Otto Glória

Lore & Background

Glória was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but had his greatest successes with Benfica in Portugal, guiding the club to nine national trophies. With the Nigeria national team he won the 1980 African Cup of Nations. In his first period with Benfica, the club was transformed to professional standards. Supported by president Joaquim Ferreira Bogalho, Glória founded a home for the players and focused on recruiting players from the periphery of the Portuguese capital and also from the African overseas provinces.

In these years, between 1954 and 1959, the club won two league titles and three Portuguese Cups, and in European competition, they reached the Latin Cup final in 1957, losing 1–0 to Alfredo di Stéfano's Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu. In February 1962 he took the reins of Olympique Marseille. The club was then stuck in the second division and saw its aspirations to return to the first division endangered. In his four months with the club he did not lose a single match and achieved its objective.

In his second tenure with Benfica he had continuous success on the national level, winning two more championships and cups. He also led the club into the final of the 1967–68 European Cup in London against Manchester United, which was lost 1–4. At the 1966 FIFA World Cup in England he led the Portugal national team, pushed by Eusébio's goals (the tournament's top scorer), to a historical third place. In the process Portugal inflicted a 1–3 defeat on Glória's home country Brazil.

In 1979, he became runner-up with CR Vasco da Gama of Rio de Janeiro in the Brazilian championship, losing in the final 1–2 against SC Internacional Porto Alegre, which remained undefeated throughout the competition. In the following year, he guided Nigeria through the 1980 African Nations Cup, which the team won in the final in Lagos with 3–0 against Algeria, and the Olympics in 1980 in Moscow. He left this position after poor performances at the 1982 campaign in Libya.

Glória coached Portugal, in 1982, in qualifying matches for UEFA Euro 1984, but resigned after a 0–4 defeat in a friendly match against Brazil the following year.

Reader's Guide

Glória's managerial honours according to the source: Benfica – Primeira Liga: 1954–55, 1956–57, 1967–68, 1968–69; Taça de Portugal: 1954–55, 1956–57, 1968–69. Sporting CP – Primeira Liga: 1961–62, 1965–66. Belenenses – Taça de Portugal: 1959–60. Portuguesa – Campeonato Paulista: 1973. International: Portugal – FIFA World Cup Third place 1966; Nigeria – African Nations Cup 1980.