Maurício de Almeida Copertino (born 6 April 1970), known as Maurício Copertino, is a Brazilian professional

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 ...

coach and former player who played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. He is the current head coach of Santos' under-20 team.

Playing career

Born in Santos,

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, Copertino joined the youth categories of

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 ...

in 1984. He made his senior debut while on loan at Jabaquara in 1990, later serving another temporary spells at Tupã and Oeste before returning to his parent club for the 1993 season. In 1996, after another loan spell at Caxias, Copertino joined Coritiba. In 1997, after representing

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 ...

, he moved abroad and joined Saudi club Al-Ahli. Back to his home country in 1998, Copertino played for Ferroviária and

Inter de Limeira Inter may refer to: Association football clubs * Inter Milan, an Italian club * SC Internacional, a Brazilian club * Inter Miami CF, an American club * Inter Playa del Carmen, a Mexican club * FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club * FC Inter Turku, a F ...

before again moving abroad in the following year, with

Panachaiki Panachaiki G.E. (Greek: Παναχαϊκή Γυμναστική Ένωση, ''Panachaiki Gymnastiki Enosi'', "Pan- Achaean Gymnastic Union") is a Greek multi-sport club based in the city of Patras, Greece. The history of Panachaiki began in 1891, ...

in Greece. In 2003, Copertino signed for Chinese side Henan Construction. After a period at União São João, he announced his retirement on 10 December 2005, aged 35.

Coaching career

After retiring, Copertino went on to take his coaching licenses and was named head coach of Serrano in 2006, but was dismissed soon after. In 2007, he worked as an assistant of Nenê Belarmino at

Sertãozinho Sertãozinho is a Brazilian municipality in the state of São Paulo. The population in 2020 was about 127,142. Its area is 403 km2. The municipality consists of Sertãozinho city and two districts: Cruz das Posses and Vila Garcia. Sertãozi ...

and Botafogo-SP, before joining Alexandre Gallo's staff at Internacional in April of that year, under the same role. Copertino continued to work as Gallo's assistant in the following years, at Figueirense,

Atlético Mineiro Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico *Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy *Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic Cl ...

Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...

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 ...

, Náutico (two stints),

Al-Ain Al Ain () is a city in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and the seat of the administrative division of the Al Ain Region. The city is bordered to the east by the Omani town of Al-Buraimi. Al Ain is the largest inland city in ...

Avaí Avaí is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The population is 5,436 (2020 est.) in an area of 540 km2. Media In telecommunications, the city was served by Companhia Telefônica Brasileira until 1973, when it began to be serve ...

and the Brazil national under-20 team. In 2016, after a period as head coach of the under-20 team of Portuguesa, he joined

Vanderlei Luxemburgo Vanderlei Luxemburgo da Silva (born 10 May 1952) is a retired former Brazilian professional football coach and player. A left wingback, Luxemburgo represented Flamengo, Internacional and Botafogo before retiring in 1980. He subsequently be ...

's staff at Chinese side Tianjin Quanjian, also as an assistant. On 1 December 2016, Copertino was appointed manager of

China League One The Chinese Football League 1 (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (), is the second level of professional football in China, under the Chinese Super League. The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football Association ...

side Zhejiang Yiteng for the upcoming season. Sacked the following 28 May, he returned to Brazil and became an assistant of Preto Casagrande at Bahia, before being again named at the helm of Zhejiang on 2 January 2018. Again dismissed by the Chinese side on 24 September 2018, Copertino reunited with Luxemburgo in 2019, being his assistant at

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama ( , ; – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and nobleman who was the Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India, first European to reach India by sea. Da Gama's first voyage (1497–1499) was the first to link ...

. Another spells in the same role at

Palmeiras The Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional association football, football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes (district of São Paulo), Perdizes. Palmeiras is ...

and Cruzeiro followed, and he was later announced as head coach of

ASA Asa may refer to: People and fictional characters * Asa (given name), a given name, including a list of people and fictional characters so named * Asa people, an ethnic group based in Tanzania * Aṣa, Nigerian-French singer, songwriter, and reco ...

on 17 April 2022. On 17 May 2022, Copertino resigned from ASA after receiving an offer from the United Arab Emirates, later revealed to be the under-23 side of

Baniyas Baniyas ( ') is a Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coastal city in Tartous Governorate, western Syria, located south of Latakia and north of Tartous. It is known for its citrus fruit orchards and its export of wood. North of the city is an B ...

. In May 2023, he returned to Brazil and Corinthians, again as Luxemburgo's assistant. On 31 January 2024, Copertino was appointed head coach of Ferroviário. On 7 May, however, he was sacked after a 5–0 loss to São Bernardo. On 27 April 2025, Copertino returned to his first club Santos, as head coach of the under-20 team.

Career statistics

Coaching statistics

Honours

Player

Oeste *

Campeonato Paulista Série A3 Campeonato Paulista Série A3 is the third tier of the professional state football league in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is run by the São Paulo State Football Federation (FPF). The tournament has been known as Série A3 since the ...

: 1992

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Copertino, Mauricio 1970 births Living people Footballers from Santos, São Paulo Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players China League One players Santos FC players Jabaquara Atlético Clube players Tupã Futebol Clube players Oeste Futebol Clube players Sociedade Esportiva e Recreativa Caxias do Sul players Coritiba Foot Ball Club players Associação Atlética Portuguesa (Santos) players Associação Atlética Internacional (Limeira) players Panachaiki F.C. players Henan F.C. players União São João Esporte Clube players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in China Brazilian football managers China League One managers Campeonato Brasileiro Série C managers Campeonato Brasileiro Série D managers Serrano Football Club managers Agremiação Sportiva Arapiraquense managers Ferroviário Atlético Clube (CE) managers Brazilian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in China Sport Club Corinthians Paulista non-playing staff Santos FC non-playing staff 20th-century Brazilian sportsmen