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.
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.
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]
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 since1970, 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 a4–4–2 formation, with a strong back-line, and twodefensive midfielders –Mauro Silva andDunga – who won back the ball and distributed it to other players, helping his team control possession. He also fieldedMazinho – normally afull-back – as awinger. 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 ascaptain and the starting holding midfielder in the team, this period came to be known derisively as the "Dunga Era" in the media.[6][7][8][9][10][11]
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: