Renato Portaluppi (born 9 September 1962), known as Renato Gaúcho, is a Brazilian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and former player. He is the current head coach of Fluminense. Formerly a right winger, Renato is known for his wins at the Intercontinental Cup in 1983 as a player for Grêmio, his two

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

one as Grêmio player in 1983 and one in 2017 as Grêmio coach, his 1989

Copa América The CONMEBOL Copa América (; known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship), often simply called the Copa America, is the top men's quadrennial association football, football tournament contested among list of men's national ass ...

as player for

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, and mainly being known for "Rei Do Rio" (King of Rio de Janeiro). When in the heat of Brazilian national soccer, he won the Campeonato Carioca of 1995 and won the prize given by the press for being the MVP in the championship and giving the title to Fluminense when beating some of the best Brazilian players of all time,

Romário Romário de Souza Faria (born 29 January 1966), known simply as Romário (), is a Brazilian politician and former professional association football, footballer who is currently a Senator for Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro and the presi ...

(

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; ), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian multi sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea. It was founded and named after the Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Flamengo n ...

), Túlio Maravilha (

Botafogo Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood (''bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of M ...

), Valdir Bigode ( Vasco).

Playing career

Club

Born in Guaporé, Rio Grande do Sul, Renato started his career in Esportivo in Bento Gonçalves where he grew up. He was later signed with Grêmio, where in 1983 he won the

, beating

Peñarol Club Atlético Peñarol (), more commonly referred to as Peñarol, is a Uruguayan professional football club based in Montevideo. The club currently competes in the Uruguayan Primera División, the highest tier in Uruguayan football. The nam ...

of Uruguay, and the Intercontinental Cup, beating

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), or HSV (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its Association football, football department. Though the current HSV was founde ...

of Germany, and scoring twice, this way consolidating Grêmio as one of the giants of Brazilian soccer, when they won their first and only world title. In 1987, he moved to

and won the Brasileirão Série A in the same year. Then, in 1988, Renato moved abroad, signing with Roma. However, he failed to settle in Italy and returned to Flamengo after one disappointing season, in time to win one more trophy, the

Copa do Brasil The Copa do Brasil () is a knockout football competition played by 92 teams, representing all 26 Brazilian states plus the Federal District. It is the Brazilian domestic cup and it is the Brazilian equivalent of the FA Cup, Taça de Portugal, ...

in 1990. Renato's career in Fluminense is generally associated with his belly goal in the

Campeonato Carioca The Campeonato Carioca (Carioca Championship), officially known as Campeonato Estadual do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro State Championship), also commonly known as the Cariocão, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Br ...

of 1995, against

, in the year that Flamengo celebrated 100 years. With his goal, he was crowned the "King of Rio" of the year. In the same year, he led Fluminense to the semi-finals of the Brasileirão Série A. Before his retirement in Bangu, he played again for Flamengo, where with all his four passages total he played 210 games, scoring 64 goals for the red and black team.

International

Renato appeared 41 times for the Brazil national team, scoring five goals. In 1986, while preparing for the FIFA World Cup Finals in Mexico, Renato was dropped from the squad by coach Telê Santana for disciplinary reasons when he and his friend, who also played at Brazil's national team Leandro got in the hotel after the scheduled time. Renato was remembered for being a loyal friend when it happened because he could jump through the hotel wall and get in unnoticed. But when his friend couldn't, he walked through the main door with him. Leandro was an essential and irreplaceable player, so he still got called for the finals, and Renato didn't. But to return his loyalty to Renato, Leandro said he wouldn't play if Renato weren't accepted. Renato wasn't recalled, and then Leandro made his word true and quit the selection. Leandro's replacement at right-back was Edson, who was injured in the second World Cup match and was then replaced by the relatively unknown Josimar of Botafogo, who became one of the stars of the tournament.

Managerial career

Early years

In 1996, while recovering from a knee injury, Renato was an interim manager of Fluminense on two occasions. As the club struggled to remain outside the relegation zone, Renato "promised to walk naked in the Ipanema beach" if the club suffered relegation, which did occur after they finished in the penultimate place; however, a match-fixing scandal canceled the relegations shortly after, which kept Fluminense in the first division. Renato's whole managerial experience occurred in 2001, as he took over Madureira.

Fluminense

Between 2 September 2002 and 11 July 2003, and between 1 October 2003 and 28 December 2003, Renato was coach of Fluminense.

Vasco da Gama

From July 2005 to April 2007, Renato was

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama ( , ; – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and nobleman who was the Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India, first European to reach India by sea. Da Gama's first voyage (1497–1499) was the first to link ...

's coach.

Fluminense return

In April 2007, he returned to Fluminense as a manager. On 6 June 2007, he won the Brazilian Cup with Fluminense, his first trophy as a manager. However, he failed to win the Copa Libertadores as Fluminense was defeated in a penalty shootout to underdogs LDU from Ecuador in the final. On 10 August 2008, Renato was sacked as manager of ''Flu'', following a 2–1 defeat to the Brasileirão's bottom side, Ipatinga which left them joint-bottom of the table.

Vasco da Gama return

On 18 September 2008, he was hired as Vasco's manager. He left after the club's relegation, in December.

Fourth spell at Fluminense

Fluminense reappointed Renato on 21 July 2009 to replace

Carlos Alberto Parreira Carlos Alberto Gomes Parreira (born 27 February 1943) is a Brazilian former football manager who holds the record for attending the most FIFA World Cup final tournaments as manager with six appearances. He also managed five different national t ...

. Renato returned for a fourth stint, having already coached Fluminense twice (in 2002–2003, 2003 and again in 2007–2008). On 1 September 2009, Fluminense dismissed him following a series of poor results.

Bahia

On 13 December 2009, Renato was named manager of

Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...

for the 2010 season, in the place of Paulo Bonamigo.

Grêmio

On 10 August 2010, Grêmio confirmed Renato was their new coach, two days after the sacking of their former coach, Silas. He tried to start a good season, but in his debut, the team lost to

Goiás Goiás () is a Brazilian States of Brazil, state located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. Goiás borders the Federal District (Brazil), Federal District and the states of (from north clockwise) Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Ge ...

and was eliminated from the

2010 Copa Sudamericana The 2010 Copa Sudamericana de Clubes (officially the 2010 Copa Nissan Sudamericana de Clubes for sponsorship reasons) was the 9th edition of CONMEBOL's secondary international club tournament. The winner qualified for the 2011 Copa Libertadores, t ...

on the Second Stage. In the 2010 Brazilian League, Grêmio ended in 4th place and consequently qualified to 2011 Copa Libertadores. Afterward, Renato did not have a great season in 2011. His team lost the 2011 Campeonato Gaúcho finals to their rival Internacional and was the runner-up. Grêmio was also eliminated from the 2011 Copa Libertadores in the Round of 16, losing to Chilean club Universidad Católica. All of that disappointed himself and Grêmio's President Paulo Odone. He coached some matches of the 2011 Brazilian League. However, their performance wasn't good, and Renato resigned on 30 June.

Atlético Paranaense

On 4 July 2011, Renato was announced as head coach of Atlético Paranaense. He resigned on 1 September, alleging family reasons.

Grêmio return

Even after two years without coaching any club, Renato was the first choice of Fábio Koff, president of Grêmio, to succeed

Vanderlei Luxemburgo Vanderlei Luxemburgo da Silva (born 10 May 1952) is a retired former Brazilian professional football coach and player. A left wingback, Luxemburgo represented Flamengo, Internacional and Botafogo before retiring in 1980. He subsequently be ...

as the new coach of Grêmio. On 2 July 2013, the coach signed with the club and was presented to more than 5,000 supporters in Grêmio Arena. Renato left Grêmio in December 2013, after failing to agree to a new contract.

Fifth spell at Fluminense

Renato returned to ''Flu'' on 24 December 2013. He was dismissed the following 2 April, after being knocked out in the 2014 Campeonato Carioca.

Third spell at Grêmio

In September 2016, Renato returned to Grêmio in the place of Roger Machado. In the following year, Grêmio had a great campaign in

Libertadores ''Libertadores'' (, "Liberators") were the principal leaders of the Spanish American wars of independence from Spain and of the movement in support of Brazilian independence from Portugal. They are named that way in contrast with the ''Conquistad ...

Group Stage, and classification as the first of its group, Grêmio played against Godoy Cruz (16th),

(8th), Barcelona de Guayaquil (4th). In the last year that the final was played in the two teams' stadium (2018 the last game of final was played in Spain and in 2019 the rule was changed and the finals now are played in just one game, as Champions League is), Grêmio won in an emotional 1-0 in Arena do Grêmio and in the 2nd game against

Lanús Lanús () is the capital of Lanús Partido, Buenos Aires Province in Argentina. It lies just south of the capital city Buenos Aires, in the Greater Buenos Aires conurbation, metropolitan area. The List of cities in Argentina, city has a populati ...

