Carlos Alberto Gomes Parreira (born 27 February 1943) is a Brazilian former footballmanager who holds the record for attending the mostFIFA World Cup final tournaments as manager with six appearances. He also managed five different national teams in five editions of the FIFA World Cup. He managedBrazil to victory at the1994 World Cup, the2004 Copa América, and the2005 Confederations Cup. He is also the only manager to have led two different Asian teams to conquer theAFC Asian Cup.

Carlos Alberto Parreira

Parreira as manager ofSouth Africa in 2010
Personal information
Full name	Carlos Alberto Gomes Parreira
Date of birth	(1943-02-27)27 February 1943 (age 82)
Place of birth	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Managerial career
Years	Team
1967–1968	Ghana
1974	Fluminense
1975	Fluminense
1978–1982	Kuwait
1983	Brazil
1984	Fluminense
1985–1988	United Arab Emirates
1988–1990	Saudi Arabia
1990–1991	United Arab Emirates
1991	Bragantino
1991–1994	Brazil
1994–1995	Valencia
1995–1996	Fenerbahçe
1996	São Paulo
1997	MetroStars
1998	Saudi Arabia
1999–2000	Fluminense
2000	Atlético Mineiro
2000	Santos
2001	Internacional
2002	Corinthians
2003–2006	Brazil
2007–2008	South Africa
2009	Fluminense
2009–2010	South Africa
Medal record Men'sfootball Representing Brazil (as manager) FIFA World Cup Winner 1994 USA Copa América Winner 2004 Peru FIFA Confederations Cup Winner 2005 Germany Lunar New Year Cup Winner 2005 Hong Kong Representing Kuwait (as manager) AFC Asian Cup Winner 1980 Kuwait Arabian Gulf Cup Winner 1982 UAE Representing Saudi Arabia (as manager) AFC Asian Cup Winner 1988 Qatar Representing South Africa (as manager) COSAFA Cup Winner 2007 South Africa

He last managed theSouth Africa national football team.

Parreira is one of the most successful managers to have never played football himself.

Parreira supportsFluminense, and he has won two league titles for the club: The First DivisionBrazilian 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^{[citation needed]}.

Parreira is one of two coaches that has led five national teams to theWorld Cup:Kuwait in1982,United Arab Emirates in1990, Brazil in1994 and2006,Saudi Arabia in1998 andSouth Africa in2010. The other coach,Bora Milutinović, reached this record when he led a fifth team in 2002. Parreira was also involved with the1970 championship team for Brazil, which he claims was an inspiration for him to aspire to be a national football coach.

In 1997, Parreira coached theMetroStars of theAmericanMajor League Soccer. He also coachedFenerbahçe in Turkey and won a Turkish League Championship. Parreira was in charge ofCorinthians in 2002, which gave him two of the most important national trophies of 2002: TheBrazilian Cup and theTorneio Rio-São Paulo, besides being runner up at theBrazilian League.

When coaching Saudi Arabia at the1998 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 firingVanderlei 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 replaceLuiz Felipe Scolari for Parreira in July 2001 when Brazil lost two matches toMexico andHonduras in its title defense at the2001 Copa América inColombia, especially after last minute invitee (replacingArgentina who dropped out one day before the kickoff) Honduras defeated 2–0 and eliminated the favoriteBrazil in quarter finals round on July 23, 2001. Parreira only stated that he would indirectly assist Scolari in the 2002 campaign. After the2002 World Cup, Parreira took part in drafting a technical report of the tournament. He was named coach along withMario Zagallo as assistant director in January 2003, with the goal of defending their World Cup title inGermany 2006, but on July 1, 2006, Brazil was defeated and eliminated 0–1 byFrance in the quarterfinals.

After Brazil's exit from the World Cup, Parreira was heavily criticized by the Brazilian public and media for playing an outdated brand of football and not using the players available to him properly. Parreira subsequently resigned on July 19, 2006. He coachedBrazil to victory in the1994 FIFA World Cup and was the coach of theSouth Africa national football team^[1] until resigning in April 2008.^[2] On October 22, 2009, it was announced he would return as head coach of South Africa. He announced a verbal agreement with theSouth African Football Association on October 23, 2009.^[3]

He resumed coaching South Africa in 2009 in time for the2010 World Cup. In South Africa, his team drew with Mexico, 1–1, in the tournament opener, lost to Uruguay, 3–0, and beat France, 2–1, to finish third in Group A. After the France game, he tried to shake hands with French coachRaymond Domenech but the latter refused.^[4]

On 25 June 2010 he announced his retirement as football coach.^[5]

As of 26 September 2023

• São Cristóvão (1967)
• Vasco da Gama (1969)
• Brazil (1970)
• Fluminense (1970–1974)

• Brazil (Olympic Team) (1972)
• Kuwait (1976–1977)

Parreira has coached national squads in 23 games inFIFA World Cup finals. Parreira's coaching record is 10–4–9 (Wins-Draws-Losses). His teams have scored 28 goals and conceded 32. Below is a list of all matches, along with their outcomes:

Fluminense

• Série A:1984
• Série C:1999

Fenerbahçe

• Süper Lig:1995–96

Corinthians

• Torneio Rio – São Paulo: 2002
• Copa do Brasil:2002

Kuwait

• Arabian Gulf Cup:1982
• AFC Asian Cup:1980

Brazil

• Amistad Cup: 1992
• FIFA World Cup:1994
• Copa América:2004
• FIFA Confederations Cup:2005
• Lunar New Year Cup:2005

Saudi Arabia

• AFC Asian Cup:1988

South Africa

• COSAFA Cup:2007

• World Soccer Magazine World Manager of the Year: 1994
• IFFHS World's Best National Coach: 2005^[6]

• List of Brazil national football team managers