Luís Alonso Pérez, also known as Lula (1 March 1922 – 15 June 1972), was 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 ...

, notably managing Santos from 1954 to 1966. Lula is known as one of the most successful Brazilian football managers.

Career

Born in

Santos, São Paulo Santos (, ''Saints''), officially Municipality of Estância Balneária de Santos, is a city and Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the Brazilian States of Brazil, state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo, founded in 1546 by the Portuguese n ...

, Lula worked as a

taxicab A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a Driving, driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of thei ...

, a

baker A baker is a tradesperson who baking, bakes and sometimes Sales, sells breads and other products made of flour by using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery. History Ancient histo ...

and a

milkman Milk delivery is a Delivery (commerce), delivery service dedicated to supplying milk, typically in milk bottle, bottles or cartons, to customers' homes. This service is performed by a milkman, milkwoman, or milk deliverer. (In contrast, a Cowman ...

. He started to work as a manager with amateur clubs in his hometown, Palmeirinha and Americana. He subsequently joined

Portuguesa Santista Portuguesa is a Portuguese language, Portuguese, Catalan language, Catalan, and Spanish language, Spanish feminine adjective meaning "Portuguese". It may also refer to: Places *Portuguesa (state), one of the 23 states of Venezuela *Portuguesa (Ri ...

, in charge of the club's youth setup. In January 1949, Lula signed his first contract with

Santos FC Santos Futebol Clube () is a Brazilian sports club based in Vila Belmiro, a ''bairro'' in the city of Santos, São Paulo, Santos. It plays in the Campeonato Paulista, the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo's premier State football lea ...

, being the subdirector of the club's amateur sides. On 13 May 1952, he was named in charge of the club's youth teams. Lula acted as an interim manager for two matches in 1952, as Aymoré Moreira was in charge of the São Paulo official team. He later became Moreira's assistant while he was also in charge of the club's amateur sides, and on 2 June 1954, he replaced Italian Giuseppe Ottina as the first team manager. Lula's first match in charge occurred three days later, a 3–2 win against

Botafogo Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood (''bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of M ...

at the

Maracanã Stadium Maracanã Stadium (, ; named after the Maracanã River), officially known as Jornalista Mário Filho Stadium (, ; , named after Mário Filho), is an association football stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Located in the Maracanã neighbor ...

. He led the club to the following year's

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. Run by the São Paulo State Football Federation (FPF), ...

title, after a 20-year drought. Lula was often described as the responsible for bringing together the team who was known as ''

Os Santásticos ''Os Santásticos'' (, ''The Santastics'') is the nickname for the group of Santos Futebol Clube players coached by Lula and Antoninho that won a total of 25 titles between 1959 and 1974, including two Copa Libertadores. The group is conside ...

''; he made

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; 23 October 1940 – 29 December 2022), better known by his nickname Pelé (), was a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Widely reg ...

a regular starter from 1957, promoted Pagão and Pepe from the youth setup, brought Coutinho from lowly

XV de Piracicaba Esporte Clube XV de Novembro, commonly referred to as XV de Piracicaba, is a professional association football club based in Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil. The club competes in the Série D, the fourth tier of the Brazilian football league sys ...

and approved

Dorval Dorval (; ) is an Greater Montreal, on-island suburban City (Quebec), city on the island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. In 2016, the Canadian Census indicated that the population increased by 4.2% to 18,980. Although the city has t ...

on a trial, after the latter was rejected by a number of clubs. In the 1960s, the club signed Calvet,

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

, Mengálvio and Zito, all recommended by the manager. Lula left ''Peixe'' in the end of the 1966 season; although it is mainly attributed to the club's second place in the

Taça Brasil The Taça Brasil () was the Brazilian national football championship contested from 1959 to 1968. Bahia, Cruzeiro and Botafogo were the only champions to have played all phases of the tournament, because until the 1968 edition teams from Rio de ...

, some reported altercations with Pelé are also attributed to the manager's departure. He left the club after 945 matches in charge, with 619 wins, 144 draws and 182 defeats. In 1967, Lula took over Portuguesa Santista before being appointed manager of

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians () is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author, Sosthenes, and is addressed to the Christian church in C ...

in November of that year. In charge for only 35 matches with the latter club, he helped the side to defeat former club Santos on 6 March 1968, ending an 11-year hoodoo. Lula later worked for Portuguesa and

Santo André Santo ('saint' in various languages) may refer to: People * Santo (given name) * Santo (surname) * El Santo, Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta (1917–1984), Mexican wrestler and actor * Bob Santo or Santo, stage name of Ghanaian comedian John Evans Kwad ...

in the early 1970s.

Death

Lula died on 15 June 1972, having a generalized

infection An infection is the invasion of tissue (biology), tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host (biology), host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmis ...

due to a

kidney In humans, the kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped blood-filtering organ (anatomy), organs that are a multilobar, multipapillary form of mammalian kidneys, usually without signs of external lobulation. They are located on the left and rig ...

transplant, worsened due to his

hypertension Hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, is a Chronic condition, long-term Disease, medical condition in which the blood pressure in the artery, arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms i ...

Managerial statistics

Honours

;Santos *

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

: 1955, 1956, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965 * Intercontinental Cup:

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

* Torneio Rio-São Paulo: 1959, 1963, 1964, 1966

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lula 1922 births 1972 deaths Footballers from Santos, São Paulo Brazilian people of Spanish descent Brazilian football managers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A managers Santos FC managers Sport Club Corinthians Paulista managers Associação Atlética Portuguesa (Santos) managers Associação Portuguesa de Desportos managers Esporte Clube Santo André managers Copa Libertadores–winning managers