Luiz Antônio Venker de Menezes (born 11 June 1962), known as Mano Menezes, is a Brazilian professional football coach and former player. He is the current head coach of

Internacional Sport Club Internacional (), commonly known as Internacional or simply Inter, is a Brazilian professional football club based in Porto Alegre. They play in the Série A, the first division of the Brazilian league, as well as in Campeonat ...

. He managed the Brazil national team from July 2010 until his sacking on November 2012. His nickname comes from his early childhood, when his sister used to call him ''"Mano"'', which is a popular slang term meaning ''"brother"'' in Portuguese. He was born in

Passo do Sobrado Passo do Sobrado is a municipality in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. See also *List of municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul This is a list of the municipalities in the state of Rio Grande do Sul (RS), located in the South Region of Braz ...

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative_units_of_Brazil#List, fifth-most-populous state and the List of Brazilian st ...

, and began his footballing career as a defender for Guarani de Venâncio Aires in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He gave up playing to become a physical education professional, beginning in 1986 in

, before going on to Guarani de Venâncio Aires, Juventude and

(as well as a spell in 1997 with

Paulo Autuori Paulo Autuori de Mello (born 25 August 1956), known as Paulo Autuori, is a Brazilian football executive and manager who is the current manager of Atlético Nacional. Early life A football fan since early childhood and a futsal player, Paulo Au ...

at Cruzeiro).

Early life and career

Menezes was the coach of Grêmio from 2005 through 2007. He led them to promotion in 2005 and followed that up with a third-place finish in the 2006 Série A. In 2007, he led Grêmio to the final of the

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

. At the end of the 2007 season, he took over as coach of

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-aut ...

and started the 2008 season with a 3–0 win over Guarani. Menezes led Corinthians to the 2008 Série B title with 25 wins, 10 draws and three losses, finishing with 85 points.

Coaching career

15 de Novembro

Mano's biggest highlight during his coaching time at 15 de Novembro was during 2004 Copa do Brasil. As the trainer of the team, who has never even won the Rio Grande do Sul state championship, he made to the semifinals, beating more traditional clubs such as four-time

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian"), and also known as Brasileirão Assaí due to sponsorship with Assaí Atacadista, is a Br ...

champion

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (; ; c. 1460s – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea. His initial voyage to India by way of Cape of Good Hope (1497–1499) was the first to link E ...

Grêmio

In April 2005, Menezes was hired as coach by Grêmio to be responsible for bringing back the team to the

, which he achieved and also won the

Campeonato Brasileiro Série B The Campeonato Brasileiro Série B is commonly referred to as the Brasileirão Série B (Série B), and until 2022 was officially called Brasileirão Sportingbet by sponsorship reasons. It is the second tier of the Brazilian football league system ...

championship title that year in a match that became known as "The Battle of the Afflicted (Batalha dos Aflitos)", due to events that took place along the departure and the fact that this has been held in the stadium Aflitos, Náutico's stadium in

Recife That it may shine on all ( Matthew 5:15) , image_map = Brazil Pernambuco Recife location map.svg , mapsize = 250px , map_caption = Location in the state of Pernambuco , pushpin_map = Brazil#South A ...

Pernambuco Pernambuco () is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.6 million people as of 2020, making it seventh-most populous state of Brazil and with around 98,148 km², being the 19 ...

. This episode later became a movie named ''Batalha dos Aflitos'', released in 2007. In 2006, he led Grêmio when they took the win in the

Campeonato Gaúcho The Campeonato Gaúcho Série A1 (Gaúcho Championship A1 Series or Série A1), officially named as Campeonato da Primeira Divisão de Futebol Profissional da FGF - Divisão Especial - Série A1 and commonly known as Campeonato Gaúcho or Gauchã ...

with a victory over arch-rival

, the first time Grêmio had won since 2001. Also in 2006, Grêmio ranked in third in the Série A, thereby earning a place in the 2007 Copa Libertadores. In 2007 they won the

again and reached the final in Copa Libertadores, where they lost to

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in the A ...

. Menezes left Grêmio after 169 games, with 89 wins, 35 draws and 45 losses, a win rate of 59.56%; 302 points were earned from a total of 507. The last game played by Grêmio with him as coach was the last game of the season's Série A, on 28 November 2007, against

, the team he was to coach next. In losing that match, the Corinthians were relegated to Série B.

Corinthians

Menezes was hired to manage the Corinthians at the end of 2007, and to raise them back up from relegation. In 2008, Corinthians played the

Copa do Brasil The Copa do Brasil ( en, Brazil Cup) is a knockout football competition played by 92 teams, representing all 26 Brazilian states plus the Federal District. It is the Brazilian domestic cup and the Brazilian equivalent of the FA Cup, Taça de ...

, losing to

Sport Club do Recife Sport Club do Recife, (; known as Sport Recife or Sport, is a Brazilian sports club, located in the city of Recife, in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco. Founded in 1905, the club currently plays in Série B. In football, the club has w ...

. That year they also took the title of Campeonato Brasileiro Série B 2008. In May 2009, Menezes led Corinthians to become unbeaten champions of the

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional association football, football league in the Brazilian States of Brazil, state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo. Run b ...

. On 1 July 2009, Corinthians won the

against Internacional. With the win, Corinthians gained entry to the 2010 Copa Libertadores.

Brazil

On 24 July 2010, the

Brazilian Football Confederation The Brazilian Football Confederation ( pt, Confederação Brasileira de Futebol; CBF) is the governing body of football in Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country ...

(CBF) announced that Mano would replace

Dunga Carlos Caetano Bledorn Verri (born 31 October 1963), known as Dunga (), is a Brazilian football manager and former professional player who played as a defensive midfielder. Under his captaincy, Brazil won the 1994 FIFA World Cup and he lifte ...

as manager of the Brazil national team. He was not the CBF's first choice, but

Fluminense Fluminense Football Club (), known as Fluminense, is a Brazilian sports club best known for its professional football team that competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the first tier of Brazilian football and the Campeonato Carioca, th ...

had refused to release

Muricy Ramalho Muricy Ramalho (born 30 November 1955) is a Brazilian former football coach and player who is the current sporting director of São Paulo. During his playing career, he was as an attacking midfielder. His most recent position was as manager of ...

the day before. Menezes' appointment was generally well received, although some pointed out that his favoured playing style resembled Dunga's defensive style. He coached his first Brazil match on 10 August 2010, a 2–0 win against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. For this match, he selected many young players, including

Diego Tardelli Diego Tardelli Martins (born 10 May 1985), known as Diego Tardelli, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward. He is considered a dynamic player due to his speed on attack and individual skills. ''Tardelli'' is not his last ...

André André — sometimes transliterated as Andre — is the French and Portuguese form of the name Andrew, and is now also used in the English-speaking world. It used in France, Quebec, Canada and other French-speaking countries. It is a variation ...

and

David Luiz David Luiz Moreira Marinho (born 22 April 1987) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays for Flamengo. Primarily a centre back, he can also be deployed as a defensive midfielder. After starting out at Vitoria, David Luiz moved to B ...

, among others. In addition, Menezes selected only four players that had participated in the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

in South Africa:

Dani Alves Daniel Alves da Silva (born 6 May 1983), known simply as Dani Alves (), is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Liga MX club UNAM and the Brazil national team. Widely considered one of the greatest full-backs of ...

Ramires Ramires Santos do Nascimento (; born 24 March 1987), known as Ramires, is a Brazilian former professional footballer. A midfielder, he was comfortable playing in either the centre or right midfielder position. He normally played as a box-to-b ...

Thiago Silva Thiago Emiliano da Silva (born 22 September 1984) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Chelsea and captains the Brazil national team. Considered one of the best defenders of his generation, he is known f ...

and

Robinho Robson de Souza ( or , born 25 January 1984), known as Robinho (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. In 1999, at 15 years of age, Robinho was picked by Brazil legend Pelé as his heir apparent and, in 2002 ...

, as well as 2010 World Cup cuts

Alexandre Pato Alexandre Rodrigues da Silva (; born 2 September 1989), commonly known as Alexandre Pato () or just Pato, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a striker. Pato began his career as a youth player for Internacional in 2000, maki ...

Marcelo Marcelo is a given name, the Spanish and Portuguese form of Marcellus. The Italian version of the name is Marcello, differing in having an additional "l". Marcelo may refer to: * Marcelo Costa de Andrade (born 1967), Brazilian serial killer, rapi ...

and

Neymar Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior (born 5 February 1992), known as Neymar, is a Brazilian professional association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain F.C., Paris Sain ...

. At the

2011 Copa América The 2011 Campeonato Sudamericano Copa América, better known as the 2011 Copa América or the Copa América 2011 Argentina, was the 43rd edition of the Copa América, the main international football tournament for national teams in South Americ ...

