January 9 – New Flamengo coaching boss José Boto has said that he wants to end the hegemony of Portuguese coaches in Brazil, marking a different direction of travel at Rio’s biggest club under new president Luiz Eduardo Baptista.
At 57, Boto, is the club’s new director of football following the election of Luiz Eduardo Baptista as Flamengo’s new chairman. He has defended his choice to keep Filipe Luis, who succeeded Tite last year, as manager.
“I stand by everything I said on the first day,” said Boto at a news conference. “Filipe is someone I see a wonderful future in. And I want to be the Portuguese director who will end the hegemony of Portuguese coaches in Brazil. This will happen through Filipe (who is Brazilian). With all due respect to Portuguese coaches, some are my friends, but I want to help end the hegemony and there is no better way to do that than to be Filipe.”
Brazil’s domestic game has always been resistant to foreign managers, but in 2019 Portugese manager Jorge Jesus, the current manager of Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia, engineered one of Flamengo’s best-ever seasons, turning the campaign into one long victory parade, including victories in the Copa Libertadores and the national league.
Luis was a surprise choice to take over from Tite, who was dismissed after Flamengo exited the Copa Libertadores. Boto’s position highlights the wholesale changes at Flamengo with the arrival of the new administration. Paul Dutra serves as the new general manager of Flamengo with Vinicius Freire stepping into the head the Olympic sports. On Monday, almost 40 people at the club were let go and the medical department was restructured.
Flamengo will prepare for the new season in the United States. On Friday, they begin pre-season in Gainesville, a college town in Florida, where practice sessions will be staged at University of Florida facilities. In summer, the Rio club will return to the US to participate in the Club World Cup, facing Chelsea, Leon and Esperance de Tunis.
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