António Luís Alves Ribeiro Oliveira

Infobox Football biography


playername = António Oliveira
fullname = António Luís Alves Ribeiro Oliveira
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1952|6|10
cityofbirth = Penafiel
countryofbirth = Portugal
height =
nickname =
position = Midfielder
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1970-1979
1979-1980
1980
1980-1981
1981-1985
1985-1986
clubs = FC Porto
Real Betis
FC Porto
FC Penafiel
Sporting Lisbon
CS Marítimo
caps(goals) = 188 (69)
10 (1)
12 (1)
22 (10)
66 (27)
7 (0)
nationalyears = 1974-1983
nationalteam = Portugal
nationalcaps(goals) = 24 (7)
manageryears = 1987-1988
1991-1992
1992-1994
1994-1996
1996-1998
1998-2000
2000-2002
managerclubs = Vitória Guimarães
Gil Vicente
SC Braga
Portugal
FC Porto
Real Betis
Portugal

António Luís Alves Ribeiro Oliveira (born June 10, 1952 in Penafiel) is a former footballer, manager and current president of Portuguese club F.C. Penafiel.

Playing career

Oliveira, a product of FC Porto's youth system, debuted with the first team aged 18, and was already a very important player on a side that recaptured the league title in the 77-78 season, ending a 20-year drought, which earned him a transfer to Real Betis, where he was, however, unsuccessful, returning to Porto, still in time to be crowned 1980 league champion.

However, after internal disputes, both club director (eventually president) Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa and coach José Maria Pedroto left Porto in 1980, and Oliveira followed suit, joining FC Penafiel as a player-manager (while still being called up for international matches), changing to Sporting Clube de Portugal from 1981-85, and quitting after a short stint with CS Marítimo.

Pedroto, the legendary Portuguese manager praised him as "...one of the best all-time players". By the time of his retirement, he was capped by Portugal 24 times, scoring 7 goals.

Manager career

Relatively unsuccessful while a club manager (except for back-to-back national championships with former side FC Porto (1996-1998)), Oliveira had two terms in the Portuguese national team: first during the whole Euro 1996 campaign and then for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. While he brought Portugal again to a major competition (after notable failures such as the USA'94 campaign led by Carlos Queiróz), in the European tournament he was knocked out against soon-to-be finalists Czech Republic in the quarter-finals.

Several problems surfaced in his second term. While the 2002 WC qualifying stage was unusually smooth, several problems and poor judgement decisions occurred during the preparation and tournament itself - Vítor Baía replaced in-form Ricardo in goal, Beto played out of position at right back, Luís Figo was in very poor physical condition and Hugo Viana was called as a last-minute replacement for Daniel Kenedy (who tested positive in a doping control test) - as Portugal underachieved and ended third in its group stage, subsequently eliminated. Oliveira was fired after the World Cup.

Honours

*Portuguese League 1978, 1979, 1982, 1997, 1998
*Portuguese Cup 1977, 1982, 1998
*Portuguese SuperCup 1982
*Portuguese Footballer of the Year 1978, 1981, 1982