Rodrigo Marques de Santana (born 29 May 1982), known as Rodrigo Santana, is a Brazilian football
coach
Coach may refer to:
Guidance/instruction
* Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities
* Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process
** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers
Transportation
* Co ...
and former player who played as an
attacking 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 ...
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...
, Santana 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 retired in 2010, aged 28, after suffering a hand injury while representing Confiança. He started his career as
Camboriú
Camboriú is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the states of Brazil, state of Santa Catarina (state), Santa Catarina in the South Region, Brazil, South region of Brazil, near Balneario Camboriu, a popular beach destination.
Toponym
Th ...
's assistant, being named manager shortly after.
In 2011, Santana was named manager of Pinheiros' under-20 manager, being in charge of the first team afterwards. He left the club in November, being immediately appointed Nenê Belarmino's assistant at
Uberaba
Uberaba () is a city in the state of Minas Gerais, southeast Brazil. It is located in the Brazilian Highlands at above sea level on the Uberaba River, and away from the state capital, Belo Horizonte. The city status was granted in 1856, and i ...
.
On 14 February 2012, Santana left Uberaba and was named
Portuguesa Santista
Portuguesa is a Portuguese, Catalan, and Spanish feminine adjective meaning "Portuguese". It may also refer to:
Places
*Portuguesa (state), one of the 23 states of Venezuela
* Portuguesa (Rio de Janeiro), a neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil ...
manager. Late in the year, he was also in charge of União Suzano during a trip in Bolivia.
In 2013, Santana was Grêmio Barueri's assistant during the
Campeonato Paulista Série A2
Campeonato Paulista Série A2 is the second level of the São Paulo state professional football championship, one of the Brazilian state championships. This tournament is played by 16 teams, in which the two best teams are promoted to Série A1 ...
. On 5 November of that year, he was presented as manager of the under-20 squad of São Carlos for the ensuing
Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior
The Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior (or ''São Paulo Youth Football Cup'', in English), also known as Copa São Paulo de Juniores (''São Paulo Youth Cup'') and Copinha (''Little Cup''), is a cup competition played by Brazilian under-20 associ ...
; the following 8 February, he replaced fired Roberto Oliveira as manager of the main squad, acting as an interim until the end of the competition and suffering relegation.
On 10 June 2014, Santana left São Carlos and was appointed manager of Juventus the following day. He was sacked on 11 March 2016, after achieving promotion to the second division of ''Paulistão'' the previous year.
On 15 April 2016, Santana returned to Uberaba and was named manager of the main squad. On 26 October, he was named at the helm of
Atlético Mineiro
Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to:
Sports Teams Athletico
*Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy
*Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic Cl ...
as a coordinator of the youth division. On 4 October 2018, he was named manager of the under-20s. On 12 April 2019, he was appointed interim first team manager after the dismissal of
Levir Culpi
Levir Culpi (born 28 February 1953) is a Brazilian professional football coach and former player who played as a centre-back.
Playing career
Known as Levir during his playing days, he was born in Curitiba, Paraná, and started his career with ...
, and on 24 June, he was named permanent manager.
On 13 October 2019, Santana was sacked after a defeat to Grêmio. On 16 February 2020, he took over
Avaí
Avaí is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in 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 milli ...
in the place of sacked Augusto Inácio, but was himself dismissed on 1 August.
On 29 October 2020, Santana replaced fired Jorginho at the helm of
Coritiba
Coritiba Foot Ball Club, commonly known as Coritiba and colloquially referred to as "Coxa-Branca" or "Coxa", is a Brazilian football club from Curitiba, capital city of the Brazilian state of Paraná. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest f ...
in the top tier. He was himself dismissed on 13 December, after winning only two points out of 15.
On 12 May 2021, Santana was named manager of Confiança in the Série B, but was sacked on 26 July after the club was in the last position.
On 5 December 2022, Santana was briefly announced as one of the new assistant coaches for
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 ...
2023 season. However, on the next day, the signing was cancelled due to Santana being linked to anti-democratic acts related to the
2022 Brazilian general election
General elections were held on 2 October 2022 in Brazil to elect the president, vice president, the National Congress, the governors, vice governors, and legislative assemblies of all federative units, and the district council of Fernando de ...
.
On 27 July 2023, after a brief period at Indonesian side RANS Nusantara, Santana was named manager of
Bolivian Primera División
The División de Fútbol Profesional is the top-flight professional football league in Bolivia. Until 2017 it was known as the "Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano" (; en, Bolivian Professional Football League).
Since 1950, a total of 16 club ...
side Vaca Díez. He returned to his home country on 9 December, after being appointed in charge of Série C newcomers Athletic-MG, but left on a mutual agreement the following 5 March.