Abel Braga

Known as Abel during his playing days, he started his career as a player in Fluminense in 1968, staying at the club until 1976, when he moved to Vasco da Gama.

He also played for Paris Saint-Germain, of France, from 1979 to 1981, for Botafogo, from 1982 to 1984, and Goytacaz, in 1984, and 1985, where ended his career.

He earned just one cap for the Brazil national football team, on 19 April 1978, versus England, but he took part in the team that represented Brazil in the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina.

After retiring as a player, Braga became a head coach, and worked at clubs such as Vasco da Gama, Internacional, Atlético Paranaense, Coritiba, Atlético Mineiro and Ponte Preta.

In 1988, at Internacional, he was runner-up of the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A after losing to Esporte Clube Bahia in the final match. In 1989, he came close to winning the Copa Libertadores, but the club ended up losing to Paraguay's Olimpia on penalties after conceding three goals in the return match at home.

In July 2000, Braga signed for Olympique de Marseille – rivals of his former team PSG – who had only just stayed in Ligue 1 on the last day of the previous season. He spent large amounts of money to buy compatriots Marcelinho Paraíba and Adriano Gabiru, and was dismissed in November with the team in the relegation zone having won five out of 16 games.[3]

In 2004, Abel Braga became Flamengo head coach, winning Taça Guanabara and Campeonato Carioca. He became most remembered, however, because Flamengo lost the Copa do Brasil to underdogs Esporte Clube Santo André, even though the final match was held in Rio de Janeiro, home of Flamengo.

In 2005, as Fluminense head coach, he won the Campeonato Carioca of that year. Abel finished the year, however, carrying the burden of two successive last-minute failures. Against all odds, Fluminense lost to underdogs Paulista of Jundiaí in the Copa do Brasil final match, under circumstances similar to the ones he faced the year before with Flamengo. Paulista, currently in the second division of the Campeonato Brasileiro, eventually qualified for the Copa Libertadores. Fluminense had another chance to qualify for the Libertadores, the most prestigious club football tournament in South America, by finishing the Série A among the top four. Even though Fluminense managed to lead the table for a few rounds, it failed again in the last match. A draw against Palmeiras would have been enough for the team to finish fourth, but they lost.

In the beginning of 2006, Abel transferred to Internacional of Porto Alegre to lead the team in the football tournament of Rio Grande do Sul. Grêmio emerged champions and Abel was criticized as an eternal runner-up. However, he may claim to have changed that image by winning the Copa Libertadores, one of the greatest achievements in the history of Internacional. The IFFHS ranked him as the sixth best club coach in 2006. He also led Internacional to win the 2006 FIFA Club World Cup.

After a spell managing Al Jazira, where he won the league during his last year, he came back to Fluminense. The club was struggling after Muricy Ramalho was fired. Despite having little time to fix the team, which was in the lower positions of the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A when he took over, he managed to finish the year in third place and qualify for the Copa Libertadores. In 2012, he led Fluminense to win the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A and was awarded as the best coach of the league.

On 30 May 2013, after the elimination of Fluminense against Paraguayan Club Olimpia from 2013 Copa Libertadores, competition that Flu were one of favorites, Braga was humiliated by rival fans in the arrival of club. At same time, fans of the Tricolor wrote on the walls of Laranjeiras, headquarters of club, "Fora Abel" (Abel out) and "Time Sem Vergonha" (Team without shame).[4]

On 29 July 2013, after five consecutive loses in 2013 Brazilian League, that keep the club in relegation zone, Braga was dismissed from Fluminense.[5]

In January 2014, Braga returned to Internacional as manager. On 15 December, he announced that he would not continue as manager of Internacional.[6]

Braga returned to Al Jazira for a second spell in the summer of 2015, but parted company with the club in December after a string of poor results.[7]

Fluminense hired Braga on 1 December 2016, to be the head coach for the 2017 season.[8] Fluminense had a decent performance in the first semester of 2017, when Fluminense became champions of Primeira Liga, runner-ups to 2017 Campeonato Carioca, but failed to advance through the round of 16 in 2017 Copa do Brasil. There was speculation of his retirement after his son João Pedro died in midseason. Fluminense ended 2017 Campeonato Brasileiro in 14th position and reached the round of 8 in 2017 Copa Sudamericana.

Abel Braga continued as Fluminense head coach for 2018. Fluminense had early exits in every tournament played in 2018. Before the Brazilian midseason break for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Abel resigned after a 18 month stint.[9] Abel is currently the record holder for the 2nd most matches as a Fluminense head coach.

On 2 January 2019, Flamengo hired Abel Braga as head coach.[10] They confirmed their status as favourites by winning the 2019 Campeonato Carioca.[11] He resigned on 29 May after being contested by fans.[12]

Cruzeiro announced Braga as head coach on 27 September 2019,[13] but sacked him on 29 November after winning three games out of 14.[14] He was announced as Vasco da Gama's head coach for the 2020 season on 16 December 2019,[15] but resigned the following 16 March.

