Vanderlei Luxemburgo

Football manager infobox
playername = Vanderlei Luxemburgo


fullname = Vanderlei Luxemburgo da Silva
nickname = Luxa (in Brazil), Luxe (in Spain)
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1952|5|10
cityofbirth = Nova Iguaçu
countryofbirth = Brazil
currentclub = Palmeiras
position = Wingback
youthyears= 1968-1970
youthclubs = Botafogo
years = 1971-1978
1978
1979-1980
clubs =Flamengo
Internacional
Botafogo
caps(goals) =
manageryears = | manageryears =1983
1983
1984
1984
1985
1987
1989-1990
1991
1991
1992-1993
1993-1995
1995
1995
1995-1996
1997
1998
1998-2000
2001
2002
2002-2004
2004
2004-2005
2006-2007
2008
managerclubs =Campo Grande
Rio Branco
Friburguense
Al Ittihad
Democrata
América
Bragantino
Guarani
Flamengo
Ponte Preta
Palmeiras
Paraná Clube
Flamengo
Palmeiras
Santos
Corinthians
Brazil
Corinthians
Palmeiras
Cruzeiro
Santos
Real Madrid
Santos
Palmeiras
pcupdate = June 4 2006
ntupdate = June 4 2006|

Vanderlei Luxemburgo da Silva (born May 10, 1952, in Nova Iguaçu) better known as Wanderley Luxemburgo is a Brazilian football coach, he is currently head coach at Palmeiras after leaving Santos.

Coaching career

Luxemburgo coached Brazil following the 1998 World Cup until the end of 2000 Olympics. Most notably, he is known for centering his play around Rivaldo. However, he is also notoriously remembered for the disastrous performance at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, where his team lost 1-2 in overtime to gold medal winners Cameroon despite having a two men advantage in that game. He was often blamed at this tournament for leaving out Romario, who had gone on national television, pleading his case to play in the tournament.

Luxemburgo also stirred up controversy by having transmission devices on his forward for his club team in a match. He claimed that the Cameroon match inspired him this device so that he can tell his players where and when to attack. The CBF ruled days later that such electronic devices were illegal, but did not penalize him for using it in that match.

Luxemburgo started to be recognized as a top tier coach when he led Bragantino to be the winner of the 1990s Campeonato Paulista (São Paulo State Championship). Bragantino had always been a minor team in the State's league and the victory in the championship was perceived as a major achievement. In 1994 and 1995 he led Palmeiras to win the both the São Paulo State and Brazilian championships. When he left in 1995, Palmeiras performance was visibly reduced, and when he came back in 1996 the team won the São Paulo State championship again. In 2003, he led Cruzeiro Esporte Clube to win the Triple Crown of Brazilian Football, a feat that remains unparalleled to this day. Even more impressively, the club managed to win two of the three competitions (the Campeonato Mineiro and the Copa do Brasil) without losing a single match. The following year he led Santos to win the Brazilian Championship.

Real Madrid

Luxemburgo was hired as Real Madrid's coach from Santos in the second half of the 2004/2005 season when Mariano García Remón was dismissed from the job. Upon his arrival, among other remarkable characteristics Luxemburgo stood out for his ability with the Spanish language. He lead Real Madrid to 7 consecutive league wins, putting them back in the title race but ended up losing it 4 points behind Barcelona.

In the following season, Real Madrid started brightly. However, the introduction of a new formation (the "Magic Rectangle", a 4-2-2-2 formation), combined with multiple injury issues and poor performances began Luxemburgo's downfall. Calls for him to resign were intensified by a humiliating 0-3 home defeat to their rivals, Barcelona.

Upon resigning, Real Madrid announced Juan Ramón López Caro would be his successor.

Assistant Coach

* 1981: América
* 1981 - 1982: Vasco da Gama
* 1984: Al Ittihad
* 1987-1988: Al Shabab

U-20 Coach

* 1986-1988: Fluminense

Titles

* 5 Brazilian Série A (1993, 1994, 1998, 2003, 2004)
* 1 Brazilian Série B (1989)
* 1 Brazilian Cup (2003)
* 8 São Paulo State Championship (1990, 1993, 1994, 1996, 2001, 2006, 2007, 2008)
* 1 Espírito Santo State Championship (1983)
* 1 Minas Gerais State Championship (2003)
* 2 Rio-São Paulo Tournament (1993, 1997)
* 1 Copa América (1999)
* 1 Pre-Olympic Tournament (2000)

External links

* [http://www.footballtransfers.info/squads/playerprofile.asp?playerID=5156 Brief biography]