Manuel da Luz Afonso (

Loulé Loulé () is a city and municipality in the region of Algarve, district of Faro, Portugal. In 2011, the population of the entire municipality was 70,622 inhabitants, in an area of approximately . The municipality has two principal cities: Loulé ...

, 31 January 1917 – 15 October 2000) was a

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

football

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

. He was the head of the football department of Benfica, during their 1960s Golden Era, until 1964 when he was called to work for the

Portugal national football team The Portugal national football team ( pt, Seleção Portuguesa de Futebol) has represented Portugal in international men's football competition since 1921. The national team is controlled by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF), the gover ...

as ''seleccionador'' ("the selector"), with

Otto Glória Otto Martins Glória (9 January 1917 – 4 September 1986) was a Brazilian football coach. Career Glória was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but had his greatest successes with Benfica in Portugal, guiding the club to nine national trophies. ...

as the coach. That meant that Afonso would be choosing the players but would not be the coach in charge of the squad. They took over on 15 November 1964, with a 2–1 win over

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, in a friendly match. It was a promising start to the successful campaign Portugal had in the lead up to the 1966 FIFA World Cup finals, in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Portugal qualified for the first time, eliminating the world vice-champions

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. Portugal went on to reach the third place at the World Cup finals. Manuel da Luz Afonso left the National Team following the 1–2 loss to Sweden, on 13 November 1966, in a European Championship qualifier. He left the Portugal national squad after 20 matches, with 15 wins, 2 ties and 3 defeats, still the best record ever for his country.

External links

Manuel da Luz Afonso Profile (Portuguese)
1917 births 2000 deaths Portuguese football managers Portugal national football team managers {{Portugal-footy-bio-stub