Cláudio Pêcego de Moraes Coutinho (5 January 1939 – 27 November 1981) was a Brazilian

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

who coached

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

from 1977 to 1980 and

Los Angeles Aztecs The Los Angeles Aztecs were an American professional soccer team based in Los Angeles, California, that existed from 1974 to 1981. The Aztecs competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1974 North American Soccer League season, 1974 ...

in 1981. He died as a result of a scuba diving accident at

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

Military career

Born in the small town of Dom Pedrito in Rio Grande do Sul on the border with Uruguay, Coutinho moved to Rio de Janeiro when he was four years old. Living in Rio, Coutinho joined the Military School, and would ultimately reach the rank of Captain of Artillery. On the other hand, he also showed great interest to the sports area, graduating from the School of Physical Education of the Army. In 1968, he was chosen to represent their school in a World Congress, held in the United States. There he met American professor Kenneth H. Cooper, founder of the Cooper test. Invited by Cooper, Coutinho attended the

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

Human Stress Laboratory.

Sports career

In 1970 Coutinho was appointed as physical fitness coach for the Brazilian team in preparation for the

1970 FIFA World Cup The 1970 FIFA World Cup was the 9th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's senior national teams. Held from 31 May to ...

in Mexico; it was during this time that Coutinho introduced the Cooper method to the Brazilian team. After the competition, he would become supervisor for the Peru national football team, technical coordinator of Brazil's World Cup team in 1974, the French team

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; , ), also known simply as Marseille, or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional Association football, football club based in Marseille which competes in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top f ...

and the Brazilian Olympic Team, taking it to fourth place in the

1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...

. In the same year, he became head coach of Flamengo. Coutinho's relatively good performance in these roles, and his history with the Brazilian Confederation of Sports, gave him the credentials to be a substitute for Osvaldo Brandão within the Brazilian National Soccer Team, and he would eventually apply for the vacant head coach position in anticipation the

1978 FIFA World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It wa ...

in Argentina. His selection caused some surprise, as he was considered inexperienced for the job. Soon he took command, and tried to implement his own philosophy. The failure of the

1974 World Cup The 1974 FIFA World Cup was the 10th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in West Germany (and West Berlin) between 13 June and 7 July. The tournament marked the ...

team, together with other factors, led many to conclude that the Brazilian method of play, based on individualism and star players, was outdated and that the important thing was now the European model, where players worked together like cogs in a machine. Coutinho attempted to implement a style modelled on the Total Football philosophy used by Rinus Michels' Dutch national side, who knocked Brazil out of the 1974 tournament with a 2–0 victory in the second group stage. Coutinho joined

as manager in 1981.

Death

At the end of the 1981 season, Coutinho was on vacation in Rio de Janeiro, before leaving to take a position in Saudi Arabia. An expert diver, Coutinho was diving near the Ilhas Cagarras, an archipelago near Ipanema Beach, when he drowned at age 42.

References

External links

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COUTINHO Site1
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COUTINHO Site2

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coutinho, Claudio 1939 births 1981 deaths Sportspeople from Rio Grande do Sul Brazilian football managers Brazilian expatriate football managers Brazil national football team managers Club Universitario de Deportes managers 1978 FIFA World Cup managers 1979 Copa América managers CR Flamengo managers North American Soccer League (1968–1984) head coaches Expatriate soccer coaches in the United States Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Accidental deaths in Brazil Underwater diving deaths Campeonato Brasileiro Série A managers 20th-century Brazilian military personnel People from Dom Pedrito