Lázaro Fonseca Costa Oliveira (born 27 August 1967), known simply as Lázaro in his playing days, is an Angolan retired

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

central midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, and the previous head coach for the

Macau national football team The Macau national football team (; ) represents the Special administrative region of the People's Republic of China, Chinese special administrative region of Macau in international association football. The team is supervised by the Macau Foo ...

Playing career

Lázaro spent his entire career in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. He started professionally at

G.D. Estoril Praia Grupo Desportivo Estoril Praia (), commonly known as Estoril, is a Portuguese professional sports club from Estoril, Cascais, Lisbon. Founded on 17 May 1939, its Association football, football team currently plays in Primeira Liga and hold home g ...

in the second division, scoring a combined eight goals in his first two seasons, the latter finishing in promotion to the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

. In the top level, however, Lázaro was only a backup player during three years, his best input being 17 matches in the 1991–92 campaign – 11 starts – as the

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

team finished in tenth position. He subsequently competed in divisions

three 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious and cultural significance in many societies ...

and two, with

Louletano D.C. Louletano Desportos Clube is a Portugal, Portuguese club from Loulé, founded on 6 June 1923. The association football team currently play in the Campeonato Nacional de Seniores (Portuguese fourth level), D series. The club plays at the Estádio ...

and F.C. Penafiel respectively. Aged 30, Lázaro returned to the top flight with C.F. Estrela da Amadora, also in the Portuguese capital. He would be regularly played during five of his seven years with the club, retiring in December 2003 with competition totals of 148 games and seven goals (plus 211 appearances and 23 goals in the second tier).

International goals

:''Scores and results list Angola's goal tally first.''

Managerial career

Estrela Amadora

Lázaro took up coaching immediately after retiring, spending four years as an assistant at Estrela always in the top tier. Early into the 2008–09 season he replaced countryman

Lito Vidigal José Carlos Fernandes Vidigal (born 11 July 1969), commonly known as Lito, is an Angolan professional football manager and former player who played as a defender. He spent his entire playing career in Portugal, mainly with Belenenses in the ...

as head coach at Estrela Amadora, leading the team into safety only to suffer relegation due to financial irregularities.

Portimonense

In summer 2009, Lázaro joined another former club, Penafiel in the second division. He was sacked midway through his second year, joining another side in that level, Portimonense, on 18 January 2012. He was dismissed on 21 April with the team in seventh place with two games remaining of the campaign, after a run of poor results made qualifying for the play-offs difficult.

Atlético

Lázaro became manager of

Atlético Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico *Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy *Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic Cl ...

, struggling in the second level, on 9 January 2015. He quit the

-based side on 28 March, with them second from last.

Farense

On 22 July 2016, Lázaro returned to the

Algarve The Algarve (, , ) is the southernmost NUTS statistical regions of Portugal, NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities (concelho, ''concelhos'' or ''município ...

, taking over at Farense of the third tier. He was sacked the following 3 April, after a 2–2 draw with neighbours

Louletano Louletano Desportos Clube is a Portuguese club from Loulé, founded on 6 June 1923. The association football team currently play in the Campeonato Nacional de Seniores (Portuguese fourth level), D series. The club plays at the Estádio Algarve, ...

left the team in fifth, six points away from leaders

C.D. Fátima Centro Desportivo de Fátima, simply known as Fátima, is a Portuguese football club based in Fátima, in the municipality of Ourém. Founded in 1966, it holds home matches at ''Estádio Papa Francisco'', with a capacity of 1,545 spectators. C ...

Macau national team

On 23 January 2020, Lázaro was appointed as Macau national team head coach and also their under-23 side.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oliveira, Lazaro 1967 births Living people Angolan men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players G.D. Estoril Praia players Louletano D.C. players F.C. Penafiel players C.F. Estrela da Amadora players Angola men's international footballers 1998 African Cup of Nations players Angolan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Angolan expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Angolan football managers Primeira Liga managers Liga Portugal 2 managers C.F. Estrela da Amadora managers F.C. Penafiel managers Portimonense S.C. managers S.C. Farense managers Angolan expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Portugal