Cláudio Pêcego de Moraes Coutinho (5 January 1939 – 27 November 1981) was a Brazilian

football manager ''Football Manager'' (also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008) is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game bega ...

who coached

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 ...

from 1977 to 1980 and

Los Angeles Aztecs The Los Angeles Aztecs was an American professional soccer team based in Los Angeles, California that existed from 1974 to 1981. The Aztecs competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1974 to 1981 as well as the 1975 NASL Indoor tourn ...

in 1981. He died as a result of a scuba diving accident at

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 ...

Military career

Born in the small town of Dom Pedrito in Rio Grande do Sul on the border with Uruguay, Coutinho moved to Rio de Janeiro when he was four years old. Living in Rio, Coutinho joined the Military School, and would ultimately reach the rank of Captain of Artillery. On the other hand, he also showed great interest to the sports area, graduating from the School of Physical Education of the Army. In 1968, he was chosen to represent their school in a World Congress, held in the United States. There he met American professor Kenneth H. Cooper, founder of the

Cooper test The cooper test which was designed by Kenneth H. Cooper in 1968 for US military The United States Armed Forces are the Military, military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six Military branch, service branches: the ...

. Invited by Cooper, Coutinho attended the

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

Human Stress Laboratory.

Sports career

In 1970 Coutinho was appointed as physical fitness coach for the Brazilian team in preparation for the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico; it was during this time that Coutinho introduced the Cooper method to the Brazilian team. After the competition, he would become supervisor for the

Peru national football team The Peru national football team represents Peru in men's international football. The national team has been organised, since 1927, by the Peruvian Football Federation (FPF). The FPF constitutes one of the ten members of FIFA's South America ...

, technical coordinator of Brazil's

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

team in 1974, the French team Olympique de Marseille and the Brazilian Olympic Team, taking it to fourth place in the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 P ...

. In the same year, he became head coach of

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 ...

. Coutinho's relatively good performance in these roles, and his history with the Brazilian Confederation of Sports, gave him the credentials to be a substitute for Osvaldo Brandão within the Brazilian National Soccer Team, and he would eventually apply for the vacant head coach position in anticipation the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina. His selection caused some surprise, as he was considered inexperienced for the job. Soon he took command, and tried to implement his own philosophy. The failure of the

1974 World Cup The 1974 FIFA World Cup was the tenth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in West Germany (and West Berlin) between 13 June and 7 July. The tournament marked the first time that the ...

team, together with other factors, led many to conclude that the Brazilian method of play, based on individualism and star players, was outdated and that the important thing was now the European model, where players worked together like cogs in a machine. Coutinho attempted to implement a style modelled on the Total Football philosophy used by

Rinus Michels Marinus Jacobus Hendricus Michels (; 9 February 1928 – 3 March 2005) was a Dutch football player and coach. He played his entire career for AFC Ajax, which he later managed, and played for and later managed the Netherlands national team ...

' Dutch national side, who knocked Brazil out of the 1974 tournament with a 2–0 victory in the second group stage. Coutinho joined

as manager in 1981.

Death

At the end of the 1981 season, Coutinho was on vacation in Rio de Janeiro, before leaving to take a position in Saudi Arabia. An expert diver, Coutinho was diving near the

Ilhas Cagarras The Ilhas Cagarras (Cagarras Islands) are an uninhabited archipelago located off Ipanema, a major beach of the southern coast of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They have been designated a federal natural monument since 2010. Location The ar ...

, an archipelago near Ipanema Beach, when he drowned at age 42.

References

External links

*
COUTINHO Site1
o
COUTINHO Site2

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coutinho, Claudio 1939 births 1981 deaths Sportspeople from Rio Grande do Sul Brazilian football managers Brazilian expatriate football managers Brazil national football team managers Club Universitario de Deportes managers 1978 FIFA World Cup managers 1979 Copa América managers CR Flamengo managers North American Soccer League (1968–1984) coaches Expatriate soccer coaches in the United States Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Accidental deaths in Brazil Underwater diving deaths Campeonato Brasileiro Série A managers 20th-century Brazilian military personnel People from Dom Pedrito