On 10 November 2020, Braga returned to Internacional for a seventh spell as manager, replacing Eduardo Coudet.[16] He left the following 26 February, after losing the 2020 Série A in the last round.[17]

In June 2021, Braga was hired by Swiss Super League club FC Lugano,[18] but was sacked on 1 September after the team gained 2 points in the first 4 league games of the 2021–22 season.[19] On 15 December, he returned to Fluminense for a fourth spell as manager,[20] but resigned on 28 April 2022, despite winning the 2022 Campeonato Carioca.[21]

On 29 July 2017, Braga's 18-year-old son, João Pedro, died after falling from the balcony of the family's apartment in the Leblon region of Rio de Janeiro.[22] Braga was informed of his son's death whilst undergoing the final preparations for Fluminense's fixture against Ponte Preta the following day. Ponte Preta agreed to Fluminense's request to postpone the match, which was rescheduled by the CBF.

As of 26 April 2022

Managerial record by team and tenure

Team	Nat.	From	To	Record								Ref
				G	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Botafogo		1 March 1985	29 October 1985	35	13	10	12	40	44	−4	037.14
Internacional		2 October 1988	18 June 1989	62	31	19	12	95	52	+43	050.00
Famalicão		July 1989	May 1991	72	29	22	21	88	65	+23	040.28	[23]
Internacional		11 June 1991	22 September 1991	18	11	5	2	25	8	+17	061.11
Belenenses		3 November 1991	16 October 1993	68	30	21	17	95	69	+26	044.12	[23]
Famalicão		28 November 1993	2 June 1994	24	4	7	13	19	54	−35	016.67	[23]
Rio Ave		21 August 1994	1 October 1994	6	2	1	3	6	7	−1	033.33	[23]
Vitória de Setúbal		20 November 1994	25 February 1995	12	1	2	9	9	21	−12	008.33	[23]
Vasco da Gama		April 1995	May 1995	14	6	3	5	19	15	+4	042.86	[24]
Internacional		12 July 1995	3 December 1995	29	12	9	8	44	27	+17	041.38
Guarani		25 March 1997	20 April 1997	5	0	3	2	8	11	−3	000.00
Atlético Paranaense		July 1997	21 August 1998	61	32	15	14	111	71	+40	052.46
Coritiba		30 April 1999	September 1999	21	9	6	6	30	29	+1	042.86
Paraná		7 October 1999	5 March 2000	20	10	3	7	28	24	+4	050.00
Vasco da Gama		5 March 2000	2 June 2000	23	16	5	2	62	21	+41	069.57	[24]
Marseille		2 June 2000	17 November 2000	16	5	3	8	17	20	−3	031.25
Atlético Mineiro		January 2001	19 April 2001	24	12	8	4	49	23	+26	050.00
Botafogo		15 October 2001	8 July 2002	55	21	17	17	100	90	+10	038.18
Botafogo		22 August 2002	22 September 2002	8	2	2	4	7	13	−6	025.00
Atlético Paranaense		18 October 2002	19 November 2002	6	3	1	2	13	12	+1	050.00
Ponte Preta		11 December 2002	14 December 2003	56	15	22	19	83	93	−10	026.79
Flamengo		17 December 2003	18 July 2004	44	19	12	13	70	56	+14	043.18	[25]
Fluminense		21 December 2004	13 December 2005	74	37	17	20	144	109	+35	050.00
Internacional		13 December 2005	24 April 2007	94	53	23	18	140	83	+57	056.38
Internacional		10 August 2007	1 June 2008	50	28	9	13	93	45	+48	056.00
Al Jazira		2 July 2008	7 June 2011	86	51	21	14	195	114	+81	059.30	[26]
Fluminense		8 June 2011	29 July 2013	142	77	27	38	230	153	+77	054.23	[27]
Internacional		17 December 2013	31 December 2014	62	37	10	15	103	63	+40	059.68
Al Jazira		16 June 2015	12 December 2015	16	3	6	7	32	38	−6	018.75
Fluminense		30 November 2016	16 June 2018	109	43	29	37	166	129	+37	039.45	[28]
Flamengo		2 January 2019	29 May 2019	30	18	7	5	56	27	+29	060.00
Cruzeiro		27 September 2019	29 November 2019	14	3	8	3	10	11	−1	021.43
Vasco da Gama		16 December 2019	16 March 2020	14	4	5	5	8	9	−1	028.57
Internacional		10 November 2020	26 February 2021	18	10	4	4	28	14	+14	055.56	[17]
FC Lugano		30 June 2021	1 September 2021	6	3	1	2	14	8	+6	050.00	[29]
Fluminense		15 December 2021	28 April 2022	21	14	3	4	31	12	+19	066.67
Career total				1,429	664	375	390	2,268	1,640	+628	046.47	—

• Abel Braga at National-Football-Teams.com
• Abel Braga at Sambafoot (archived)
• Abel Braga coach profile at Sambafoot (archive)