Luiz Felipe Scolari

Luiz Felipe Scolari

Personal information
Full name	Luiz Felipe Scolari
Position(s)	Defender
Team information
Current team	Portugal

Luiz Felipe Scolari, ComIH (born November 9, 1948 in Passo Fundo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil), also known as Felipão ("Big Phil"), is a Brazilian football coach, who led the Brazilian national team to victory in the 2002 World Cup. He has been the head coach of the Portuguese national team since 2003.

Coaching career

Brazilian clubs

Scolari had an auspicious career coaching Brazilian clubs. His first big title was the Brazilian Cup, in 1991, coaching the small Criciúma, from Santa Catarina. In 1994, Scolari joined one of the biggest teams in South America, Grêmio, for whom he also played in the 1970s. During his time at the club, Grêmio enjoyed a significant degree of success winning the Brazilian Cup, in 1994; the Libertadores Cup, in 1995; the Recopa Sudamericana, also in 1995 and the Brazilian Championship in 1996. Grêmio were defeated in the 1995 Toyota Cup final after a penalty shootout with Ajax. During the late 1990s he also coached other South American giant, Palmeiras. Here he won the Brazilian Cup, the Mercosur Cup and the Copa Libertadores once more but was defeated again in the Intercontinental Cup, this time his team suffered a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Manchester United.

Brazil national team

After a brief period coaching Cruzeiro, he was invited, in 2001, to coach the Brazilian national team, whose morale was very low after the lacklustre defeat of the final match of the 1998 FIFA World Cup, its elimination in quarterfinals of Copa America 2001 by Honduras and a series of bad results, which threatened their qualification for the upcoming 2002 FIFA World Cup. His career with the national team was controversial since the beginning mostly for his refusal to call famous footballer Romário with whom he supposedly had a major disagreement over the former's demands of privileges and decaying physical fitness. After resisting a national outcry in favour of Romário, he coached Brazil to World Cup victory but resigned soon after the final match with allegations of excessive pressure from the CBF and disappointment with the public's reaction to his work. After resigning he said that after successfully coaching a major national team in a World Cup returning to coaching Brazilian clubs would be a return into obscurity and sought work abroad, eventually signing with the Portuguese federation.

Portugal national team

Portugal, as organizer of Euro 2004, did not have to qualify, and played only friendlies on the run up to the tournament. Apart from a victory against Brazil, the results were a little bit disappointing - 17 games; 9 wins, 5 draws and 3 losses (with Italy twice and Spain).

The opening game of Euro 2004 was a 1-2 defeat against Greece; but after that surprise, Scolari changed some players and rebuilt a winning spirit in his team and Portugal fans that stood until the end of the tournament. The changes proved successful, and Scolari became the first foreign coach ever to lead any team to the final of that event, and achiveved the first final in Portugal history. One of the best moments took place in the Estádio José Alvalade (honored with a title of Best Organized game of Euro 2004) during the semi-final against Netherlands which Portugal won 2 - 1. He was joined the following day by Otto Rehhagel, the German coach of Greece. Greece eventually did a Maracanazo and won the tournament.

During the spring of 2006, Scolari was one of a number of coaches in talks with the FA over the possibility of replacing Sven-Göran Eriksson as England coach. However, Scolari eventually withdrew his name from the appointment procedure. The role of the press in changing Scolari's mind was paramount:

"The Brazilian, who was offered a five-to-seven-year contract by the FA yesterday, said his turnaround was due to the 'intrusive publicity' that followed reports of his meeting with the FA yesterday. 'There have been 20 journalists camped outside my house since yesterday,' he said today. 'I don't like this pressure. It may be part of another culture, but it's not part of mine... I don't want anything more to do with this because for two days my life has been invaded and my privacy destroyed.' "

He later added that his empathy with the Portuguese players would be spoiled if he had another deal signed beforehand. On the eve of Portugal's 2006 World Cup quarter final meeting with England, Scolari apologised to anyone he might have "hurt" by turning down the job. Scolari subsequently led Portugal to eliminate England in the quarter-finals (the third time a team under his guidance had knocked England out of a major championship; although Portugal were ultimately defeated by France in the semi-finals).

After the 2006 World Cup finished, Scolari signed a new two year contract with the Portuguese Football Federation which therefore will in principle last until the end of Euro 2008, in Austria and Switzerland.

On 26 December, 2006 Scolari told the Portuguese sports newspaper Record that he would be ending his term as coach of Portugal after Euro 2008: ""It is logical that at the end of Euro 2008 I leave when my contract ends. The work of a coach is limited to five or six years. We are already in this time frame but after that, things become more difficult because they create habits and links with the players, which can result in things deteriorating."

Personality

Scolari is famous for his temper and for his histrionic "performance" by the field while the match is going on, reacting strongly to both the best and the worst moments of his team. A good example of his fierce temper was a September 12, 2007 qualifying match for Euro 2008 against Serbia when, at the end of the game, and after the referee had blown the whistle for a 1-1 draw, Scolari, after being slapped in the hand by the Serbian player Ivica Dragutinovic, grazed him in the face with a left hook . His character, however, is often seen as a good point, instead of a drawback, because he tries to keep the players (and himself) free of external pressures: he usually demands a lot more freedom than most coaches are allowed and is bent on exerting a somewhat discretionary power. Some critics mostly agree that his unique character was very beneficial to the Portuguese national team, which had a tradition of talented players but never won anything because of excessive intervention from the federation, the clubs and the player's agents, as well as a lack of a true "team spirit". However, his reputation as a "father" and big friend to his players is untouchable.

In the 2002 FIFA World Cup he gave each of his players a copy of Sun Tzu's The Art of War, a Chinese military treatise written during the 6th century BC. He also gave the team executions of Ivete Sangalo Festa videoclip, to enforce the Brazilian spirit and motivate the team engagement. In the recent 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany he used the The Art of War again to plan his team's win against England. .

Scolari also holds Italian citizenship, since his family emigrated from Veneto. He is a hardcore fan of the Brazilian club Grêmio and said to be a fan of Nottingham Forest and Palmeiras.