Fernando Diniz: From unknown to Brazilian coach and Copa Libertadores winner

The coach has already worked with dozens of clubs and, using devastating tactics, took charge of the Brazilian team and won his first continental title with Fluminense.

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November will be the most challenging month of Fernando Diniz’s coaching career. He will play a total of eight matches, including the Copa Libertadores final, which he won over Fluminense, and two important matches for Brazil in the qualifying stage for the 2026 World Cup, one of which is against Argentina.

The 49-year-old coach’s journey until this moment has not been in a straight line, but it is unique in Brazilian football.

It rises at a rapid pace… and in tremors

After a playing career that included clubs such as Corinthians, Fluminense and Santos, Fernando Diniz began coaching in 2009 at Futurate, a club in the third division of the Paulista Championship – and in the first year, he won this championship and moved to the third division. Department team..

After several seasons in regional clubs in the state of São Paulo, Diniz became known for Brazil in 2016, in the Primera Division of the Paulista Championship.

Under the guidance of Gremio Osasco Audax, a team that was in the fourth division (4th national division), they led a season in which they beat Palmeiras, São Paulo and Corinthians, before falling only in the final, to Santos.

After that campaign came their biggest test to date when they moved to the West, in the Second Division (second division). He achieved 8 victories in 36 matches and secured the club’s maintenance in the last round by defeating Nautico, which was not promoted from the division due to that defeat.

He will reach the Brazilian League in 2018 Atletico Paranaense. However, he began to fall victim to Brazilian clubs’ need for short-term success and never had the opportunity to spend a full season at any club.

In search of that stability, he played for Fluminense, playing 75 matches for São Paulo spread over two seasons – he left at the end of the second season and ended up helping the team to fourth place.

After two more short experiences in Santos and Vasco da GamaIn 2022, he returned to Fluminense (midway through the season), and after having the opportunity to settle in, he began to achieve success.

He led the team to third place in the Brazilian League, and at the beginning of 2023 won the Rio de Janeiro State Championship (Carioca) – in which he lost the first leg of the final with Flamengo 2-0, but won the first leg. ª With a score of 4-1 – and of course, they have now won the Copa Libertadores.

However, the Brazilian Football Confederation was looking to find a replacement for Tite to lead the national team, since his departure after the 2022 World Cup. Thus, the solution that the body found was to appoint a temporary coach – Fernando Diniz.

Carlo Ancelotti has been appointed as the future coach of Brazil, after the end of the current season, but the Italian confirmed that there is no agreement, which would please former player Romario, a self-confessed fan of Fernando Diniz.

Fernando Diniz has thus reached the most challenging month of his career. The way you did it also says a lot about your personality. for now, free No one takes it away anymore.

Between the contrastive game and the functional game

“Deniz’s play is not positional, as we mean by the presence of players in specific positions on the field. Fluminense places several players close to the ball, in the same area of ​​the pitch, to develop a play in which a goal is scored on the other side of the pitch” – words from Victor Canedo, journalist who worked for Globo and is currently a Fluminense digital content creator, in conversation with A BOLA.

Already in the program Okay, friendsFrom Brazilian television SporTv, Diniz said his game is “positional because players migrate positions. It’s a freer game, we get closer to sectors of the pitch and then we make changes in positions.”

Fluminense also has experienced players such as former Real Madrid defender Marcelo and the Argentine striker German CanoWho scored 80 goals in the past two seasons.

Victor Canedo explains the impact of these two players: “Diniz really likes to create numerical superiority on one side of the ball, so it is natural to see the wingers and Marcelo, who is theoretically a left-back, all appearing at the same level. side of the field. Then there is Kanu who can finish a match with just one touch.

However, Diniz’s form is not infallible – Fluminense are eighth in the Brazilian league – but for Canedo, “he is someone who proposes something different and manages to do it in practice, which is really commendable.” Brazilian football creates many barriers, due to calendar problems, culture, lack of training, rapid dismissal of coaches and enormous resistance to what is new.”

But Diniz resisted and led an exemplary campaign in the Libertadores. They finished first in the group, winning 5-1 over River Plate and then eliminating Argentino Juniors, Olimpia and Internacional, without needing extra time or penalties.

In the Libertadores final, Fluminense defeated Boca Juniors, at their home stadium, the Maracanã, where they lost only twice in 32 matches this season. He achieved this in extra time, with a score of 2-1.

It is the most important match of Diniz’s career and marks the beginning of a month that could define his career.