José Maria Carvalho Pedroto, OIH (21 October 1928 – 7 January 1985) was a Portuguese

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. He amassed

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

totals of 227 matches and 57 goals over 11 seasons, at the service of

Lusitano The Lusitano, also known as the Pure Blood Lusitano or PSL (''Puro Sangue Lusitano''), is a Portuguese horse breed. Horses were known to be present on the Iberian Peninsula as far back as 20,000 BC, and by 800 BC the region was renowned for ...

Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses (), commonly known as Os Belenenses or simply Belenenses, is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 19,856 ...

and

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

. After retiring, Pedroto embarked in a coaching career which lasted 22 years (always in the Portuguese top division), going on to become one of Porto's most successful managers.

Playing career

Club

Born in the village of Almacave in

Lamego Lamego (; ) is a city and municipality in the Viseu District, in the Norte Region, Portugal, Norte Region of the Douro Subregion, Douro in northern Portugal. Located on the shores of the Balsemão River, the municipality has a population of 26,691 ...

Viseu District The Districts of Portugal, District of Viseu ( ) is located in the Central Inland of Portugal, the District Capital is the city of Viseu. Municipalities The district is composed by 24 municipalities: * Armamar Municipality, Armamar * Carregal d ...

, Pedroto began his senior career with Lusitano F.C. in

Vila Real de Santo António Vila Real de Santo António () is a city, civil parish, and municipality in the Algarve, Portugal. The population in 2011 was 19,156, in an area of 61.25 km2. It is one of the few municipalities in Portugal without territorial continuity: its ...

, to where he had been relocated to perform his

military service Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job (volunteer military, volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription). Few nations, such ...

. In February 1950, he scored two of his 12 goals for the season in home wins against

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

(3–1) and

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

(2–0), as the

title was eventually awarded to

S.L. Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904, as ''Sport Lisboa'', Benfica is one of the " ...

. In 1950, the 21-year-old Pedroto signed with

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

-based

C.F. Os Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses (), commonly known as Os Belenenses or simply Belenenses, is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 19,856 ...

after being offered a position in the Navy Ministry. He joined Porto two years later, for 335.000

escudo The escudo ( Portuguese: 'shield') is a unit of currency which is used in Cape Verde, and which has been used by Portugal, Spain and their colonies. The original coin was worth 16 silver . The Cape Verdean escudo is, and the Portuguese escudo ...

s. Pedroto won the national championship twice during his spell at the

Estádio das Antas The Estádio das Antas (; officially Estádio do Futebol Clube do Porto ) was the third (and longest occupied) stadium of the Portuguese football side FC Porto. It was in use from 1952 to 2004, replacing the earlier Campo da Constituição, 1.6k ...

, under

Dorival Yustrich Dorival Knippel (September 28, 1917 – February 15, 1990), nicknamed Yustrich, was a Brazilian goalkeeper of the 1930s and 1940s. His nickname was a reference to fellow goalkeeper Juan Elías Yustrich, then of Boca Juniors, who he was said to r ...

and

Béla Guttmann Béla Guttmann (; 27 January 1899 – 28 August 1981) was a Hungarian footballer and coach. He was born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary, and was Jewish. He was deported by the Nazis to a Nazi slave labor camp where he was tortured; he survived the ...

. He retired at the age of 31, being immediately named his last club's junior coach.

International

Over five years, Pedroto won 17

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. He made his debut on 20 April 1952, in a 3–0 friendly loss to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Coaching career

While still a player, at the age of 25, Pedroto took a coaching course given by

Cândido de Oliveira Cândido Plácido Fernandes de Oliveira (24 September 1896 – 23 June 1958) was a Portuguese football player, coach, and sports journalist. The Portuguese Super Cup is named after him, being officially known as Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira ...

. Six years later, he became the first Portuguese coach with a specialisation taken at the

French Football Federation The French Football Federation ( FFF and 3F; or Triple F; , ) is the governing body of football in France. It was formed in 1919 and is based in the capital, Paris. The FFF is a founding member of FIFA and is responsible for overseeing all aspec ...

