Luiz Júnior de Souza Lopes (born 8 October 1981), known as Luizinho Lopes, is a Brazilian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and former player who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He is the current head coach of Vila Nova.

Career

Born in

Pau dos Ferros Pau dos Ferros is a Brazilian municipality in the interior of the state of Rio Grande do Norte, in the Northeast Region of Brazil. Covering an area of 260 km², it is located 389 km from Natal, the state capital. Emancipated from Portalegre in ...

Rio Grande do Norte Rio Grande do Norte (, , ) is one of the states of Brazil. It is located in the northeastern region of the country, forming the northeasternmost tip of the South American continent. The name literally translates as "Great Northern River", refe ...

, Lopes was an

América de Natal The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

youth graduate, and went on to feature in the first team squad for three years before leaving. He subsequently represented Santa Cruz de Natal,

Paulista Paulista is a municipality in Pernambuco, Brazil, with a population of 334,376 as of 2020. It has the highest Human Development Index (HDI) of the Recife metropolitan area. It is the birthplace of footballer Rivaldo and is also famous for its be ...

and Chapecoense before retiring in 2008 at the age of 27, due to injuries. After retiring, Lopes was an under-20 coach at his first club América, and later worked as an assistant of

Leandro Sena Leandro Ribeiro Sena (born 8 August 1976), is a Brazilian football coach and former player who played as a defensive midfielder. He is the current head coach of União Rondonópolis. Club career statistics Honours Player ; América de Na ...

Treze Treze Futebol Clube is a Brazilian football team from Campina Grande in Paraíba, founded on 7 September 1925. Historically, the club has competed in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A several times. Recently, the club has competed only in low ...

and Roberto Fernandes at

Remo Remo Inc. is an American musical instruments manufacturing company based in Valencia, California, and founded by Remo Belli in 1957. Products manufactured include drum kits, drumheads, drums, and drum hardware, hardware, and various percussio ...

in the 2014 season. He returned to América in 2015, now as an assistant, before being named head coach of Globo FC on 30 March 2016. Lopes led Globo to a first-ever promotion to the Série C in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, but asked to leave the club on 9 February 2018. Eleven days later, he took over fellow third division side Confiança, but was sacked on 24 July. Lopes returned to América on 20 September 2018, after being presented as head coach of the club for the 2019 season. Dismissed the following 1 February, he was named at the helm of

on 26 June 2019, but was relieved from his duties on 18 July. On 17 February 2020, Lopes was named head coach of

Uberlândia Uberlândia () is a city and municipality in the state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil. It is the second largest city in the state of Minas Gerais after the state capital Belo Horizonte. Its population in 2020 was 699,097, making it the si ...

, but left the club on 12 August to take over Manaus FC in the third tier. He left the club on 1 December, but returned on 11 March 2021, replacing Luizinho Vieira. Despite winning the 2021

Campeonato Amazonense The Campeonato Amazonense de Futebol, also commonly known as the Barezão, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that r ...

, Lopes resigned from Manaus on 24 May of that year, and was named Jacuipense head coach on 2 August. He also resigned from the latter 21 days later, after just two matches, and returned to Confiança just hours later, with the side now in the Série B. On 24 November 2021, despite the club's

relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

, Lopes renewed his contract with Confiança for a further year, but was sacked on 13 April 2022. On 11 November, he was appointed at the helm of Brusque for the upcoming campaign. Lopes won the 2023

Recopa Catarinense The Recopa Catarinense (), is a super cup tournament organized by the FCF reuniting the winners of Campeonato Catarinense and Copa Santa Catarina The Copa Santa Catarina () is a tournament organized by the Santa Catarina State Football Federat ...

with Brusque, also reaching the

2023 Campeonato Catarinense The 2023 Campeonato Catarinense (officially the Catarinense Fort Atacadista 2023 for sponsorship reasons) is the 98th season of Santa Catarina's top-flight football league organized by FCF. The season began on 14 January and ended on 8 April 202 ...

finals and achieving promotion from the 2023 Série C. On 30 October of that year, he signed a new one-year deal. Lopes was sacked by the ''Quadricolor'' on 20 May 2024, following a 4–0 loss to

Santos Santos may refer to: People *Santos (surname) * Santos Balmori Picazo (1899–1992), Spanish-Mexican painter * Santos Benavides (1823–1891), Confederate general in the American Civil War Places *Santos, São Paulo, a municipality in São Paulo ...

. Three days later, he replaced Márcio Fernandes at the helm of fellow second division side Vila Nova, but was also dismissed on 20 October. On 10 February 2025, Lopes was announced as head coach of Paysandu, again replacing Fernandes. He won the 2025 Copa Verde on penalties, but was sacked on 2 June, and returned to Vila nine days later.

Honours

Coach

Manaus *

: 2021 Brusque *

: 2023 Paysandu *

Copa Verde The Copa Verde () is an annual regional knockout football competition in Brazil that started in 2014, and played by 24 teams from the North and Central-West regions, plus Espírito Santo (Espírito Santo state was included because they competed ...

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lopes, Luizinho 1981 births Living people Footballers from Rio Grande do Norte Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders América Futebol Clube (RN) players Brazilian football managers Campeonato Brasileiro Série C managers Campeonato Brasileiro Série D managers Associação Desportiva Confiança managers América Futebol Clube (RN) managers Treze Futebol Clube managers Uberlândia Esporte Clube managers Manaus Futebol Clube managers Esporte Clube Jacuipense managers Brusque Futebol Clube managers Vila Nova Futebol Clube managers Paysandu Sport Club managers 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen