William Amaral de Andrade (born 27 December 1967), known simply as William, is a Brazilian former professional

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

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 ...

Playing career

William was born in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

. During his extensive career he played most notably for S.L. Benfica, from where he arrived in 1990 after spells at two other Portuguese clubs,

C.D. Nacional Clube Desportivo Nacional, commonly known as Nacional and sometimes Nacional da Madeira (), is a Portuguese football club based in Funchal, on the island of Madeira. Founded on 8 December 1910, it currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, Portug ...

and Vitória de Guimarães. During his five-year spell, William helped Benfica to two

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, ...

titles, forming an efficient partnership with compatriot

Ricardo Gomes Ricardo Gomes Raymundo (born 13 December 1964) is a Brazilian retired professional footballer and manager. As a player, he played as a central defender, in a 14-year professional career, for Fluminense (six years), Benfica (four) and Paris Sai ...

after arriving as a replacement for another Brazilian, Carlos Mozer. In the 1990–91 season he did not miss one single game for the champions, and still scored four goals. After one season in France at SC Bastia, William moved to Spain with

SD Compostela Sociedad Deportiva Compostela is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Santiago de Compostela, in the autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. They play home matches at ''Estadio Multiusos de San Lázaro'', and ...

, being fairly used during four years (although he was never an automatic first-choice), two in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

and two 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 ...

. He then returned to Portugal and Vitória Guimarães, already the bearer of a passport from the country, and retired after two slow years in June 2002, aged nearly 35.

Coaching career

From December 2004 to May 2005 with SC Valenciano, and during one month in 2012 with Vilaverdense FC, William worked in the Portuguese third level. He subsequently had two spells with former club Compostela, who now competed in the regional championships. In 2016, William was named head coach of newly promoted

Gibraltar Premier Division The Gibraltar Premier Division was a football league established by the Gibraltar Football Association (GFA) in 1905, and the top tier of football in Gibraltar. It originally contained eight member clubs, but it has grown over the years. In 19 ...

side

Mons Calpe The Rock of Gibraltar (from the Arabic name Jabel-al-Tariq) is a monolithic limestone promontory located in the British territory of Gibraltar, near the southwestern tip of Europe on the Iberian Peninsula, and near the entrance to the Mediterr ...

, appointing Gibraltar under-19 manager Terrence Jolley as his assistant and overseeing the arrivals of former professionals including Hugo Colace and

Michele Di Piedi Michele Di Piedi (born 21 December 1980) is an Italian professional football former player and manager, currently head coach of Glacis United. Biography Early career and Sheffield Wednesday (1997–2003) Di Piedi was born in Palermo, Sicily, ...

. On 17 January 2017, following a defeat against Glacis United, he was fired. After a brief return to the club in 2019, he was appointed manager of Lincoln Red Imps in May 2020. On 5 October 2020, the club confirmed William's departure. On 13 October 2022, William was appointed assistant coach of

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 Colombian club

Atlético Nacional Atlético Nacional S. A., best known as Atlético Nacional, is a Colombian professional association football, football club based in Medellín. The club is one of only three clubs to have played in every first division tournament in the countr ...

. Following Paulo Autuori's resignation from Atlético Nacional on 6 July 2023, William was appointed as interim head coach and 13 days later he was promoted to head coach on a permanent basis. On 9 October, he left the club.

Honours

Benfica *

: 1990–91, 1993–94 * Taça de Portugal: 1992–93

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:William 1967 births Living people Footballers from Rio de Janeiro (city) Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players C.D. Nacional players Vitória S.C. players S.L. Benfica footballers Ligue 1 players SC Bastia players La Liga players Segunda División players SD Compostela footballers Mons Calpe S.C. managers Lincoln Red Imps F.C. managers Gibraltar National League managers Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in France Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Brazilian football managers SD Compostela managers Brazilian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Portugal Expatriate football managers in Spain Expatriate football managers in Gibraltar Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Gibraltar Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Colombia Naturalised citizens of Portugal Naturalised association football players Atlético Nacional managers