Mário Wilson was born in Lourenço Marques, now Maputo, in Mozambique on 17 October 1929 and died in Lisbon on 3 October 2016. He began at Desportivo de Lourenço Marques, spent two seasons at Sporting from 1949, and then played twelve years for Académica de Coimbra as a centre-back and occasional forward, making 286 appearances in the Primeira Liga. His authority at Coimbra earned him the nickname "o Velho Capitão", the old captain, which stayed with him for the rest of his life.

He coached Académica from 1964 to 1968, taking them to second place in 1966/67 and to a cup final, and later worked at Belenenses and Vitória de Guimarães. He had three separate spells at Benfica rather than one long tenure. The first, in 1975/76, brought the national championship at the first attempt in the unsettled period after the revolution. He returned in 1979/80 and won the Taça de Portugal and the Lisbon honour cup. He came back a third time in 1995, winning the Taça de Portugal in 1995/96 and finishing second in the league, and remained attached to the first team into 1997; his last match in charge was a 1-0 win at Chaves on 1 November 1997. In all he took charge of 132 matches and won 88.

He was a calm, paternal figure who trusted senior players and preferred a settled, balanced side to constant change, and he was trusted by the club precisely because he could steady it in a crisis. Between his Benfica spells he managed Portugal from 1978 to 1980, and he also coached Boavista, Estoril and FAR Rabat before finishing at Alverca in 1998/99 at the age of sixty-nine. He was made a Commander of the Order of Merit and is one of the few men held in genuine affection at Benfica, Sporting and Académica alike.