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Leão
Personal information
Full name	Émerson Leão
Date of birth	July 11, 1949 (1949-07-11) (age 60)
Place of birth	Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1968–1970 1971–1978 1979–1980 1981–1982 1983 1984–1985 1986	Comercial-Ribeirão Preto Palmeiras Vasco da Gama Grêmio Corinthians Palmeiras Sport Recife Career	00? (?) 163 (0) 024 (0) 046 (0) 013 (0) 031 (0) 000 (0) ≈277 (0)
National team2
1969–1986	Brazil	080 (0)
Teams managed
1987–1988 1988–1989 1989–1990 1990–1992 1990–1991 1991–1992 1992–1994 1995–1996 1997–1998 1996–1997 1997–1998 1998 2000 2000–2001 2001–2004 2004 2004–2005 2005 2005–2006 2006 2006–2007 2007 2008 2008 2009 2009	Sport Recife Coritiba Palmeiras Portuguesa São José XV de Piracicaba Shimizu S-Pulse Juventude Atlético Paranaense Verdy Kawasaki Atlético Mineiro Santos Sport Recife Brazil Santos Cruzeiro São Paulo Vissel Kobe Palmeiras São Caetano Corinthians Atlético Mineiro Santos Al-Sadd Atlético Mineiro Sport Recife
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of June 3, 2009. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of December 12, 2008. * Appearances (Goals)

“Leão” redirects here. For other uses, see Leão (disambiguation).

Émerson Leão (born July 11, 1949) is a Brazilian manager and former football player. He is one of the all-time best Brazilian goalkeepers. A documentary video produced by FIFA, FIFA Fever, called him the third-most impressive defense player of all time. He was born in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo.

Playing career

He was World Cup champion in 1970 as a reserve player, when he was twenty years old. He then played the two following World Cups as first team player. He was the first Brazilian goalkeeper in history to be team captain (during the 1978 World Cup). Dida repeated the feat in 2006 in a group stage match against Japan. In the 1986 World Cup, Leão was a reserve player.

He played 80 times for the Brazilian national football team. At the club level, he played for several clubs, his longest term being at Palmeiras, where he won several titles, like Campeonato Brasileiro and Campeonato Paulista.

Playing honors

• 1969 - Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa and Ramón de Carranza Trophy (Palmeiras)
• 1970 - 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico (Brazil national football team)
• 1972 - Campeonato Paulista and Campeonato Brasileiro (Palmeiras)
• 1973 - Campeonato Brasileiro (Palmeiras)
• 1974 - Campeonato Paulista and Ramón de Carranza Trophy (Palmeiras)
• 1976 - Campeonato Paulista (Palmeiras)
• 1979 - Campeonato Brasileiro runner-up (Vasco do Gama)
• 1980 - Campeonato Gaúcho (Grêmio)
• 1981 - Campeonato Brasileiro (Grêmio)
• 1982 - Campeonato Brasileiro runner-up (Grêmio)
• 1983 - Campeonato Paulista (Corinthians)
• 1987 - Campeonato Brasileiro (Sport Recife)

Managerial career

Leão has been a manager since 1987. He was São Paulo manager in 2005, winning the Campeonato Paulista of that year. He then moved to Vissel Kobe of Japan, where he stayed for only four matches. On July 18, 2005 he became Palmeiras' manager, a position he held until March, 2006. His peak as a manager was his second period at Santos, between 2002 and 2004, when he won the Campeonato Brasileiro in 2002, and was runner-up in both Copa Libertadores de América and Campeonato Brasileiro in 2003. Leão is often seen as a hardliner, since he demands perfect physical shape of his players, along with discipline and mutual respect. He is not really fond of having extremely famous players in his teams, since he believes that this might cause relationship problems within the squad.

He was Brazilian national football team manager from November 15, 2000 until June 9, 2001. Of eleven matches, he won four, drew four, and lost three. Like his predecessor Vanderlei Luxemburgo, he struggled having top players available for qualifying matches. He tried to center the team around Romário and younger players with hardly any international experience. He also became the first sitting coach to travel to Europe to assess his players' activities there, where he was asked by the Europeans to not release Rivaldo and Roberto Carlos for matches that were not crucial.

Some people say that he should have resigned when Brazil was forced to send a second-rated team to the 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup in Korea and Japan, but he stayed on for a fourth-place finish that included two losses to France and Australia. These two losses contributed to a four-match losing streak that was the first to Brazil since 1921. [1] As he was about to leave Narita Airport for a 24 hour flight back to Brazil following the tournament, he was handed a termination letter.

While commanding the Brazilian national team, he often promised attractive play along with great results, but the team failed to follow through. He was harshly criticized during this period for calling up largely unknown players.

