Carlos Alberto Parreira

«Football in Brazil
«Brazilian Players
«Brazil in the World Cups
«Germany World Cup 2006 BLOG

Name: Carlos Alberto Gomes Parreira
Date of birth: February 27th 1943, in Rio de Janeiro.

Coach of the Brazilian team. The word in Portuguese for coach is técnico.
Parreira has a major in Physical Education. Parreia has never been a professional football player.
He started his career as physical trainer of a small club in Rio de Janeiro called São Cristóvão, in 1967, right after finishing college; in 1968, he went to Ghana, to coach the National Team, as a means to gain experience and saving some money.

In the 1970 World Cup, he was one of the physical trainers of the Brazilian team (that year, the chief physical trainer was Admildo Chirol; besides Parreira, the physical crew had also Cláudio Coutinho, who would be the coach of the Brazilian team in the 1978 World Cup). It dates back to those years the strong friendship between Parreira and Zagallo, who was the coach of the team in 1970, and assistant coach of Parreira in the Cups of 1994 and 2006.

After being champion in 1970, Parreira took a position as physical trainer in Fluminense, from 1970 to 1974; in 1972, he was assistant coach of the Brazilian team in the Munich Olympic Games; in 1975, he became coach of the same team, his first experience coaching a major Brazilian team.
From 1976 to 1982, Parreira had a successful experience coaching the National Team of Kuwait, where he was champion of the Asian Cup.

In 1983, Parreira became coach of the Brazilian team for the first time. At the time, Brazil was looking for a substitute to Telê Santana, who had commanded the team in the 1982 Cup. The style of Parreira didn't please the Brazilian fans, who asked for the return of Telê to coach the team again in 1986.

Parreira then returned to the Middle East, this time to coach the teams of the United Arab Emirates (1985 - 1988) and Saudi Arabia, which he managed to qualify for the World Cup in Italy.

In 1991, Parreira was doing a good job in Brazil (he led Bragantino, an obscure team of São Paulo, to the vice-championship of the Brazilian league) and was again invited to coach the Brazilian team. He invited his old friend Zagallo to be his assistant coach.
Parreira and Zagallo shared a common view: winning the title was more important than playing well (this was the opposite of Telê Santana, who lost the Cup in 1982 much because he wanted his team playing a good football; Telê died in April 2006, recognized as the best Brazilian coach ever); besides, since 1970 Brazil had not won a World Cup. This led Parreira to set up one of the most defensive Brazilian teams to ever play a World Cup; the way the team played never pleased the Brazilian fans, but Parreira fulfiled and won the Cup.

After 1994, Parreira said that he wanted to leave while at the peak. He said his mission was acomplished, and that he wouldn't coach the Brazilian team again.
He attempted an international career, but he was not very successful coaching Valencia, in Spain (1995), and Fenerbahce, in Turkey (1996).
Back to Brazil, Parreira had relative success in Fluminense and Corinthians (where he became vice-champion in 2002).

In 2002, after winning the Cup, the coach Luiz Felipe Scollari resigned from the Brazilian team, and signed with Portugal.
The Brazilian Confederation invited Parreira again, and he accepted. Asked about his promises in 1994 (not to coach Brazil again), Parreira said that, with such a good set of players, he could not turn down the invitation.
Since then, Parreira has collected victories. Again with Zagallo beside him, Parreira won the Qualifying for the World Cup, the America Cup 2004 and the Confederation Cup 2005.
The excellent pool of players has allowed Parreira to be a little more daring. However, Brazilians know that, with Parreira and Zagallo, the team will always be pragmatic.


Back to Top