SL Benfica - António Oliveira
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Playing Career
Kazma SC
Cano Sport Academy
Athletico Paranaense
Cuiabá - MT
Coritiba FC
António Oliveira was born on 9 October 1982 in Lisbon, Portugal, the son of the former Portugal coach António Oliveira. He played as a defender for Benfica B in the early 2000s but did not have an extended professional playing career.
He began coaching abroad, working as an assistant at Tractor Sazi in Iran and Rudar Velenje in Slovenia, before taking his first head coaching role at Kazma in Kuwait and then at Cano Sport Academy in Equatorial Guinea. He moved to Brazil as an assistant at Santos and Athletico Paranaense, and was promoted to head coach of Athletico Paranaense in March 2021.
Benfica appointed him head coach of Benfica B on 5 January 2022, following Nélson Veríssimo's promotion to the first team, and he led the reserve side in the second tier for the remainder of the 2021/22 season, leaving at the end of it.
He returned to Brazil in June 2022, coaching Cuiaba, Coritiba, Corinthians, Sport Recife and Remo.
Coaching Philosophy
Oliveira coaches an aggressive, vertical game: a 4-2-3-1 that presses high in coordinated triggers and looks to win the ball in the opposition half rather than wait for it. He asks for quick transitions with few touches, attacking full-backs and a number ten between the lines, and his sides are conditioned to sustain a high physical output for the full ninety minutes.
At Benfica B he used the second tier to push academy players into first-team readiness, prioritising the development of young talent over the reserve side's league position.