Manuel da Luz Afonso (

Loulé Loulé () is a city and Concelho, municipality in the region of Algarve, Faro District, district of Faro, Portugal. In 2021, the population of the entire municipality was 72,373 inhabitants, in an area of approximately . The municipality has two p ...

, 31 January 1917 – 15 October 2000) was a

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

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 ...

. He was the head of the football department of Benfica, during their 1960s Golden Era, until 1964 when he was called to work for the

Portugal national football team The Portugal national football team () has represented Portugal in men's international Association football, football competitions since 1921. The national team is controlled by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF), the governing body for ...

as ''seleccionador'' ("the selector"), with

Otto Glória Otto Martins Glória (9 January 1917 – 4 September 1986) was a Brazilian football coach. Career Glória was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but had his greatest successes with Benfica in Portugal, guiding the club to nine national trophies. ...

as the coach. That meant that Afonso would be choosing the players but would not be the coach in charge of the squad. They took over on 15 November 1964, with a 2–1 win over

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, in a friendly match. It was a promising start to the successful campaign Portugal had in the lead up to the

1966 FIFA World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 to 30 July 1966. England defeated West Germany 4–2 in the 1966 FI ...

finals, in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Portugal qualified for the first time, eliminating the world vice-champions

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

. Portugal went on to reach the third place at the World Cup finals. Manuel da Luz Afonso left the National Team following the 1–2 loss to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, on 13 November 1966, in a

European Championship A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

qualifier. He left the Portugal national squad after 20 matches, with 15 wins, 2 ties and 3 defeats, still the best record ever for his country.

External links

Manuel da Luz Afonso Profile (Portuguese)
1917 births 2000 deaths Portuguese football managers Portugal national football team managers {{Portugal-footy-bio-stub