Manuel da Luz Afonso (

Loulé Loulé () is a city and municipality in the region of Algarve, district of Faro, Portugal. In 2011, the population of the entire municipality was 70,622 inhabitants, in an area of approximately . The municipality has two principal cities: Loulé ...

, 31 January 1917 – 15 October 2000) was a Portuguese

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. He was the head of the football department of Benfica, during their 1960s Golden Era, until 1964 when he was called to work for the Portugal national football team as ''seleccionador'' ("the selector"), with Otto Glória as the coach. That meant that Afonso would be choosing the players but would not be the coach in charge of the squad. They took over on 15 November 1964, with a 2–1 win over Spain, in a friendly match. It was a promising start to the successful campaign Portugal had in the lead up to the

1966 FIFA World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 July to 30 July 1966. The England national football team defeated West Germany 4-2 in the ...

finals, in England. Portugal qualified for the first time, eliminating the world vice-champions Czechoslovakia. Portugal went on to reach the third place at the World Cup finals. Manuel da Luz Afonso left the National Team following the 1–2 loss to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, on 13 November 1966, in a European Championship qualifier. He left the Portugal national squad after 20 matches, with 15 wins, 2 ties and 3 defeats, still the best record ever for his country.

External links

Manuel da Luz Afonso Profile (Portuguese)
1917 births 2000 deaths Portuguese football managers Portugal national football team managers {{Portugal-footy-bio-stub