António Luís Alves Ribeiro Oliveira

António Oliveira
Personal information
Full nameAntónio Luís Alves Ribeiro de Oliveira
Date of birth10 June 1952
Place of birthPenafiel, Portugal
Height1.72 m (5 ft 7 1⁄2 in)
Playing positionAttacking midfielder
Youth career
1968–1971Porto
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1971–1979Porto187(71)
1979Betis10(1)
1980Porto12(1)
1980–1981Penafiel22(10)
1981–1985Sporting CP67(27)
1985–1986Marítimo7(0)
Total305(110)
National team
1974–1983Portugal24(7)
Teams managed
1980–1981Penafiel (player-coach)
1982–1983Sporting CP (player-coach)
1985–1986Marítimo (player-coach)
1987–1988Vitória Guimarães
1988Académica
1991–1992Gil Vicente
1993–1994Braga
1994–1996Portugal
1996–1998Porto
1998Betis
2000–2002Portugal
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

António Luís Alves Ribeiro de Oliveira (born 10 June 1952) is a Portuguese retired football attacking midfielder and manager.

As a player, he notably represented two of the Big Three in his country, Porto and Sporting, amassing totals of 266 games and 99 first division goals between the two and also later managing the former with great success.

Having also represented it as a player, Oliveira had two coaching spells with the Portuguese national team, leading it in one World Cup and one European Championship.

Playing career

Born in Penafiel, Oliveira made his senior debuts with F.C. Porto, first appearing in the top division at the age of 18. From 1974 onwards, with the exception of one year, he always scored in double digits, netting a career-best 19 in the 1977–78 season as the northerners won the national championship after a 19-year drought.

In the 1979 summer, 27-year-old Oliveira moved to La Liga with Real Betis, but returned to Porto in the following transfer window, being an important first-team element as the side finished second in the league, two points behind Sporting Clube de Portugal.

After helping hometown's F.C. Penafiel retain its top flight status – he left Porto alongside club director Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa and coach José Maria Pedroto following internal disputes[1]– he signed with Sporting, helping the Lions to the double in 1981–82.[2] In 1985, aged 33, Oliveira moved to C.S. Marítimo, retiring at the end of the campaign with Portuguese first division totals of 295 matches and 109 goals; at both Penafiel and Marítimo, he acted as player-coach.

Oliveira gained 24 caps for Portugal during a nine-year spell, which included his player-manager career at Penafiel. He did not take part, however, in any major international tournament.

António Oliveira: International goals
Goal Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 15 April 1981 Estádio das Antas, Porto, Portugal  Bulgaria 1–1 1–1 Friendly
2 16 December 1981 Haskovo Stadium, Haskovo, Bulgaria  Bulgaria 0–1 5–2 Friendly
3 16 December 1981 Haskovo Stadium, Haskovo, Bulgaria  Bulgaria 5–2 5–2 Friendly
4 20 January 1982 Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece  Greece 1–1 1–2 Friendly
5 20 January 1982 Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece  Greece 1–2 1–2 Friendly
6 22 September 1982 Olympic Stadium (Helsinki), Helsinki, Finland  Finland 0–2 0–2 Euro 1984 qualifying
7 21 September 1983 Estádio José Alvalade (1956), Lisbon, Portugal  Finland 5–0 5–0 Euro 1984 qualifying

Manager career

Oliveira started managing while still an active player. Exclusively a coach from 1987 onwards, his only full season in his beginnings was 1991–92, when he led modest Gil Vicente F.C. to the 13th position in the top flight.

After leading Portugal to the quarterfinals in UEFA Euro 1996,[3] Oliveira signed for former side Porto, leading it to back-to-back national championships, with the addition of one Portuguese Cup, won against S.C. Braga. His first season started with a 5–0 demolition of S.L. Benfica in the domestic Supercup, as the club went on to win the league with 85 points – a record which would last until the 2002–03 campaign, broken by José Mourinho's team – also reaching the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League and being eliminated by Manchester United.

In the summer of 1998 Oliveira was appointed at another former club, Betis, but left the Andalusians before the season started. Two years later he returned to the national team,[4] helping it qualify to the 2002 FIFA World Cup, the first in 16 years.

Several problems occurred during the preparation for the tournament in Japan and South Korea, and the competition itself: Vítor Baía replaced in-form Ricardo in goal, Beto played out of position at right back, Luís Figo was in very poor physical condition and Hugo Viana was called as a last-minute replacement for Daniel Kenedy, who tested positive in a doping control test; after one win and two losses in the group stage, Portugal was eliminated, and the manager was fired.

Afterwards, Oliveira was elected chairman of Penafiel Futebol Clube.

Honours

Player

Team

Individual

Manager

References

  1. ↑ FC Porto. O Verão quente de 1980, que esfriou a relação no futebol (FC Porto. 1980's hot summer, when football relations turned cold); IOnline, 6 August 2010 (Portuguese)
  2. ↑ Craques e Flops Leoninos (Leoninos hits and misses) (Portuguese)
  3. ↑ 2002 World Cup profile; BBC Sport, 9 April 2002
  4. ↑ Oliveira returns to Portugal job; The Independent, 1 August 2000

External links