José Marcelo Ferreira (born 25 July 1973), commonly known as Zé Maria, is a retired Brazilian

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 ...

player turned coach. He is currently working for

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

as a technical collaborator within the club's youth system. Known for his pin-point

crosses Crosses may refer to: * Cross, the symbol Geography * Crosses, Cher, a French municipality * Crosses, Arkansas, a small community located in the Ozarks of north west Arkansas Language * Crosses, a truce term used in East Anglia and Lincolnshire ...

, he could play either as a

right back 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 ...

right 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 played the vast majority of his professional career, other than in his country, in Italy's

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

, where he represented three teams, mainly

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part o ...

Club career

Born in

Oeiras, Piauí Oeiras is a municipality in the Microregion of Picos, in the northeastern Brazilian State of Piauí. According to the ''Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística - IBGE'' (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), its population w ...

, Zé Maria started his professional career with Portuguesa in 1991, being loaned two times during his contract with the club. In 1995, he was selected in the Bola de Prata Brazilian League team of the year. This led to him being signed by

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 t ...

in 1996. In the summer, Zé Maria moved to Italy after signing with

club

, playing regularly for two seasons. Subsequently, he remained in Italy, joining

. With the

Umbria it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , ...

ns Zé Maria had a shaky start, being loaned three times back to Brazil, during which time he won the Copa Libertadores with Palmeiras, and the Copa do Brasil with Cruzeiro. Eventually, he established himself in the Perugia starting line-up, helping his team finish 10th in his third full season whilst contributing with six goals.

Via Via or VIA may refer to the following: Science and technology * MOS Technology 6522, Versatile Interface Adapter * ''Via'' (moth), a genus of moths in the family Noctuidae * Via (electronics), a through-connection * VIA Technologies, a Taiwan ...

the

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

he and the side reached the third round of the subsequent

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

, but also suffered domestic relegation. After two seasons with giants

Inter Inter may refer to: Association football clubs * Inter Milan, an Italian club * SC Internacional, a Brazilian club * Inter Miami CF, an American club * FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club * FC Inter Turku, a Finnish club * FK Inter Bratislava, a forme ...

– playing rather regularly in his first but making only eight appearances (mostly as a substitute) in his second (with Inter winning the ''

Scudetto The ''scudetto'' (Italian language, Italian for: "little shield") is a decoration having the colors of the flag of Italy which is sewn onto the jersey of the Italian sports clubs that won the highest level championship of their respective sport in ...

'' courtesy of the ''

Calciopoli ''Calciopoli'' () was a sports scandal in Italy's top professional association football league Serie A and to a lesser extent Serie B. Involving various clubs and numerous executives, both from the same clubs and from the main Italian football b ...

'' affair), 49 official ones overall – Zé Maria was released and joined

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 ...

club

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. (, ca-valencia, Llevant Unió Esportiva ) is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 9 September 1909, Levante ...

on a free transfer: starting the season as first-choice right-back the 33-year-old lost the position and finished with 14 league appearances, with the

Valencians Valencians ( va, valencians) are the native people of the Valencian Community, in eastern Spain. Legally, Valencians are the inhabitants of the community. Since 2006, the Valencian people are officially recognised in the Valencian Statute of Aut ...

barely avoiding relegation. Released again, Zé Maria entailed unsuccessful negotiations with several teams, reportedly

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

and

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

in England, thus returning to Brazil and Portuguesa in January 2008. In August, after having rescinded his contract, he surprisingly accepted an offer from A.S.D. Città di Castello, in the Italian ''

Eccellenza The Eccellenza (, "excellence") is the fifth level (since 2014–15) of Italian football. It is a regional league, composed of 28 divisions divided geographically. All 20 regions are represented by at least one division except for Piedmont and Ao ...

'' (amateur championships). Zé Maria settled in Italy after his retirement from football, at the age of 36. He subsequently founded a football school in

International career

Zé Maria gained 25

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

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 ...

over a period of five years. He was not selected for any

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

but did participate in two

FIFA Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships ( AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, ...

s, including the original in Saudi Arabia which the national team won, and one

Copa América The Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...

(also ended in win, in

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

). In

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

Zé Maria helped the Olympic team win bronze at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, appearing in all six matches.

Managerial career

Beginnings

On 15 March 2010 Zé Maria took his first head coaching job, accepting

Serie D The Serie D () is the top level of semi-professional football in the country. The fourth tier of the Italian league system, the competition sits beneath the third professional league, Serie C. It is administered by the Lega Nazionale Dilettant ...

club S.S.D. Group Città di Castello's offer. He was then appointed manager of

fourth division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

team

F.C. Catanzaro U.S. Catanzaro 1929 is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Catanzaro, Calabria that competes in Serie B, the second tier of the Football in Italy, Italian football championship, following a 17-year absence from the second tier. ...

for the 2010–11 campaign, being however removed from his post after a few months.

Tirana

On 16 June 2017, Tirana announced the signing of Zé Maria on a one-year contract. He lost his first match in charge later on 29 June, a 2–0 away loss to

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

Netanya Stadium The Netanya Stadium ( he, אצטדיון נתניה), commonly known as The Diamond Stadium, is a multi-use stadium in Netanya, Israel. It is used as the permanent home ground of Maccabi Netanya, and it has been used as the temporary homeground ...

in the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League first qualifying round. Tirana was knocked out from the competition after losing the second leg. Zé Maria won his first silverware with the club later on 6 September, the 2017 Albanian Supercup, with Tirana defeating Kukësi thanks to an

Erion Hoxhallari Erion Hoxhallari (born 15 October 1995) is an Albanian professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Romanian club UTA Arad. Club career Early career Hoxhallari started his youth career at Tirana. On 1 July 2011 he was loaned out at Aust ...

late winner. By doing so, Tirana become the first ever Albanian First Division club to win the supercup. Tirana begun the championship by recording a 1–0 home win versus Iliria Fushë-Krujë. They successfully eliminated

Besa Kavajë Besa or BESA may refer to: Arts & entertainment * ''Besa'' (newspaper), a newspaper published in Albania * ''Besa'' (TV series), a Serbian-British television series produced by Adrenalin and Red Planet Pictures * ''The Besa'', a novel by Albanian ...

4–1 on aggregate in the 2017–18 Albanian Cup first round. Tirana ended September by winning all the matches, and did so also in November, taking the lead of

Group B Group B was a set of regulations for grand touring (GT) vehicles used in sports car racing and rallying introduced in 1982 by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Although permitted to enter a GT class of the World Sportscar ...

. During his time, Zé Maria also guided Tirana to the biggest win of the season, 6–0 versus

Shkumbini Peqin KF Shkumbini is an Albanian football club based in the city of Peqin. The club's home ground is the Shkumbini Stadium and they compete in the Kategoria e Dytë. History Football was first introduced to the city of Peqin in the early 1920s after ...

. Tirana finished the year in the first place, conceding only one defeat, the one versus

Bylis Ballsh KF Bylis, also known as Bylis Ballsh, is an Albanian football club based in Ballsh, Mallakastër District. The club's home ground is the Adush Muça Stadium and they currently compete in the Kategoria Superiore. History Early history The club ...

. Zé Maria called the defeat "a shame". The team also eliminated Vllaznia Shkodër in the second round of Albanian Cup. In January 2018, Tirana brought Kenneth Muguna,

Mohammed Musa Mohamed Mousa Abbas Ali (Arabic: محمد موسى; born on March 23, 1986) is a Qatari footballer who currently plays for Al-Duhail. Club career Musa began his professional career with Umm Salal in 2007. In 2010 he was loaned to Al-Sadd from ...

and Samson Iliasu at the request of Zé Maria. In February 2018, Tirana was eliminated by Kukësi in the quarter-final of Albanian Cup. Tirana continued their winning streak, eventually finished top of Group B to qualify to promotion play-off. Later on 14 April, the team mathematically achieved promotion to

top flight Top Flight (April 15, 1929 – 1949) was an American U.S. Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse. She was the leading American filly of her generation at two and three years of age. Background Bred in Kentucky by the very prominent horseman Harry ...

next season by winning 3–2 at home against Pogradeci. On 16 May, Tirana was named Albanian First Division champions after beating 2–0 the Group A winners

Kastrioti Krujë KS Kastrioti, also known as Kastrioti Krujë, is an Albanian football club based in the city of Krujë. The club's home ground is the Kastrioti Stadium which has a capacity of 8,000 spectators and they currently compete in the Kategoria Superi ...

. Later on 2 June, Zé Maria agreed a contract extension with the club until June 2020.

Later years

On 5 October 2022,

announced to have hired Zé Maria as a technical collaborator for the youth team.

Managerial record

Honours

Player

;Flamengo *

Campeonato Carioca The Campeonato Carioca (Carioca Championship), officially known as Campeonato Estadual do Rio de Janeiro (Port., Rio de Janeiro State Championship), was started in 1906 and is the annual football championship in the state of Rio de Janeiro, B ...

: 1996 ;Palmeiras *

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 ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

;Cruzeiro *

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 ...

: 2000 ;Perugia *

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

;Inter Milan *

: 2005–06 *

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

: 2004–05, 2005–06 ;Brazil *

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

Bronze Medalist A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

Managerial

;Tirana *

Albanian Supercup The Albanian Supercup is a single match usually at the beginning of the season between the winners of the Kategoria Superiore and Albanian Cup. Supercup final was not played in the occasions when the champion team won the Double (association foot ...

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 ...

Albanian First Division Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language ** Albanian culture ** Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the count ...

: 2017–18

References

External links

* * * * * * {{Navboxes , title= Managerial positions , list1= {{U.S. Catanzaro managers {{CSM Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț managers {{KF Tirana managers {{Associação Portuguesa de Desportos managers 1973 births Living people Men's association football defenders Brazilian men's footballers Brazil men's international footballers 1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1997 Copa América players 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup players 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup players Copa América-winning players FIFA Confederations Cup-winning players Olympic footballers for Brazil Olympic bronze medalists for Brazil Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Associação Portuguesa de Desportos players Club Sportivo Sergipe players Associação Atlética Ponte Preta players CR Flamengo footballers Parma Calcio 1913 players AC Perugia Calcio players CR Vasco da Gama players Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras players Cruzeiro Esporte Clube players Inter Milan players Levante UD footballers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Serie A players La Liga players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Brazilian football managers US Catanzaro 1929 managers CSM Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț managers Gor Mahia F.C. managers KF Tirana managers Associação Portuguesa de Desportos managers Brazilian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Italy Expatriate football managers in Romania Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Romania Expatriate football managers in Kenya Expatriate football managers in Albania Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Albania Footballers from Piauí People from Oeiras, Piauí