Leão was fired by Atletico Mineiro on May 4, 2009, following a defeat to arch-rivals Cruzeiro in the final of a regional championship. This is ending his third stint as Atletico manager.^[1] On June 3, 2009 Sport Recife's have signed the coach for the up-coming 2009 Brasileirão championship, Leão was dismissed by Atlético Mineiro in May.^[2]

Managerial honors

• 1987 - Campeonato Brasileiro (Sport Recife)
• 1992 - Kanagawa Cup (Verdy Kawasaki)
• 1996 - Emperor's Cup (Verdy Kawasaki)
• 1997 - Copa Conmebol (Atlético Mineiro)
• 1998 - Copa Conmebol (Santos)
• 2000 - Campeonato Pernambucano (Sport Recife)
• 2002 - Campeonato Brasileiro (Santos)
• 2005 - Campeonato Paulista (São Paulo)

References

• Enciclopédia do Futebol Brasileiro, Volume 2 - Lance, Rio de Janeiro: Aretê Editorial S/A, 2001.
• Seleção Brasileira - 90 Anos - Rio de Janeiro: MAUAD, 2004.

External links

• Émerson Leão at National-Football-Teams.com
• Sambafoot - Leão's career as a manager

Brazil squad – 1970 FIFA World Cup Winners (3rd Title) 1 Félix • 2 Brito • 3 Piazza • 4 Carlos Alberto • 5 Clodoaldo • 6 Marco Antônio • 7 Jairzinho • 8 Gérson • 9 Tostão • 10 Pelé • 11 Rivelino • 12 Ado • 13 Roberto • 14 Baldocchi • 15 Fontana • 16 Everaldo • 17 Joel • 18 Paulo César • 19 Edu • 20 Dario • 21 Zé Maria • 22 Leão • Coach: Zagallo

Brazil squad – 1974 FIFA World Cup Fourth Place 1 Leão • 2 Luís Pereira • 3 Marinho Peres • 4 Zé Maria • 5 Piazza • 6 Marinho Chagas • 7 Jairzinho • 8 Leivinha • 9 César • 10 Rivelino • 11 Paulo César • 12 Renato • 13 Valdomiro • 14 Nelinho • 15 Alfredo • 16 Marco Antônio • 17 Carpegiani • 18 Ademir da Guia • 19 Mirandinha • 20 Edu • 21 Dirceu • 22 Valdir Peres • Coach: Zagallo

Brazil squad – 1978 FIFA World Cup Third Place 1 Leão • 2 Toninho • 3 Oscar • 4 Amaral • 5 Toninho Cerezo • 6 Edinho • 7 Zé Sérgio • 8 Zico • 9 Reinaldo • 10 Rivelino • 11 Dirceu • 12 Carlos • 13 Nelinho • 14 Abel • 15 Polozzi • 16 Rodrigues Neto • 17 Batista • 18 Gil • 19 Jorge Mendonça • 20 Roberto Dinamite • 21 Chicão • 22 Valdir Peres • Coach: Coutinho

Brazil squad – Copa América 1979 Third Place 1 Leão • 2 Toninho • 3 Amaral • 4 Edinho • 5 Carpegiani • 6 Marco Antônio • 7 Tita • 8 Falcão • 9 Sócrates • 10 Palhinha • 11 Zé Sérgio • 12 Carlos • 13 Nelinho • 14 Rondinelli • 15 Pintinho • 16 Pedrinho • 17 Jair Gaúcho • 18 Chicão • 19 Juary • 20 Zenon • 21 Zezé • 22 João Leite • Coach: Cláudio Coutinho

Brazil squad – Copa América 1983 Runners-up 1 Leão • 2 Leandro • 3 Márcio • 4 Mozer • 5 Andrade • 6 Júnior • 7 Renato Gaúcho • 8 Sócrates • 9 Roberto Dinamite • 10 Tita • 11 Jorginho • 12 João Marcos • 13 Paulo Roberto • 14 Toninho Carlos • 15 Wladimir • 16 China • 17 Renato • 18 Careca • 19 Éder • 20 Leiz • 21 João Paulo • 22 Acácio • 23 Geraldo • Coach: Parreira

Brazil squad – 1986 FIFA World Cup 1 Carlos • 2 Édson • 3 Oscar • 4 Edinho • 5 Falcão • 6 Júnior • 7 Müller • 8 Casagrande • 9 Careca • 10 Zico • 11 Edivaldo • 12 Paulo Vitor • 13 Josimar • 14 Júlio César • 15 Alemão • 16 Mauro Galvão • 17 Branco • 18 Sócrates • 19 Elzo • 20 Silas • 21 Valdo • 22 Leão • Coach: Santana

Brazil squad – 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup Fourth Place 1 Dida • 2 Zé Maria • 3 Lúcio • 4 Edmílson • 5 Léomar • 6 Gustavo Nery • 7 Leandro • 8 Vampeta • 9 Sonny Anderson • 10 Robert • 11 Carlos Miguel • 12 Carlos Germano • 13 Evanílson • 14 César Belli • 15 Caçapa • 16 Léo • 17 Vágner • 18 Rochemback • 19 Júlio Baptista • 20 Ramon • 21 Washington • 22 Magno Alves • 23 Fábio Costa • Coach: Leão