José 'Mehdi' Faria (April 26, 1933 – October 8, 2013) was a 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 ...

coach. He coached

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

in the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia ha ...

, when they became the first African team to advance to the second round. He converted to Islam when coaching

Managerial career

Faria started his managerial career in

Fluminense Fluminense Football Club (), known as Fluminense, is a Brazilian sports club best known for its professional football team that competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the first tier of Brazilian football and the Campeonato Carioca, th ...

's junior teams, where he worked for more than 10 years. He was responsible for the rise of many Brazilian stars, such as World Cup captain Edinho. He received many offers while working in Brazil. However, he rejected them all due to the risk involved. He eventually changed his mind, and accepted an offer to coach the Qatar under-20 team as a replacement for

Evaristo de Macedo Evaristo de Macedo Filho, (born 22 June 1933, in Rio de Janeiro), known simply as Evaristo, is a Brazilian former footballer and coach. Club career Madureira (1950–1952) Raised in the north of Rio de Janeiro, Evaristo, like many children, play ...

who temporarily took charge of

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

in Mexico. He claimed to have made as much money in Qatar in two years as he had made in last 23 years. He coached the Morocco national team from 1983 till 1988. He rejected an offer from Inter Milan while coaching the team, and converted to Islam, adopting the middle name of "Mehdi".

References

External links

Biography
1933 births 2013 deaths Footballers from Rio de Janeiro (city) Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Bonsucesso Futebol Clube players Fluminense FC players Bangu Atlético Clube players Brazilian football managers Al Sadd SC managers AS FAR (football club) managers Morocco national football team managers Olympique Club de Khouribga managers Qatar Stars League managers Botola managers 1986 FIFA World Cup managers 1986 African Cup of Nations managers 1988 African Cup of Nations managers Brazilian expatriate football managers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Morocco Expatriate football managers in Qatar Expatriate football managers in Morocco Brazilian emigrants to Morocco Brazilian Muslims Converts to Islam {{morocco-footy-bio-stub