Luís Vinícius de Menezes, more famously known as Vinício (born 28 February 1932) is a professional football player, who played as a centre forward. Although he is a Brazilian, Vinício played his entire career in Italy, and because of this, he was excluded from the Brazil national side, in a similar manner to

José Altafini José João Altafini (; born 24 July 1938), also known as "Mazzola" in Brazil (as when he started to play it was noted that he resembled the Italian legend Valentino Mazzola), is an Italian-Brazilian former footballer, who played as a forward. ...

; unlike Altafini, however, Vinício chose not to play for the Italian national side. Following his professional footballing career, he later became a

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 ...

, who became known for introducing tactics based on Dutch '' total football'' in Italy.

Playing career

Vinício was born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. At age 23 he came to Italy, joining the Naples representative club

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

during the 1955–56 season. He style was considered generous and powerful on the field, which soon gained him the nickname O lione'' ( lion) from the Napoli faithful. In total for the club he played 152 games and scored 69 goals in a 5-year period. He moved on next to

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

in 1960; he performed well during his first season with the club, during which he managed to win the

Mitropa Cup The Mitropa Cup, officially called the La Coupe de l'Europe Centrale or Central European Cup, was one of the first international major European football cups for club sides. It was conducted among the successor states of the former Austria-Hunga ...

in 1961, but during the successive season, Vinício was used less frequently, due to competition from youngster

Harald Nielsen Harald Ingemann Nielsen (26 October 1941 – 11 August 2015) was a Danish footballer who played as a forward. He played professionally for Italian club Bologna F.C. where he was the league top scorer (''capocannoniere'') in Bologna's 1964 Ser ...

. In the summer of 1962 he returned disconsolate to Brazil, after finding little football action in recent years with Bologna. However, soon he was recalled to Italy from the management of Lanerossi Vicenza, who offered him a new contract. To Vinício, joining Vicenza was like a second birth in Italian football. After an average first year, he re-found his form, and became extremely prolific in front of goal, scoring 17 goals in the 1963–64 season, which helped the club to a 6th place finish in

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

. In 1964–65 his performances were still decisive, as he helped Vicenza to a tenth place finish in championship. The following season, he scored 25 goals, finishing the season as the Serie A top scorer; his top-scoring record of 25 goals in a single Serie A campaign would not be equalled again until Marco van Basten in 1991–92. In the summer of 1966, he left Vicenza because

Helenio Herrera Helenio Herrera Gavilán (; 10 April 1910 – 9 November 1997) was an Argentine, naturalized French, football player and manager. He is best remembered for his success with the Inter Milan team known as ''Grande Inter'' in the 1960s. During h ...

signed Vinício to play for

Internazionale Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is t ...

. His tenure in ''nerazzurro'' did not bring much luck however; he competed only 8 games for the club and scored one goal. For the final season of his playing career, he returned to Vicenza at age 36. This season saw him take his total goal scoring record, for all games player in Serie A during his career to over 150 goals.

Coaching career

Following his professional footballing career, Vinício later became an experienced football manager, coaching many different clubs, including

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

and

; he won the 1971–72 Serie C title while coaching Brindisi, and narrowly missed out on the Serie A title during his time with Napoli, leading a side which became renowned for their exciting attacking football, inspired by the Dutch '' Total Football'', in an era in which defensive '' catenaccio'' tactics still dominated Italy.

Style of management

Vinício was known for his exciting attacking football tactics, which were inspired by Dutch ''Total Football'', and which he introduced in Italy in an era in which defensive '' catenaccio'' tactics, which made use of man–to–man marking, still dominated in Italian football. His teams were known for using a fluid and attractive attacking style of play, as well as heavy pressing, the offside trap, and a

zonal marking In association football, marking is an organized defensive tactic which aims to prevent a member of the opposing team (usually a striker) from taking control of the ball. Several marking strategies exist in football, and they mostly differ from e ...

defensive system; during his time with Napoli, he usually employed a 4–4–2 formation, and made use of an offensive sweeper (normally

Tarcisio Burgnich Tarcisio Burgnich (; 25 April 1939 – 26 May 2021) was an Italian football manager and player, who played as a defender. Throughout his career, Burgnich played for Udinese, Juventus, Palermo, Internazionale, and Napoli; although he won title ...

) as one of his team's central defenders, who was required to push forward and advance into midfield in order to start attacking plays.

References

External links

Profile at Enciclopedia del Calcio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vinicio, Luis Brazilian football managers Brazilian footballers Brazilian expatriate footballers Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas players S.S.C. Napoli players L.R. Vicenza players Bologna F.C. 1909 players Inter Milan players Serie A players S.S. Lazio managers S.S.C. Napoli managers Udinese Calcio managers S.S. Juve Stabia managers Expatriate footballers in Italy Association football forwards 1932 births Living people Footballers from Belo Horizonte