João António Ferreira Resende Alves (born 5 December 1952) is a Portuguese

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 and former player. A skilled

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, he was considered one of the best Portuguese players of his generation, and earned the nickname ''Luvas Pretas'' from the black gloves he used to wear while playing following in the style of his grandfather Carlos Alves. During his career he represented mainly, with equal individual and team success, Benfica and Boavista, also coaching the latter club on three separate occasions.

Playing career

Club

Born in Albergaria-a-Velha,

Aveiro District Aveiro District (, ) is located in the central coastal region of Portugal. The capital of the district is the city of Aveiro, which also serves as the seat of Aveiro Municipality. Aveiro District is bordered by the Porto District to the north, ...

, Alves started playing at youth level for A.D. Sanjoanense, being recruited in 1969 by S.L. Benfica. His first professional team was Varzim S.C. in the 1972–73 season followed by C.D. Montijo, the latter being his

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

experience. Alves moved to his first major club, Boavista FC, for the 1974–75 campaign, where he first showed more of his talent, earning him a transfer to Spain's

UD Salamanca Unión Deportiva Salamanca, S.A.D. () was a historical Spanish football team based in Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 February 1923 and nicknamed ''Los Charros'', the club played in white shirts and black ...

where he remained two more years. He then returned to Portugal and Benfica, only to move after one year to

Paris Saint-Germain FC Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

. Failing to impress in France, Alves immediately moved back to the Estádio da Luz, where he would play for the next three seasons. He then re-joined Boavista, ending his career during 1984–85 at the age of 32 to become the latter team's coach. Alves won two national championships for Benfica (1981 and 1983) and four Portuguese Cups (two for Boavista, in 1975 and 1976, and two with the former side, in 1981 and 1983). He also played for them in the 1982–83

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

, losing on aggregate to R.S.C. Anderlecht of

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

International

Alves won 36

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for

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

(11 for Boavista, eight for Salamanca and 17 for Benfica), scoring three goals. His debut took place on 13 November 1974 in a 0–3 friendly loss to

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, and his final match was on 27 April 1983, in a 0–5 loss against the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

for the

UEFA Euro 1984 The 1984 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in France from 12 to 27 June 1984. It was the seventh UEFA European Championship, a competition held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. At the time, only eight countries ...

qualifiers.

Coaching career

Alves became a coach after finishing his player career, managing Boavista on three separate occasions, C.F. Estrela da Amadora (leading the

Amadora Amadora (), officially Amadora City (), is a List of cities in Portugal, city and concelho, municipality in the northwest of the Lisbon metropolitan area and 10 km from central Lisbon. The population in 2011 was 175,136, in an area of 23.78&nb ...

team to an historical 1990 Cup of Portugal triumph), Vitória de Guimarães,

C.F. Os Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses (), commonly known as Os Belenenses or simply Belenenses, is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 19,856 ...

, Salamanca, S.C. Campomaiorense,

S.C. Farense Sporting Clube Farense, simply known as Farense, is a Portuguese professional association football, football club based in Faro, Portugal, Faro in the Faro District, district of the same name and the region of Algarve. Founded in 1910, the club ha ...

, Académica de Coimbra and Leixões SC. In 1996–97, he was one of three managers as former side Salamanca returned to

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

after a second-place finish. After three years out of coaching, he returned to Benfica in 2007, to be in charge of its under-18 team. Two years later he returned to senior football, signing with

Servette FC Servette FC is a Swiss professional Association football, football club based in Geneva, founded in March 1890 with rugby as its first sporting activity, and named after the Geneva district of the same name. The football section was created on ...

and achieving promotion to the

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

in his second season. On 28 November 2011, following

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup competition that has been organised annually since 1925–26 season by the Swiss Football Association. The Swiss Cup final is usually the most important game of the year with a high attendance. The co ...

elimination at the hands of

FC Biel-Bienne FC Biel-Bienne is a Swiss association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball ...

(0–3 away loss), Alves was relieved of his duties. However, following poor results achieved by his successor and the club's takeover by Hugh Quennec, he was reinstated as manager in April 2012: in the final five games of the campaign results improved, with the team achieving four wins and one draw – this included a 2–1 win over eventual champions

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss professional Association football, football club based in Basel, in the Basel-Stadt, Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been List of Swiss footba ...

, which ended Servette's streak of 17 consecutive defeats against that opponent as well as ending their 26-match unbeaten run – and the side eventually qualified for the UEFA Europa League. On 9 October 2018, after six years of inactivity, Alves returned for another spell as Académica coach, with the club now in the

LigaPro The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal Meu Super for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier ...

. He left at the end of the season, and came back to management on 9 January 2020 with C.D. Cova da Piedade, last-placed in the same league. They were relegated in May when the campaign was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, and he openly attacked the

Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional The Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (English: Portuguese Professional Football League), also known by its acronym LPFP, is a governing body that manages professional football club competitions in Portugal. It was founded in 1978 as Liga Po ...

for the decision.

Managerial statistics

{, class="wikitable" style="text-align: center" , - !rowspan=2, Team !rowspan=2, From !rowspan=2, To !colspan=8, Record , - ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! , - , Boavista , August 1990 , November 1990 , - , Estrela Amadora , July 1988 , June 1990 , - , Boavista , August 1990 , November 1990 , - ,

Vitória Guimarães Vitoria or Vitória may refer to: People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Sofia Vitória (bor ...

, January 1991 , May 1992 , - , Estrela Amadora , July 1993 , May 1994 , - , Belenenses , October 1994 , May 1996 , - ,

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

, July 1996 , September 1996 , - , Boavista , November 1996 , 12 January 1997 , - , Campomaiorense , October 1997 , 29 November 1998 , - , Farense , February 1999 , January 2000 , - , Académica , December 2000 , 3 December 2002 , - , Estrela Amadora , 6 March 2003 , 11 November 2003 , - ,

Leixões The Port of Leixões (, ) is one of Portugal's major seaports, located 4 km north of the mouth of the Douro River, in Matosinhos municipality, near the city of Porto. Leixões Sport Club, commonly known simply as ''Leixões'', is Matosinh ...

, 5 November 2003 , 12 January 2004 , - , Servette , 7 October 2009 , 28 November 2011 , - , Servette , 25 April 2012 , 4 September 2012 , - ! colspan=3, Career totals

Honours

Player

Boavista *

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

: 1974–75, 1975–76 Benfica *

: 1980–81, 1982–83 *

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese association football, football match played since 1979 between the winners of the top-tier league (Primeira L ...

: 1980

Manager

Estrela da Amadora *

: 1989–90 * Segunda Liga: 1992–93

Individual

* Portuguese Footballer of the Year: 1975

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alves, Joao 1952 births Living people People from Albergaria-a-Velha Portuguese men's footballers 20th-century Portuguese sportsmen Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players S.L. Benfica footballers Varzim S.C. players C.D. Montijo players Boavista F.C. players La Liga players UD Salamanca players Ligue 1 players Paris Saint-Germain FC players Portugal men's international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in France Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in France Portuguese football managers Primeira Liga managers Liga Portugal 2 managers Boavista F.C. managers C.F. Estrela da Amadora managers Vitória S.C. managers C.F. Os Belenenses managers S.C. Campomaiorense managers S.C. Farense managers Académica de Coimbra (football) managers Leixões S.C. managers Segunda División managers UD Salamanca managers Servette FC managers Portuguese expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Spain Expatriate football managers in Switzerland Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Footballers from Aveiro District Portuguese association football commentators