Odir Jacques Ferreira (born April 2, 1946) is a retired

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

who played most of his career in

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

Club career

El Salvador

Before moving to

, Jacques Ferreira started at Bangu in Brazil's Carioca League, then played for several years in

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

with Club Deportivo FAS. Although he failed to win any trophies in his time with FAS, he did help them to reach the championship final for three consecutive seasons in 1967/68, 1969 and 1970. He was very well known and popular with the club's supporters as he was a very effective and consistent striker. In his few years in El Salvador he scored a total of 126 goals, and is currently still listed as one of the highest goalscorers of all time. He holds a scoring record still remaining untouched, scoring 30 goals in 36 games in 1968 with Alianza.Logró galardones en 1978, 1981 y 1985 Odir Jacques está a un título de igualar récord florense (Bio)
– Nación

Costa Rica

From FAS, Ferreira moved to

Saprissa Deportivo Saprissa is a Costa Rican sports club, mostly known for its football team. The club is based in San Juan de Tibás, San José, and play their home games at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá. The team's signature colours are purple ...

, where he won several national championships, including the famous six consecutive championships won by Saprissa from 1972 to 1977, a record both in Costa Rica as well as in the American continent. He also played with Alajuelense and

Herediano Club Sport Herediano (), commonly known as Herediano and nicknamed El Team, is a Costa Rican multisport club based in Heredia, Heredia province. Although they compete in a number of different sports, Herediano is mostly known for its association ...

, before retiring at age 33. Jacques was an excellent goal scorer, very quick and gifted, with great skills for shooting especially free kicks. He is always remembered by

's fans, because of his unique talents. He was the best goal scorer in the 1972 Costa Rica's first division tournament, in which he scored 18 goals. He scored 5 goals in one game against Puntarenas in May 1972. He totalled 82 goals in the Costa Rican top tier. He is considered by many experts, as the best foreigner to ever play in the Costa Rica's first division.

Managerial career

After retiring, he began a very successful coaching career in

, where he managed the three most important teams in the country, Deportivo Saprissa, Alajuelense and

, becoming the only person to win a championship as a player and as a coach at the same time with Herediano in 1978. He won 3 championships with Herediano and 1 championship with Alajuelense under his coaching tenure. He also coached the Costa Rica's national squad in 1985. As a coach, he discovered Costa Rica national team player greats such as Oscar Ramirez, Rolando Fonseca and Mauricio Wright among others. He had a spell again in El Salvador with FAS whom he joined in June 2000 before returning to Costa Rica where he was dismissed by Municipal Liberia in March 2005. In January 2006 he moved to El Salvador again to take charge at Alianza. He retook the reigns at Herediano in March 2012, left them for Cartaginés in August 2012 and coached them into the middle of 2013. Later that year he coached Perez Zeledón in the playoff
Odir Jacques es el nuevo técnico de Pérez Zeledón
– Nación but on already in May 2013 after only 4 games in the dug out. Jacques is the manager who led Herediano during the most matches, 234 in total and is the winningest coach in Herediano's history leading the red and yellow squad to an unprecedented 5 championships (most by any coach in the franchise history).Odir Jacques maneja el timón histórico del Herediano
– UNAFUT

Personal life

He met his wife Ana Cecilia in El Salvador and they have three children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacques, Odir 1946 births Living people Sportspeople from Rio de Janeiro (state) Brazilian emigrants to Costa Rica Association football forwards Brazilian footballers Brazilian expatriate footballers Brazilian football managers Alianza F.C. footballers C.D. FAS footballers C.D. Atlético Marte footballers Deportivo Saprissa players L.D. Alajuelense footballers C.S. Herediano footballers Liga FPD players Expatriate footballers in El Salvador Costa Rican football managers L.D. Alajuelense managers C.S. Herediano managers C.D. FAS managers Deportivo Saprissa managers Costa Rica national football team managers Expatriate football managers in El Salvador Expatriate football managers in Costa Rica Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in El Salvador Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Costa Rica