Mário Wilson (; 17 October 1929 – 3 October 2016) was 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 ...

player and

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 ...

. A

central defender 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 ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

, he appeared in 286

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 ...

matches over 14 seasons, mainly in representation of Académica. He also played for Desportivo de Lourenço Marques and

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

. Subsequently, Wilson embarked in a lengthy managerial career in the country, which lasted more than 30 years and also included two spells at his main club, and a record five at Benfica.

Playing career

Born in

Lourenço Marques Maputo () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,088,449 (as of 2017) distributed ov ...

Portuguese Mozambique Portuguese Mozambique () or Portuguese East Africa () were the common terms by which Mozambique was designated during the period in which it was a Portuguese Empire, Portuguese overseas province. Portuguese Mozambique originally constituted a str ...

and the paternal grandson of American trader Henry Wilson and a Mozambican princess, Wilson joined

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

in 1949 aged 19, arriving from local

Grupo Desportivo de Lourenço Marques Grupo Desportivo de Maputo, usually known as Desportivo de Maputo, Desportivo Maputo or by the acronym GDM, is an association football club from Maputo, Mozambique. History The club was founded on May 31, 1921, as ''Grupo Desportivo de Lourenço ...

. He started his career as a

. After two years at the

Estádio José Alvalade The Estádio José Alvalade (; ') is a Football (soccer), football stadium in Lisbon, Portugal, home of Sporting Clube de Portugal. It was built adjacent to the site of the Estádio José Alvalade (1956), older stadium. The stadium is named afte ...

, scoring an average of one goal per match, Wilson signed with fellow

side

Académica de Coimbra The Associação Académica de Coimbra (AAC) is the students' union of the University of Coimbra (UC). Founded in Coimbra on November 3, 1887, it is the oldest students' union in Portugal. It is also the biggest Portuguese students' union belongin ...

after enrolling at the local university to study (and eventually majoring)

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, remaining there for the rest of his career and retiring in June 1963 at nearly 34 years of age. His best individual season for the ''Students'' was 1951–52 when he scored five goals in 24 appearances, helping to a final seventh position (out of 14 teams).

Coaching career

Wilson began working as a coach one year after retiring, spending his first five years with Académica – which he led to a best-ever second position in 1966–67, as well as that year's

Portuguese Cup 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 ...

final – then working three seasons with

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 ...

. He first managed

S.L. Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904, as ''Sport Lisboa'', Benfica is one of the " ...

in the 1975–76 campaign, winning the national championship. During his early stint with the latter he coined the phrase "Anyone who coaches Benfica risks being champion", having been dubbed whilst still a player ''O Velho Capitão'' ( Portuguese for "The Old

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

"). In the late 70s, Wilson accumulated duties at

Vitória de 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 ...

and the Portugal national team, being in charge of the latter during the unsuccessful

UEFA Euro 1980 The 1980 UEFA European Football Championship finals tournament was held in Italy. This was the sixth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. It was the first European Championship to feature eight teams ...

qualifying campaign. From 1980 to 1983 he again worked with Académica, two of those seasons being spent in the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. Until the end of the decade he would be in charge of no fewer than six clubs, coaching

Louletano D.C. Louletano Desportos Clube is a Portugal, Portuguese club from Loulé, founded on 6 June 1923. The association football team currently play in the Campeonato Nacional de Seniores (Portuguese fourth level), D series. The club plays at the Estádio ...

and

G.D. Estoril Praia Grupo Desportivo Estoril Praia (), commonly known as Estoril, is a Portuguese professional sports club from Estoril, Cascais, Lisbon. Founded on 17 May 1939, its Association football, football team currently plays in Primeira Liga and hold home g ...

in two different spells. Wilson replaced fired Artur Jorge at the helm of Benfica after the third round in 1995–96, leading the side to the second position and the season's domestic cup. As an interim he also managed the team in four matches in two different campaigns ( 1996–97 and

the following ''The Following'' is an American crime thriller television series created by Kevin Williamson (screenwriter), Kevin Williamson, and jointly produced by Outerbanks Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television. The The Following (season 1), first s ...

), winning two, drawing one and losing one. Wilson's last coaching job was in 1998–99 at the age of 69, with another

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

-based club,

F.C. Alverca Futebol Clube de Alverca is a Portuguese Association football, football club based in Alverca do Ribatejo, Vila Franca de Xira. It currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2. History F.C. Alverca was founded on 1 September 1939. After many decades i ...

, helping lead them out of the relegation zone in the top tier alongside his successor

José Romão José Pratas Romão (born 13 April 1954) is a Portuguese former football winger and manager. Playing career Born in Beja, Alentejo, Romão started playing for local club C.D. Beja. He also represented Vitória de Guimarães, AD Fafe, F.C. ...

, following which he continued to work there in directorial capacities. Subsequently, he worked with the Portuguese Professional Footballers' Union, organising actions for unemployed players, and also opened up his own football school, ''Mr. Wilson'', in the Portuguese capital area.

Personal life and death

Wilson's son, also named Mário (born 1954), was also a footballer. A

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, he too played for Académica and Benfica (only 11 matches over three seasons with the latter), competing professionally from 1973 to 1986. His daughter Ana was crowned Miss Portugal in 1982, while his grandson

Bruno Bruno may refer to: People and fictional characters * Bruno (name), including lists of people and fictional characters with either the given name or surname * Bruno, Duke of Saxony (died 880) * Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologn ...

played youth football for Sporting. Wilson died on 3 October 2016 in Lisbon aged 86.

Honours

Player

Sporting *

: 1950–51

Manager

Benfica *Primeira Liga: 1975–76 *

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 ...

: 1979–80, 1995–96

Individual

Orders *

Commander of the

Order of Merit The Order of Merit () is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by Edward VII, admission into the order r ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Mario 1929 births 2016 deaths Mozambican people of American descent Portuguese people of American descent Portuguese people of Mozambican descent Footballers from Maputo Mozambican men's footballers Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football defenders Men's association football forwards GD Maputo players Primeira Liga players Sporting CP footballers Académica de Coimbra (football) players Mozambican expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Mozambican expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Mozambican football managers Portuguese football managers Primeira Liga managers Liga Portugal 2 managers Académica de Coimbra (football) managers C.F. Os Belenenses managers Vitória S.C. managers S.L. Benfica managers Boavista F.C. managers G.D. Estoril Praia managers S.C. Olhanense managers AS FAR managers Portugal national football team managers Portuguese expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Morocco Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Morocco F.C. Alverca managers 20th-century Portuguese sportsmen