Mano Menezes

Luiz Antônio Venker de Menezes (born 11 June 1962), known as Mano Menezes, is a Brazilian professional football coach, recently he was the head coach of Corinthians.

He was born in Passo do Sobrado, Rio Grande do Sul, and began his footballing career as a defender for Guarani de Venâncio Aires in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

He gave up playing to become a physical education professional, beginning in 1986 in Rio Grande do Sul, before going on to Guarani de Venâncio Aires, Juventude and Internacional (as well as a spell in 1997 with Paulo Autuori at Cruzeiro).

Mano's biggest highlight during his coaching time at 15 de Novembro was during 2004 Copa do Brasil.

As the trainer of the team, who has never even won the Rio Grande do Sul state championship, he made to the semifinals, beating more traditional clubs such as four-time Campeonato Brasileiro Série A champion Vasco da Gama.

Menezes was the coach of Grêmio from 2005 through 2007.

He led them to promotion in 2005 and followed that up with a third-place finish in the 2006 Série A.

In April 2005, Menezes was hired as coach by Grêmio to be responsible for bringing back the team to the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, which he achieved and also won the Campeonato Brasileiro Série B championship title that year in a match that became known as "The Battle of the Afflicted (Batalha dos Aflitos)", due to events that took place along the departure and the fact that this has been held in the stadium Aflitos, Náutico's stadium in Recife, Pernambuco.

In 2006, he led Grêmio when they took the win in the Campeonato Gaúcho with a victory over arch-rival Internacional, the first time Grêmio had won since 2001.

Also in 2006, Grêmio ranked in third in the Série A, thereby earning a place in the 2007 Copa Libertadores.

In 2007, he led Grêmio to the final of the Copa Libertadores.

At the end of the 2007 season, he took over as coach of Corinthians and started the 2008 season with a 3–0 win over Guarani.

This episode later became a movie named Batalha dos Aflitos, released in 2007.

In 2007 they won the Campeonato Gaúcho again and reached the final in Copa Libertadores, where they lost to Boca Juniors.

Menezes left Grêmio after 169 games, with 89 wins, 35 draws and 45 losses, a win rate of 59.56%; 302 points were earned from a total of 507.

The last game played by Grêmio with him as coach was the last game of the season's Série A, on 28 November 2007, against Corinthians, the team he was to coach next.

In losing that match, the Corinthians were relegated to Série B.

Menezes was hired to manage the Corinthians at the end of 2007, and to raise them back up from relegation.

Menezes led Corinthians to the 2008 Série B title with 25 wins, 10 draws and three losses, finishing with 85 points.

In 2008, Corinthians played the Copa do Brasil, losing to Sport Club do Recife.

That year they also took the title of Campeonato Brasileiro Série B 2008.

In May 2009, Menezes led Corinthians to become unbeaten champions of the Campeonato Paulista.

On 1 July 2009, Corinthians won the Copa do Brasil against Internacional.

He managed the Brazil national team from July 2010 until his sacking on November 2012.

His nickname comes from his early childhood, when his sister used to call him "Mano", which is a popular slang term meaning "brother" in Portuguese.

With the win, Corinthians gained entry to the 2010 Copa Libertadores.

On 24 July 2010, the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) announced that Mano would replace Dunga as manager of the Brazil national team.

He was not the CBF's first choice, but Fluminense had refused to release Muricy Ramalho the day before.

Menezes' appointment was generally well received, although some pointed out that his favoured playing style resembled Dunga's defensive style.

He coached his first Brazil match on 10 August 2010, a 2–0 win against the United States.

For this match, he selected many young players, including Diego Tardelli, André and David Luiz, among others.

In addition, Menezes selected only four players that had participated in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa: Dani Alves, Ramires, Thiago Silva and Robinho, as well as 2010 World Cup cuts Alexandre Pato, Marcelo and Neymar.

At the 2011 Copa América, Brazil went out in the quarter-finals on penalties to Paraguay after a 0–0 draw, with Brazil missing all the four of its penalties.

He was also the coach of the Olympic team at London 2012, hoping to win the long-awaited gold medal for Brazil, the only accolade Brazil had not won in football, however they were defeated by Mexico in the final and Menezes was the target of criticism in Brazil.

Following disappointing results, Menezes was sacked on 23 November 2012.

In June 2013, Menezes was named as the new coach of Brazilian club Flamengo.

In 2014, Menezes returned to Corinthians.

After helping Corinthians to a fourth-place league finish, as well as qualifying for the Copa Libertadores, on 6 December 2014 Menezes resigned as head coach of the club.

In December 2015, Shandong Luneng Taishan of the Chinese Super League announced that Menezes would be the new coach of the team.

On 21 April 2016, with a 1–0 victory over Japanese side Sanfrecce Hiroshima, Shandong Luneng returned to the knockout stage of the Asian Champions League after an 11-year absence, with one round of the group stage in advance.