Wagner Augusto Lopes[1] (呂比須 ワグナー,Ropesu Wagunā; born 29 January 1969) is afootballcoach ofLuverdense and former player who played as aforward.
Born in Brazil, Lopes is a naturalised Japanese citizen and representedtheir national team on 20 occasions. After retiring he took up coaching mainly working in both his home and footballing countries.
Lopes moved toHitachi (laterKashiwa Reysol) in 1990. In 1992, Japan Soccer League was folded and the club joined the newJapan Football League (JFL). The club won 2nd place in 1994 and secured promotion to theJ1 League.
In 1994, after Kashiwa signedMüller, Lopes left the club. He joined JFL clubHonda in 1995 where he was top scorer for two consecutive seasons (1995-1996). He moved to J1 League clubBellmare Hiratsuka in 1997, playing withHidetoshi Nakata and scoring regularly. However, he left the club end of 1998 season due to financial strain and moved toNagoya Grampus Eight, winning the1999 Emperor's Cup.
Toward the end of his career, Lopes played forFC Tokyo (2001) andAvispa Fukuoka (2001–02). He retired at the end of the 2002 season.
In September 1997, Lopes obtained Japanese citizenship. Immediately after this, he was called up to theJapan national team for the1998 World Cup qualifiers. On 28 September, he made his national team debut againstSouth Korea.
Lopes went on to play six games and scored three goals to help Japan qualify for their first-everFIFA World Cup. At the 1998 World Cup, he played all three matches, assistingMasashi Nakayama in Japan's first-ever World Cup goal againstJamaica. He also played at the1999 Copa America and scored twice.
Lopes played 20 games and scored five goals for Japan until 1999.[2]
Lopes started his career asVágner Mancini's assistant atPaulista in 2005, helping the club win their first-ever national title, the2005 Copa do Brasil. He left the club in 2007 due to health problems, but returned in December 2009. Initially an interim for the 2010 season, he was definitely appointed manager on 23 February.[3] In May, he resigned and was subsequently appointed manager ofPão de Açúcar Esporte Clube.[4]
Lopes returned to Paulista in 2011, winning the year'sCopa Paulista before returning to Japan and being namedGamba Osaka's assistant manager in 2012. In October 2012, he was presented as manager ofComercial-SP manager for the ensuing campaign.[5] In that season, he also managedSão Bernardo.[6]
.jpg)
