Luís Alonso Pérez, also known as Lula (1 March 1922 – 15 June 1972), was a Brazilian

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 ...

, notably managing Santos from 1954 to 1966. Lula is known as one of the most successful Brazilian football managers.

Career

Born in

Santos, São Paulo Santos (, ''Saints'') is a municipality in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, founded in 1546 by the Portuguese nobleman Brás Cubas. It is located mostly on the island of São Vicente, which harbors both the city of Santos and the city of São ...

, Lula worked as a

taxicab A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice ...

, a

baker A baker is a tradesperson who bakes and sometimes sells breads and other products made of flour by using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery. History Ancient history Since grains ha ...

and a milkman. He started to work as a manager with amateur clubs in his hometown, Palmeirinha and Americana. He subsequently joined

Portuguesa Santista Portuguesa is a Portuguese, Catalan, and Spanish feminine adjective meaning "Portuguese". It may also refer to: Places *Portuguesa (state), one of the 23 states of Venezuela * Portuguesa (Rio de Janeiro), a neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil ...

, in charge of the club's youth setup. In January 1949, Lula signed his first contract with

Santos FC Santos Futebol Clube (), commonly known simply as Santos or Santos FC and nicknamed the ''Peixe'' (; "fish"), is a Brazilian sports club based in Vila Belmiro, a '' bairro'' in the city of Santos. It is also the team with the most goals i ...

, being the subdirector of the club's amateur sides. On 13 May 1952, he was named in charge of the club's youth teams. Lula acted as an interim manager for two matches in 1952, as

Aymoré Moreira Aymoré Moreira (24 April 1912 – 26 July 1998) was a Brazilian football player and coach, who played as a goalkeeper. He was a brother of Zezé Moreira and Ayrton Moreira, both of whom were also successful coaches in Brazilian football. Ca ...

was in charge of the São Paulo official team. He later became Moreira's assistant while was also in charge of the club's amateur sides, and on 2 June 1954, he replaced Italian Giuseppe Ottina as the first team manager. Lula's first match in charge occurred three days later, a 3–2 win against

Botafogo Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood (''bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of M ...

at the

Maracanã Stadium Maracanã Stadium ( pt, Estádio do Maracanã, standard Brazilian Portuguese: , local pronunciation: ), officially named Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho (), is an association football stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The stadium is part o ...

. He led the club to the following year's

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 ...

title, after a 20-year drought. Lula was often described as the responsible for bringing together the team who was known as ''

Os Santásticos ''Os Santásticos'' (, ''The Santastics'') is the nickname for the group of Santos Futebol Clube players coached by Lula and Antoninho that won a total of 25 titles between 1959 and 1974, including two Copa Libertadores. Often considered one ...

''; he made

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; born 23 October 1940), known as Pelé (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labelled "the greatest" by FIFA, ...

a regular starter from 1957, promoted Pagão and Pepe from the youth setup, brought

Coutinho Coutinho is a Nobility, noble Portuguese language surname. It is a diminutive of Couto (Couto means 'enclosed pasture'). It is from Late Latin ''cautum'', from the past participle of ''cavere'' ‘to make safe.' It may refer to: Artists *Afrânio ...

from lowly

XV de Piracicaba Esporte Clube XV de Novembro, commonly referred to as XV de Piracicaba, is a professional association football club based in Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil. The team competes in Campeonato Paulista Série A2, the second tier of the São Paulo st ...

and approved

Dorval Dorval () is an on-island suburban city on the island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. In 2016, the Canadian Census indicated that the population increased by 4.2% to 18,980. Although the city has the largest surface area in Montré ...

on a trial, after the latter was rejected by a number of clubs. In the 1960s, the club signed Calvet,

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

, Mengálvio and Zito, all recommended by the manager. Lula left ''Peixe'' in the end of the 1966 season; although it is mainly attributed to the club's second place in the

Taça Brasil The Taça Brasil ( en, Brazil Cup) was the Brazilian national football championship contested from 1959 to 1968. Bahia, Cruzeiro and Botafogo were the only champions to have played all phases of the tournament, because until the 1968 edition tea ...

, some reported altercations with Pelé are also attributed to the manager's departure. He left the club after being 945 matches in charge, with 619 wins, 144 draws and 182 defeats. In 1967, Lula took over Portuguesa Santista before being appointed manager of

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-aut ...

in November of that year. In charge for only 35 matches with the latter club, he helped the side to defeat former club Santos on 6 March 1968, ending an 11-year hoodoo. Lula later worked for Portuguesa and Santo André in the early 1970s.

Death

Lula died on 15 June 1972, having a generalized

infection An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...

due to a

kidney The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; blood ...

transplant, worsened due to his

hypertension Hypertension (HTN or HT), also known as high blood pressure (HBP), is a long-term medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms. Long-term high bl ...

Honours

;Santos *

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wors ...

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cov ...

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...

: 1955, 1956, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965 * Intercontinental Cup:

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

* Torneio Rio-São Paulo: 1959, 1963, 1964, 1966

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lula 1922 births 1972 deaths Sportspeople from Santos, São Paulo Brazilian people of Spanish descent Brazilian football managers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A managers Santos FC managers Sport Club Corinthians Paulista managers Associação Atlética Portuguesa (Santos) managers Associação Portuguesa de Desportos managers Esporte Clube Santo André managers Deaths from hypertension