Luiz Júnior de Souza Lopes (born 8 October 1981), known as Luizinho Lopes, is 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 ...

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 head coach of Vila Nova.

Career

Born in

Pau dos Ferros Pau dos Ferros is a municipality in the homonymous microregion, in Rio Grande do Norte state, Northeast Brazil. History The city was founded on September 4, 1856, initially as a village and then the town today is a city that has as its main for ...

Rio Grande do Norte Rio Grande do Norte (, , ) is one of the states of Brazil. It is located in the northeastern region of the country, forming the northeasternmost tip of the South American continent. The name literally translates as "Great Northern River", ref ...

, Lopes was an América de Natal youth graduate, and went on to feature in the first team squad for three years before leaving. He subsequently represented Santa Cruz de Natal,

Paulista Paulista is a municipality in Pernambuco, Brazil, with a population of 334,376 as of 2020. It has the highest Human Development Index (HDI) of the Recife metropolitan area. It is the birthplace of footballer Rivaldo and is also famous for its beac ...

and Chapecoense before retiring in 2008 at the age of 27, due to injuries. After retiring, Lopes was an under-20 coach at his first club América, and later worked as an assistant of

Leandro Sena Leandro Ribeiro Sena (born 8 August 1976), is a Brazilian football coach and former player who played as a defensive midfielder. He is the current head coach of ASA. Club career statistics Honours Player ; América de Natal * Copa RN: 200 ...

at Treze and

Roberto Fernandes José Roberto Fernandes Barros (born 5 May 1971), known as Roberto Fernandes, is a Brazilian football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Career Born in Recife, Pernambuco, Fernandes played for Náutico and Santa Cruz as a yo ...

at Remo in the 2014 season. He returned to América in 2015, now as an assistant, before being named head coach of Globo FC on 30 March 2016. Lopes led Globo to a first-ever promotion to the Série C in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, but asked to leave the club on 9 February 2018. Eleven days later, he took over fellow third division side Confiança, but was sacked on 24 July. Lopes returned to América on 20 September 2018, after being presented as head coach of the club for the 2019 season. Dismissed the following 1 February, he was named at the helm of Treze on 26 June 2019, but was relieved from his duties on 18 July. On 17 February 2020, Lopes was named head coach of

Uberlândia Uberlândia () is a municipality in the state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil. It is the second largest municipality in the state of Minas Gerais after the state capital Belo Horizonte. Its population in 2020 was 699,097, making it the fou ...

, but left the club on 12 August to take over Manaus FC in the third tier. He left the club on 1 December, but returned on 11 March 2021, replacing

Luizinho Vieira Luiz Henrique Vieira (born 4 February 1972), known as Luizinho Vieira, is a Brazilian football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is the current manager of Ypiranga-RS. Career He joined Japanese J1 League club Gamba Osaka ...

. Despite winning the 2021 Campeonato Amazonense, Lopes resigned from Manaus on 24 May of that year, and was named Jacuipense head coach on 2 August. He also resigned from the latter 21 days later, after just two matches, and returned to Confiança just hours later, with the side now in the Série B. On 24 November 2021, despite the club's

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

, Lopes renewed his contract with Confiança for a further year, but was sacked on 13 April 2022. On 11 November, he was appointed at the helm of Brusque for the upcoming campaign. Lopes won the 2023

Recopa Catarinense The Recopa Catarinense ( en, Santa Catarina Winners Cup), is a super cup tournament organized by the FCF reuniting the winners of Campeonato Catarinense and Copa Santa Catarina The Copa Santa Catarina ( en, Santa Catarina Cup) is a tournament or ...

with Brusque, also reaching the

2023 Campeonato Catarinense The 2023 Campeonato Catarinense (officially the Catarinense Fort Atacadista 2023 for sponsorship reasons) is the 98th season of Santa Catarina's top-flight football league organized by FCF. The season began on 14 January and ended on 8 April 202 ...

finals and achieving promotion from the 2023 Série C. On 30 October of that year, he signed a new one-year deal. Lopes was sacked by the ''Quadricolor'' on 20 May 2024, following a 4–0 loss to Santos. Three days later, he replaced Márcio Fernandes at the helm of fellow second division side Vila Nova.

Honours

Coach

Manaus * Campeonato Amazonense: 2021 Brusque *

: 2023

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lopes, Luizinho 1981 births Living people Footballers from Rio Grande do Norte Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders América Futebol Clube (RN) players Brazilian football managers Campeonato Brasileiro Série C managers Campeonato Brasileiro Série D managers Associação Desportiva Confiança managers América Futebol Clube (RN) managers Treze Futebol Clube managers Uberlândia Esporte Clube managers Manaus Futebol Clube managers Esporte Clube Jacuipense managers Brusque Futebol Clube managers Vila Nova Futebol Clube managers