Mário Wilson (; 17 October 1929 – 3 October 2016) was a Portuguese

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 ...

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

and

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 ...

. He appeared in 286

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, ...

matches over 14 seasons, mainly in representation of Académica. He also played for Desportivo de Lourenço Marques 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 ...

. Subsequently, Wilson embarked in a lengthy managerial career in the country, which lasted more than 30 years and also included two spells at his main club, and a record five at Benfica.

Playing career

Born in

Lourenço Marques Maputo (), formerly named Lourenço Marques until 1976, is the capital, and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,088 ...

Portuguese Mozambique Portuguese Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique) or Portuguese East Africa (''África Oriental Portuguesa'') were the common terms by which Mozambique was designated during the period in which it was a Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colony. Portuguese Moz ...

and the paternal grandson of American trader Henry Wilson and a Mozambican princess, Wilson joined

in 1949 aged 19, arriving from local Grupo Desportivo de Lourenço Marques. He started his career as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. After two years at the

Estádio José Alvalade Estádio José Alvalade is a football stadium in Lisbon, Portugal, home of Sporting Clube de Portugal. It was built adjacent to the site of the older stadium. The stadium is named after José Alvalade (1885–1918), the founder and first club mem ...

, scoring an average of one goal per match, Wilson signed with fellow

side Académica de Coimbra after enrolling at the local university to study (and eventually majoring)

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...

, remaining there for the rest of his career and retiring in June 1963 at nearly 34 years of age. His best individual season for the ''Students'' was 1951–52 when he scored five goals in 24 appearances, helping to a final seventh position (out of 14 teams).

Coaching career

Wilson began working as a coach one year after retiring, spending his first five years with Académica – which he led to a best-ever second position in 1966–67, as well as that year's

Portuguese Cup Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

final – then working three seasons with

C.F. Os Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses, commonly known as Os Belenenses (), is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 25,000-seat Estádio do Rest ...

. He first managed

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 ...

in the 1975–76 campaign, winning the national championship. During his early stint with the latter he coined the phrase "Anyone who coaches Benfica risks being champion", having been dubbed whilst still a player ''O Velho Capitão'' (

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

for "The Old

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

"). In the late 70s, Wilson accumulated duties at

Vitória de Guimarães 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 ...

and the Portugal national team, being in charge of the latter during the unsuccessful

UEFA Euro 1980 The 1980 UEFA European Football Championship finals tournament was held in Italy. This was the sixth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. It was the first European Championship to feature eight teams i ...

qualifying campaign. From 1980 to 1983 he again worked with Académica, two of those seasons being spent in the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. Until the end of the decade he would be in charge of no fewer than six clubs, coaching Louletano D.C. 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 two different spells. Wilson replaced fired Artur Jorge at the helm of Benfica after the third round in 1995–96, leading the side to the second position and the season's domestic cup. As an

interim An interim is a period of temporary pause or change in a sequence of events, or a temporary state, and is often applied to transitional political entities. Interim may also refer to: Temporary organizational arrangements (general concept) *Provis ...

he also managed the team in four matches in two different campaigns ( 1996–97 and

the following ''The Following'' is an American crime thriller television series created by Kevin Williamson, and jointly produced by Outerbanks Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television. The first season follows former FBI agent Ryan Hardy ( Kevin Bacon) ...

), winning two, drawing one and losing one. Wilson's last coaching job was in 1998–99 at the age of 69, with another

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

-based club,

F.C. Alverca Futebol Clube de Alverca is a Portuguese Association football, football club based in Alverca do Ribatejo, Vila Franca de Xira. It currently plays in the Portuguese 3rd Division. History F.C. Alverca was founded on 1 September 1939. After many ...

, helping lead them out of the relegation zone in the top tier alongside his successor

José Romão José Pratas Romão (born 13 April 1954) is a Portuguese former football winger and manager. Playing career Born in Beja, Alentejo, Romão started playing for local C.D. Beja. He also represented Vitória de Guimarães, AD Fafe, F.C. Penafiel ...

, following which he continued to work there in directorial capacities. Subsequently, he worked with the Portuguese Professional Footballers' Union, organising actions for unemployed players, and also opened up his own football school, ''Mr. Wilson'', in the Portuguese capital area.

Personal life and death

Wilson's son, also named Mário (born 1954), was also a footballer. 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 too played for Académica and Benfica (only 11 matches over three seasons with the latter), competing professionally from 1973 to 1986. His daughter Ana was crowned Miss Portugal in 1982, while his grandson

Bruno Bruno may refer to: People and fictional characters *Bruno (name), including lists of people and fictional characters with either the given name or surname * Bruno, Duke of Saxony (died 880) * Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne, ...

played youth football for Sporting. Wilson died on 3 October 2016 in Lisbon aged 86.

Honours

Player

Sporting *

: 1950–51

Manager

Benfica *Primeira Liga: 1975–76 *

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 ...

: 1979–80, 1995–96

Individual

Orders

Commander of the

Order of Merit The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by K ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Mario 1929 births 2016 deaths Mozambican people of American descent Portuguese people of American descent Portuguese people of Mozambican descent Sportspeople from Maputo Mozambican footballers Portuguese footballers Association football defenders Association football forwards GD Maputo players Primeira Liga players Sporting CP footballers Associação Académica de Coimbra – O.A.F. players Mozambican expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Portugal Mozambican expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Mozambican football managers Portuguese football managers Primeira Liga managers Liga Portugal 2 managers Associação Académica de Coimbra – O.A.F. managers C.F. Os Belenenses managers Vitória S.C. managers S.L. Benfica managers Boavista F.C. managers G.D. Estoril Praia managers S.C. Olhanense managers AS FAR (football) managers Portugal national football team managers Portuguese expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Morocco Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Morocco