013, he was the interim coach, replacing the manager Choi Kang-Hee who was in the

South Korea national football team The South Korea national football team (; recognized as Korea Republic by FIFA) represents South Korea in men's international football and is governed by the Korea Football Association. South Korea has emerged as a major football power in Asia ...

. During his seven years at Jeonbuk Hyundai, Lefundes won four K-League Classics (2011, 2014, 2015, and 2017) and an Asia Champions League (2016). He was runner-up in two K-League Classics (2012 and 2016) and one Asian Champions League (2011). Lefundes then moved to China's Shandong Luneng Taishan F.C., where he will be working for the first time. Lefundes worked at Shandong Luneng Taishan FC for two years (2018 and 2019). The first year was extremely productive, where the team reached 3rd place in the Chinese Super League and was runner-up in the Chinese FA CUP after two games and two qualified draws against Beijing Guoan (1x1 and 2x2). The following year, the team participated in the AFC Champions League due to their placement in the previous year's CSL. Shandong Luneng managed to rank 1st in the group stage and were eliminated in the round of 16 by Guangzhou Evergrande on penalties. At CSL he didn't have the same performance as the previous year, even so he finished in 5th place overall. And once again he was a finalist for the Chinese FA CUP, and lost to the Shanghai Shenhua Greenland FC team. They won the first home game 1-0 and lost the second away game 3–0. Lefundes did not renew his contract with the club and the COVID pandemic directly affected his professional future. In 2020 he accepted the invitation of coach Bruno Lazaroni to work at Botafogo FR (club of the 1st division of the Brazilian championship). The experience could have been better if the club hadn't been going through a period of political disputes. The results were better than expected and even so they left the club early, according to the opinion of several experts.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lefundes, Fabio 1972 births Living people Brazilian football managers Olaria Atlético Clube managers Americano Futebol Clube managers Al-Raed FC managers Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors managers Expatriate football managers in South Korea Shandong Taishan F.C. non-playing staff Association football coaches Footballers from Rio de Janeiro (city)