Cuca

Club

Cuca started his career with Santa Cruz-RS after graduating with hometown side Pinheiros. He moved to Juventude in May 1985, and was a regular starter for the club until his transfer to Grêmio in July 1987. While at Grêmio, Cuca scored the decisive goal of the 1989 Copa do Brasil Final against Sport Recife. He moved abroad for the first time in his career in August 1990, spending six months at La Liga side Real Valladolid. Upon returning to Brazil, Cuca joined Grêmio's fierce rivals Internacional on loan. After struggling with injuries, he featured regularly for Palmeiras and Santos. Cuca was signed by Portuguesa ahead of the 1994 season on loan, but failed to impress. He subsequently represented Remo, Juventude and Chapecoense, retiring with the latter in 1996 at the age of 33.

International

Cuca played one game for the Brazilian national team on 27 February 1991, against Paraguay, at Morenão, Campo Grande.

Early career

Shortly after retiring, Cuca started coaching Uberlândia in 1998. In the following year, he led Avaí to the final of the Campeonato Catarinense, but lost to Figueirense. Cuca began the 2000 season in charge of Internacional de Limeira, before returning to Avaí in February. Replaced by Roberto Cavalo shortly after, and led Internacional de Lages to a fifth place in the 2001 Catarinense. On 23 August 2001, Cuca returned to a club he represented as a player, Remo. After leaving the club in October, he immediately took over Criciúma, but only remained in charge of the side until May 2002. On 16 May 2002, Cuca was named in charge of Gama. Despite only losing one match (to eventual Campeonato Brasiliense champions CFZ de Brasília), he left in July after discovering the club was looking for a new head coach for the Série A. On 1 March 2003, Cuca was appointed Paraná head coach. He led the club to a good start in the 2003 Série A, winning three of the club's first six matches in the competition.

Goiás

On 26 May 2003, Cuca was appointed head coach of Goiás also in the top tier. He gained notoriety with the club after taking them in the last position and avoiding relegation by finishing ninth.

São Paulo

On 17 December 2003, Cuca was appointed head coach of São Paulo in the place of Roberto Rojas. He was dismissed the following 2 September, after being knocked out of the year's Copa Libertadores in the semifinals by Once Caldas and dropping to…

Club

International

Born in Curitiba, Paraná, Cuca started playing football to help cover the expenses of a heart surgery for his father Dirceu. His nickname Cuca was created by his older brother Amauri: their parents used to mock Amauri when the boy was fooling around by saying that the city's police officer, nicknamed Cucla, would catch him on the act; once the little brother arrived at home and was described as "very handsome" by their mother, Amauri, in an attempt to mock his brother, called him Cuca in a reference to the police officer Cucla, not knowing that his nickname had an L. Cuca is married to Rejane since 1985, and has two daughters, Maiara and Natasha. He is a practising Roman Catholic. Cuca's younger brother Cuquinha was also a footballer; a midfielder, he only had a short career before starting to work as his assistant in 1999. Their elder brother, Amauri, was a central defender who also played professionally. On 7 November 2020, while coaching Santos, Cuca tested positive for COVID-19, being immediately transferred to the Hospital Sírio-Libanês.

Rape claims and conviction

In 1987, while playing a tournament in Switzerland with Grêmio, Cuca and three other teammates (Eduardo Henrique Hamester, Henrique Arlindo Etges and Fernando Castoldi), were arrested for 28 days for allegedly raping a 13-year-old girl in a hotel room in Bern. Two of the players admitted to having sex with the girl, but claimed that the encounter was consensual and that they were unaware that she was…