Manuel Gonçalves Gomes (born 29 May 1951), commonly known as Professor Neca, is a retired Portuguese

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

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 ...

and

football manager ''Football Manager'' (also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008) is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

Career

Playing career

His entire playing career saw him compete for several lower league clubs between 1975 and 1981, in which he played for

U.S.C. Paredes União Sport Clube Paredes is a Portuguese sports club from Paredes. The men's football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normall ...

G.D. Prado GD, Gd, or gd may refer to: Arts and entertainment * G-Dragon (born 1988), leader of the South Korean musical group Big Bang * Grateful Dead, an American rock band * Green Day, an American rock band * ''Geometry Dash'', a rhythm-based video game ...

and AD Os Limianos. He began his coaching career in 1979 whilst at Prado where he had a

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

role.

Managerial career

His first ten years as manager saw him progress from the lower leagues to the top tier of Portuguese football. In the first phase of his managerial career, he managed

C.A. Valdevez Clube Atlético de Valdevez known as CA Valdevez or Atlético dos Arcos is a Portuguese football club from Arcos de Valdevez, Arcos Valdevez which was founded in 1945. The team ran into serious financial problems after the 2009–10 season and wa ...

C.D. Aves Clube Desportivo das Aves (), commonly known as Desportivo das Aves, or simply as Aves, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Vila das Aves, Santo Tirso. The club was founded on 12 November 1930 and plays at the Estádio do Clube ...

, A.D. Fafe,

FC Felgueiras Futebol Clube de Felgueiras was a Portuguese football club from Felgueiras. The club was founded on 16 August 1936 and ended in 2005 due to financial problems. The club played at the Estádio Dr. Machado de Matos which was their home since the ...

and F.C. Tirsense. Following his three-year spell with Tirsense, his next few years of his managerial career would prove to be his most successful as he would go on to manage

Vitória de Setúbal Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória (b ...

F.C. Famalicão Futebol Clube de Famalicão, commonly known as Famalicão, is a Portuguese association football, football club from Vila Nova de Famalicão. Founded on 21 August 1931, its senior team currently plays in the Primeira Liga, the top tier of Portugu ...

F.C. Paços de Ferreira Futebol Clube Paços de Ferreira () is a Portuguese football club based in Paços de Ferreira, Porto district. Founded in 1950, the club competes in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at the 9,077-seater Estádio da Mata Real, a municipal s ...

and

S.C. Braga Sporting Clube de Braga () (), commonly known as Sporting de Braga or just Braga, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Braga. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese f ...

. His stay with Braga, would be short lived as he would only manage Braga for ten games where they narrowly avoided relegation in the 1993–94 season. In the summer of 1994, Neca was appointed as an assistant manager at

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional association football, football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system, Portuguese footba ...

by Artur Jorge for the 1994–95 season. Benfica's season proved to be a disappointing one as they finished behind

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, 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 football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portu ...

and

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

. Despite Artur Jorge's departure midway through the 1995–96 season, Neca would remain with Benfica under the management of

Mário Wilson Mário Wilson (; 17 October 1929 – 3 October 2016) was a Portuguese football central defender and manager. He appeared in 286 Primeira Liga matches over 14 seasons, mainly in representation of Académica. He also played for Desportivo de Lou ...

. Benfica would go on to finish second in the league behind Porto and also capture the

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of 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 Placard since the 2015–16 seaso ...

. In 1996, he left his assistant managerial role at Benfica and accepted an offer by the

Angolan Football Federation The Angolan Football Federation ( pt, Federação Angolana de Futebol, FAF) is the governing body of football in Angola. It was founded in 1979, and affiliated to FIFA and to CAF in 1980. It organizes the national football league Girabola and t ...

to coach the Angolan national team. As manager of Angola, he guided the team to the

1998 African Cup of Nations The 1998 African Cup of Nations in Burkina Faso was the 21st edition of the Africa Cup of Nations (ACN), the national football championship of Africa, administered by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Just like in 1996, the field of ...

