Carlos Alberto Parreira

Lore & Background

Parreira supports Fluminense, and he has won two league titles for the club: The First Division Brazilian Championship in 1984 and the Third Division in 1999. About the latter title, Parreira has said that this was personally the most important trophy of his career, even more so than Brazil's World Cup triumph, as the club he loved was facing near-bankruptcy and became very close to extinction at the time. Parreira is one of two coaches that has led five national teams to the World Cup: Kuwait in 1982, United Arab Emirates in 1990, Brazil in 1994 and 2006, Saudi Arabia in 1998 and South Africa in 2010. The other coach, Bora Milutinović, reached this record when he led a fifth team in 2002. Parreira was also involved with the 1970 championship team for Brazil, which he claims was an inspiration for him to aspire to be a national football coach. In 1997, Parreira coached the MetroStars of the American Major League Soccer. He also coached Fenerbahçe in Turkey and won a Turkish League Championship. Parreira was in charge of Corinthians in 2002, which gave him two of the most important national trophies of 2002: The Brazilian Cup and the Torneio Rio-São Paulo, besides being runner up at the Brazilian League. When coaching Saudi Arabia at the 1998 World Cup in France, he was fired after two matches, one of three managers to be sacked during the tournament. Parreira repeatedly turned down offers to coach Brazil again between 1998 and 2002 World Cups. In end of 2000, when the team was in turmoil after firing Vanderlei Luxemburgo, he refused the post, stating that he did not want to relive the stress and pressure of winning the World Cup again. There were public cries again to replace Luiz Felipe Scolari for Parreira in July 2001 when Brazil lost two matches to Mexico and Honduras in its title defense at the 2001 Copa América in Colombia, especially after last minute invitee (replacing Argentina who dropped out one day before the kickoff) Honduras defeated 2–0 and eliminated the favorite Brazil in quarter finals round on July 23, 2001. Parreira only stated that he would indirectly assist Scolari in the 2002 campaign. After the 2002 World Cup, Parreira took part in drafting a technical report of the tournament. He was named coach along with Mario Zagallo as assistant director in January 2003, with the goal of defending their World Cup title in Germany 2006, but on Jul

In Their Own Story

The locker room in Pasadena, 1994, smells of deep heat and nervous sweat. Parreira stands at the whiteboard, marker in hand, drawing the Italian defensive shape for the fourteenth time. Around him, Taffarel laces his gloves with trembling fingers; Romário bounces a ball against the bench, muttering a prayer. Parreira caps the marker, turns to the room, and says only: "We do not play their game. We play the space they leave us." The silence that follows is not fear. It is the particular quiet of men who have been given a blueprint and now trust the architect. Outside, the Pasadena sun bleaches the concrete. In four days, that whiteboard diagram will be worth a nation's summer.

Reader's Guide

In contrast to other previous more offensive-minded managers of the Brazil national team, who were inspired by Brazil's tradition of 'jogo bonito' and 'futebol arte,' but who had not won the World Cup since 1970, Parreira was instead known for his more pragmatic and physical attitude as a coach, with a focus on defensive stability. During the team's victorious 1994 World Cup campaign, he used a 4–4–2 formation, with a strong back-line, and two defensive midfielders – Mauro Silva and Dunga – who won back the ball and distributed it to other players, helping his team control possession. He also fielded Mazinho – normally a full-back – as a winger. While Parreira was praised by pundits for his success with the Brazil national team, his tactical intelligence, and his hard-working approach as a manager, the atypically less spectacular gameplay of the Brazil national side under his tenure was also criticised in the press. Due to Dunga's key role as captain and the starting holding midfielder in the team, this period came to be known derisively as the 'Dunga Era' in the media.

Did You Know?

• Parreira is one of the most successful managers to have never played football himself.
• He is the only manager to have led two different Asian teams to conquer the AFC Asian Cup.
• Parreira was fired after two matches when coaching Saudi Arabia at the 1998 World Cup.
• He considers the 1999 Third Division title with Fluminense as personally the most important trophy of his career, even more so than Brazil's World Cup triumph.