at Estádio La fortaleza Grêmio won by 2-1 and became a

Champion for the 3rd time. In the 2018 season, he helped his team to win the

Recopa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana (), also known as Recopa Sudamericana or CONMEBOL Recopa, and simply as Recopa (, ; "Winners' Cup"), is an annual international club Association football, football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1988. It ...

over Independiente and the

Campeonato Gaúcho The Campeonato Gaúcho (English: Gaúcho Championship), officially named as Campeonato Gaúcho de Futebol Série A and commonly known as the Gauchão or the Gauchão Ipiranga (company), Ipiranga for sponsorship reasons, is the top-flight profess ...

over Brasil de Pelotas, their first win since 2010. Renato helped Grêmio to win the

in the 2019 and 2020 campaigns while also having a statue of him inaugurated near the Arena do Grêmio in March 2019. On 15 April 2021, after being knocked out in the first stages of the 2021 Copa Libertadores, he was sacked by the club after more than four years in charge; he was the longest-serving manager in all the four divisions of Brazilian football.

Flamengo

Following his sacking by Grêmio, Flamengo hired Renato on July 10, 2021, having previously played for them as a player across four separate stints. He signed a contract until the end of the season. Renato won his first six matches in charge of the club, averaging four goals per match. On September 29, he helped his side to reach the 2021 Copa Libertadores Final, after defeating

Barcelona SC Barcelona Sporting Club (), internationally known as Barcelona de Guayaquil, is an Ecuadorian sports club based in Guayaquil, known best for its professional football team. They currently play in the Ecuadorian Serie A, the highest level of fo ...

4–0 on aggregate. Flamengo's good form did not last long under Renato's guidance. After the club lost the Libertadores Final to Palmeiras, he left on a mutual agreement on November 29, 2021.

Fourth spell at Grêmio

On 1 September 2022, Renato returned to Grêmio, again replacing sacked Roger Machado. He won two more

during his fourth spell, being the coach for five of the team's historical seven-year title streak through 2018 to 2024. With the 2024 title, he also became the coach with the most titles in Grêmio's history, alongside Oswaldo Rolla. On 9 December 2024, Grêmio announced Renato's departure, as his contract would not be renewed.

Sixth spell at Fluminense

On 3 April 2025, Renato was appointed head coach of Fluminense, signing a contract until the end of the year; it was his seventh coaching spell at the club, the sixth as an official head coach.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

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

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Grêmio * Intercontinental Cup:

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

: 1985, 1986 Flamengo *

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian" or "Great Brazilian"), the Série A or the Brazilian Série A (to distinguish it from the I ...

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

* Supercopa Sudamericana (runner-up): 1993 Cruzeiro *

Supercopa Libertadores The Supercopa Libertadores (English: ''Libertadores Supercup''), also known as the Supercopa Sudamericana, Supercopa Libertadores João Havelange, Supercopa João Havelange or simply Supercopa, was a football club competition contested annually b ...

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

Campeonato Mineiro The Campeonato Mineiro is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. It is run by the Minas Gerais Football Federation (FMF). The history of Campeonato Mineiro can be divided into two parts: bef ...

: 1992 Fluminense *

: 1995 Brazil *

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

Individual * Intercontinental Cup – Man of the Match: 1983 *

Bola de Ouro The ''Bola de Ouro'' (Golden Ball) is an annual award given each year, since 1973, by Brazilian sports magazine '' Placar'' to the best player in the Campeonato Brasileiro. A group of sports journalists watch every match of the competition and ra ...

: 1987 * Bola de Prata: 1984, 1987, 1990, 1992, 1995 * South American Team of the Year: 1992

Manager

Fluminense *

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

Grêmio *

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

* Recopa Gaúcha: 2019,

Individual *

Best Manager: 2017 *

Best Manager: 2018, 2019 *

Head Coach of the month: June

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gaucho, Renato 1962 births Living people Footballers from Rio Grande do Sul Brazilian men's footballers Brazilian football managers Men's association football forwards Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Serie A players 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1983 Copa América players 1989 Copa América players 1991 Copa América players Brazilian people of Italian descent Brazil men's international footballers Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Copa América–winning players Copa Libertadores–winning players Copa Libertadores–winning managers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A managers Campeonato Brasileiro Série B managers Grêmio FBPA players CR Flamengo footballers AS Roma players Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas players Cruzeiro Esporte Clube players Clube Atlético Mineiro players Fluminense FC players Bangu Atlético Clube players Madureira Esporte Clube managers Fluminense FC managers CR Vasco da Gama managers Esporte Clube Bahia managers Grêmio FBPA managers Club Athletico Paranaense managers People from Bento Gonçalves, Rio Grande do Sul 20th-century Brazilian sportsmen Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Italy