Vicente Ítalo Feola (; 20 November 1909 – 6 November 1975) was a Brazilian football manager and coach from São Paulo. He became famous for leading the Brazilians to their first

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 ...

title in

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

Biography

Feola was born in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

parents. He died in 1975 aged 65.

Coaching career

São Paulo

As São Paulo FC coach, Feola won the 1948 and 1949 Campeonato Paulista.

Brazil

1958 World Cup

As Seleção boss in 1958, Feola introduced a 17-year-old Pelé to the footballing world, winning the

in Sweden, the first and to date only time a non-European side has won a World Cup on European soil. The team trained in Hindås in Sweden during the tournament (pictured).

Boca Juniors

Feola was appointed manager of Argentine club Boca Juniors briefly in 1961.

Brazil return

1966 World Cup

Feola returned as coach of the Brazilian national team for the 1966 FIFA World Cup in England. In the first round of the tournament, Brazil lost their second game against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

.1966 FIFA World Cup England
''FIFA'' Retrieved 8 May 2011 Pelé, although still recovering, was brought back for the last crucial match against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

for which Feola, panicked. He changed the entire defence, including the goalkeeper. In the attack, he maintained

Jairzinho Jair Ventura Filho (born 25 December 1944), better known as Jairzinho (), is a Brazilian former footballer. A quick, skillful, and powerful right winger known for his finishing ability and eye for goal, he was a key member and top scorer of th ...

and substituted the other two players. In the midfield, he returned to the formation of the first match, even knowing that Pelé was still not fully recovered from his serious injuries. Brazil suffered a first round elimination. Under Feola's command, Brazil played 74 times, having won 55 games, tied 13 and lost 6 times.

Honours

Manager

Club

; São Paulo FC * Campeonato Paulista: 1948, 1949

International

;

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 ...