. Angola was drawn against

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. Angola would exit the tournament in the first round of the competition, following a third-place finish in the group phase after two draws and one loss. He departed the Angolan national side following the African Cup of Nations where he would go on to manage several different sides in Portugal and abroad of which included C.D. Aves, Imortal DC and F.C. Penafiel. In 2003, Neca accepted an invitation to coach the Maldivian national team. His spell would be unsuccessful after he failed to guide the side to the

2004 AFC Asian Cup The 2004 AFC Asian Cup was the 13th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international association football, football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held from 17 July to 7 August 2004 in China. ...

. After a year in charge he would leave the national side and would return to Portugal to manage Aves for the fourth time in his career. In his fourth spell in charge, he guided the side to a second-place finish in the 2005–06 Liga de Honra thus gaining promotion to the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

. His next season proved to be a very difficult one as Aves finished bottom of the

2006–07 Primeira Liga The 2006–07 Primeira Liga (also known as BWINLIGA for sponsorship reasons) was the 73rd edition of top flight of Portuguese football. It started on 27 August 2006 with a match between Vitória de Setúbal and Académica and ended on 20 May 20 ...

with only twenty two points. Neca left the club following their relegation. The next three seasons would see him manage four different clubs among those included

Al-Salmiya SC Al-Salmiya Sporting Club ( ar, نادي السالمية الرياضي) is a Kuwaiti professional football and sports club in Salmiya. They have won the Kuwaiti Premier League four times, most recently in 2000. They were founded in 1964 and th ...

Gil Vicente Gil Vicente (; c. 1465c. 1536), called the Trobadour, was a Portuguese playwright and poet who acted in and directed his own plays. Considered the chief dramatist of Portugal he is sometimes called the "Portuguese Plautus," often refe ...

, Liga Muçulmana and

G.D. Estoril Praia Grupo Desportivo Estoril Praia (), commonly known as Estoril, is a Portuguese sports club from Estoril, Cascais, Lisbon. Founded on 17 May 1939, its football team currently plays in Primeira Liga and hold home games at the Estádio António Coimb ...

. In June 2011, he signed a deal to coach

I-League The I-League (known as Hero I-League for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp) is the second-tier men's professional football competition of the Indian football league system. It is currently contested by 12 clubs across the country with the w ...

side Churchill Brothers S.C. His start as manager of Churchill Brothers proved to be successful as they captured the 2011 Durand Cup for the third team in their history in October 2011. In February 2012, following a dip in form where the club fell into fifth place, Neca was sacked as manager. He would later be replaced by Brazilian coach

Carlos Roberto Pereira Carlos Roberto Pereira da Silva (born 22 March 1946) is a Brazilian association football manager. He managed Bengal Mumbai FC in the Mumbai Football League from 2008 to 2009. References

1946 births Living people Churchill Brother ...

. In July 2012, he returned to Portugal to manage

C.D. Trofense Clube Desportivo Trofense (), commonly known as Trofense, is a Portuguese football club based in Trofa, Portugal. Founded in 1930, it plays in Segunda Liga, holding home games at '' Estádio do Clube Desportivo Trofense'', with a capacity of 5,0 ...

of the

Liga de Honra The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal 2 SABSEG for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier Prim ...

. In December 2012, after one win in eight games, Neca was sacked as manager where he left the club in nineteenth place in the league. In February 2013, he became the new manager of Desportivo das Aves until the end of the season.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gomes, Manuel 1951 births People from Barcelos, Portugal Living people Portuguese footballers Association football midfielders Segunda Divisão players U.S.C. Paredes players Portuguese football managers Portuguese expatriate football managers Primeira Liga managers Vitória F.C. managers F.C. Paços de Ferreira managers S.C. Braga managers F.C. Famalicão managers Angola national football team managers Expatriate football managers in the Maldives Maldives national football team managers Churchill Brothers FC Goa managers Gil Vicente F.C. managers Expatriate football managers in Angola Expatriate football managers in India Expatriate football managers in Kuwait Expatriate football managers in Mozambique Expatriate soccer managers in Canada Canadian Soccer League (1998–present) managers 1998 African Cup of Nations managers Liga Desportiva de Maputo managers Al-Salmiya SC managers Kuwait Premier League managers Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Angola Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Canada Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in India Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Kuwait Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Mozambique Sportspeople from Braga District