Joel Santana

Joel Santana
Personal information
Full name Joel Natalino Santana
Date of birth December 25, 1948 (1948-12-25) (age 63)
Place of birth Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Playing position Defender (retired)
Club information
Current club Bahia (head coach)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1971–1972 Vasco da Gama
1973 Olaria
1974–1975 Vasco da Gama
1976–1980 América de Natal
Teams managed
1981–1986 Al Wasl
1986–1987 Vasco da Gama
1987–1990 Al-Hilal
1991 América
1991 Al Nasr
1992–1993 Vasco da Gama
1994 Bahia
1995 Fluminense
1996 Flamengo
1997 Corinthians
1997–1998 Botafogo
1998 Flamengo
1999–2000 Bahia
2000 Botafogo
2000–2001 Vasco da Gama
2001–2002 Coritiba
2002–2003 Vitória
2003 Fluminense
2004 Guarani
2004 Internacional
2004–2005 Vasco da Gama
2005 Brasiliense
2005 Flamengo
2006–2007 Vegalta Sendai
2007 Fluminense
2007–2008 Flamengo
2008–2009 South Africa
2010–2011 Botafogo
2011 Cruzeiro
2011- Bahia
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of September 4, 2011.

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of February 5, 2010

Joel Natalino Santana (born December 25, 1948) is a Brazilian football head coach and former football player.[1] He is the current head coach of Bahia.

Contents

Biography

Born in Rio de Janeiro, Santana played his entire career as a central defender in his native Brazil in the 1970s. He became best known as a player at Vasco da Gama, but failed to earn a cap with the national team.[2] In 1980, he retired as a player and moved on to club management with Al Wasl in the United Arab Emirates. While much of his management career has been with Brazilian clubs, Santana has also coached clubs in Saudi Arabia and Vegalta Sendai in Japan's J-League.

Santana is one of the few head coaches to win Brazil's Campeonato Carioca with each of the four big clubs (Botafogo, Flamengo, Fluminense, and Vasco da Gama).[1] His playing style has been characterized as defensive, with the main objective of preventing the opposition from scoring.[3]

In 2004, Santana successfully kept Vasco da Gama from relegation to the second division of Campeonato Brasileiro in his fourth stint as club's head coach. A year later, he was hired by Flamengo to also save them from relegation, which he did successfully. Having established a reputation as an "escape artist" capable of rescuing teams from relegation, he returned to Flamengo in 2007 with the same goal. He not only prevented relegation, but lead the Rio state club to a surprising third place finish to qualify for the 2008 Copa Libertadores.[4]

In April 2008, Santana replaced his countryman, Carlos Alberto Parreira, as the coach of the South Africa national football team following a recommendation from Parreira himself who left the job due to personal reasons. In October 2009 Santana was dismissed from the position due to the poor results achieved by the team; most notably a streak of 8 defeats in his last nine games as coach of the Bafana Bafana.[5][6]

Honors

Playing honors

América de Natal

Vasco da Gama

Managerial honors

Bahia

Botafogo

Flamengo

Fluminense

South Africa

Vasco da Gama

Vitória

References

  1. ^ a b Enciclopédia do Futebol Brasileiro Lance Volume 2. Rio de Janeiro: Aretê Editorial S/A. 2001. pp. 430–431. ISBN 85-88651-01-7. 
  2. ^ Enciclopédia do Futebol Brasileiro Lance Volume 1. Rio de Janeiro: Aretê Editorial S/A. 2001. p. 99. ISBN 85-88651-01-7. 
  3. ^ São Paulo empata e adia festa do tri
  4. ^ Recuperação
  5. ^ Südafrika feuert glücklosen Bafana-Trainer Santana
  6. ^ "SA and Santana part company". BBC Sport. 2009-10-19. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/africa/8315221.stm. Retrieved 2009-10-24. 

External links

South Africa squad – 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup Fourth Place
Bahia – current squad