, Brazil went out in the

quarter-finals A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

on penalties to

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

after a 0–0 draw, with Brazil missing all the four of its penalties. He was also the coach of the Olympic team at

London 2012 The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, hoping to win the long-awaited gold medal for Brazil, the only accolade Brazil had not won in football, however they were defeated by Mexico in the final and Menezes was the target of criticism in Brazil. Following disappointing results, Menezes was sacked on 23 November 2012.

Flamengo

In June 2013, Menezes was named as the new coach of Brazilian club

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football ...

Corinthians

In 2014, Menezes returned to Corinthians. After helping Corinthians to a fourth-place league finish, as well as qualifying for the Copa Libertadores, on 6 December 2014 Menezes resigned as head coach of the club.

Shandong Luneng

In December 2015,

Shandong Luneng Taishan Shandong Taishan Football Club () is a professional football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Jinan, Shandong and their home stadium is ...

of the

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional football in ...

announced that Menezes would be the new coach of the team. On 21 April 2016, with a 1–0 victory over Japanese side

Sanfrecce Hiroshima Sanfrecce Hiroshima ( ja, サンフレッチェ広島, translit=''Sanfuretche Hiroshima'') is a Japanese professional football club based in Asaminami-ku, Hiroshima. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the coun ...

, Shandong Luneng returned to the knockout stage of the Asian Champions League after an 11-year absence, with one round of the group stage in advance. On 25 May, Shandong Luneng defeated

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was fo ...

, entering the quarter-finals of the

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

, which was the best result for the team in ACL. In contrast to the excellent performance in continental competition, Shandong fell into the relegation zone in domestic league. On 7 Jun 2016,

announced that Mano had resigned for personal reasons and he was no longer the manager of the team. He was replaced by former

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which play ...

and

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg () or Wolfsburg, is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of W ...

manager

Felix Magath Wolfgang Felix Magath (; born 26 July 1953) is a German football manager and former player. The most notable spell of his playing career was with Hamburger SV, with whom he won three Bundesliga titles, the 1977 European Cup Winners' Cup Final a ...

Cruzeiro

After the fiasco in China, Mano returned to Cruzeiro in order to repeat the campaign of the Brasileirão 2015, when freed from relegation.

Bahia

On 8 September 2020, Mano was named head coach of

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (sta ...

in the top tier, agreeing to a contract until the end of 2021. On 20 December, after a 3–4 away loss against

, he was sacked.

Al Nassr

On 9 April 2021, he was appointed as the manager of Saudi club

Al Nassr Al Nassr Football Club ( ar, نادي النصر السعودي; '' Naṣr'' meaning ''Victory'') is a Saudi Arabian football club based in Riyadh. Formed in 1955, the club plays its home games at the Mrsool Park. Their home colours are yello ...

. On 19 September 2021, he was sacked after a 1–3 loss against

Ittihad The Ittihad Party ( az, İttihad firqəsi) was a radical Islamist party in the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1917–1920. It was formed in September 1917 in opposition to the secular Musavat Party and proposed political unity of all the Musl ...

Internacional

On 19 April 2022, Mano was appointed head coach of

back in his home country.

Statistics

Managerial

Honors

;Grêmio *

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

: 2006, 2007 ;Corinthians *

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

;Cruzeiro *

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 ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Campeonato Mineiro Campeonato Mineiro is the state football league of the state of Minas Gerais and is controlled by the Minas Gerais Football Federation FMF (Federação Mineira de Futebol). The history of Campeonato Mineiro can be divided into two parts: befor ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

;Brazil *Superclásico de las Américas: 2011 and 2012

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Menezes, Mano Sportspeople from Rio Grande do Sul Living people 1962 births Brazilian football managers Expatriate football managers in China 2011 Copa América managers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A managers Campeonato Brasileiro Série B managers Chinese Super League managers Esporte Clube Guarani managers Grêmio Esportivo Brasil managers Iraty Sport Club managers Clube 15 de Novembro managers Sociedade Esportiva e Recreativa Caxias do Sul managers Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense managers Sport Club Corinthians Paulista managers Brazil national football team managers CR Flamengo managers Cruzeiro Esporte Clube managers Shandong Taishan F.C. managers Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras managers Esporte Clube Bahia managers Al Nassr FC managers Sport Club Internacional managers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Saudi Professional League managers Expatriate football managers in Saudi Arabia Brazilian expatriate football managers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in China