. After starting his career with Porto juniors, he was appointed field coach for the Portugal under-18 team by manager David Sequerra as they won the 1961 UEFA European Championship, the country's first international title. In 1962, Pedroto took charge of Académica de Coimbra. He then spent one season apiece with

Leixões S.C. Leixões Sport Club (), commonly known as Leixões, is a Portuguese sports club from Matosinhos. It is organised into several departments for many sports, such as athletics, boxing, football, futsal, handball, karate, swimming, volleyball, wat ...

and

Varzim SC Varzim Sport Club () is a Portuguese football club based in Póvoa de Varzim. The club was founded on 25 December 1915, and has played at the Estádio do Varzim Sport Club since its foundation. The club plays in Liga 3, following relegation in ...

, being dismissed by the former midway through 1964–65 which marked the only occasion in his career where he was relieved of his duties; subsequently, he returned to Porto as an assistant. Over three top-tier campaigns, Pedroto led Porto to the third place twice and the second in 1968–69, winning the

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

, He left, however, for Vitória de Setúbal, who would finish a best-ever league runners-up in 1971–72 and twice reach the quarter-finals of the

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, most commonly referred to as the Fairs Cup and sometimes as the European Fairs Cup or Fairs Cities' Cup, was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. The Fairs Cup was the idea of FIFA vice-presid ...

while he was in charge, notably ousting

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

in the second round of the 1969–70 edition of the latter tournament. Starting in 1974 and during two years, Pedroto coached both

Boavista F.C. Boavista Futebol Clube (), commonly known as Boavista, is a Portuguese professional sports club from the of Porto that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system, Portuguese football, at the Estádio do B ...

and the Portugal national team. He won the domestic cup always during his tenure at the former, also finishing in second position in the league in the 1975–76 season. With the latter, he did not manage to qualify for

UEFA Euro 1976 The 1976 UEFA European Football Championship tournament was held in Yugoslavia. This was the fifth UEFA European Championship, held every four years and endorsed by UEFA and the first and only tournament that was held in a socialist state. The ...

in spite of only losing one match in Group 1. Pedroto returned to Porto ahead of 1976–77, ending a 19-year drought the following campaign by winning the championship and repeating the feat the next season. He was, however, fired in the summer of 1980 after a run-in with president Américo de Sá. He arguably set the foundations for the club's European exploits in the mid-to-late 1980s. For several decades, Pedroto was the manager with the most wins in the Portuguese top flight with 326. His sides excelled in ball possession and attacking football, and he was also one of the first managers to introduce a

team physician The team physician for a sports team is the physician who is in charge of coordinating the medical staff and medical services for a sports team. They are also subject to activities involving team building. The goal of a team physician is to improve ...

; he was accused by fellow coach Mário Wilson of being a "master of conflict" and for having attitudes that "bordered on racism", with the pair being often involved in wars of words. His 322 games in charge of Porto remained a record until surpassed by

Sérgio Conceição Sérgio Paulo Marceneiro da Conceição (; born 15 November 1974) is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who mostly played as a right winger. Throughout his career, he played for ten teams in five countries. After gain ...

in 2023.

Personal life and death

Pedroto was affectionately known as "Zé do Boné" (Cap Joe), due to his habit of wearing a flat tweed cap all the time. He was an avid fisher and reader, who also took an interest in the

occult The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysti ...

. Pedroto died from cancer on 7 January 1985 in

at the age of 56.

Honours

Player

Porto *

: 1955–56, 1958–59 *

: 1955–56, 1957–58

Manager

Boavista *Taça de Portugal: 1974–75, 1975–76 Porto *Primeira Liga: 1977–78, 1978–79 *Taça de Portugal: 1967–68, 1976–77, 1983–84 *

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese association football, football match played since 1979 between the winners of the top-tier league (Primeira L ...

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

Portugal *

UEFA European Under-18 Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-19, is an annual football competition, contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain is the most successful team in this competit ...

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pedroto, Jose Maria 1928 births 1985 deaths People from Lamego 20th-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Viseu District Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Leixões S.C. players C.F. Os Belenenses players FC Porto players Portugal men's international footballers Portuguese football managers Primeira Liga managers Académica de Coimbra (football) managers Leixões S.C. managers Varzim S.C. managers FC Porto managers Vitória F.C. managers Boavista F.C. managers Vitória S.C. managers Portugal national football team managers Deaths from cancer in Portugal