São Paulo – The Libyan national football team has a new coach, the Brazilian Marcos Paquetá. He was hired by the Libyan Football Federation (LFF) last Monday (12th) in Tripoli, the country’s capital, where he signed a four-year contract. The information was disclosed by African news agency Panapress.
The Brazilian’s objective will be to take the Libyan team for the African Cup, to be played in 2012 in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, and for the FIFA World Cup 2014, in Brazil. Paquetá, aged 52, will replace the Serbian Branko Ivankovic.
According to Panapress, Paquetá claimed that Libyan football boasts many talented youths, and that they are evolving. The coach called on support from the FLF for his new mission, which he called “a difficult one.”
Marcos César Dias de Castro began his career in football as a player for América, from Rio, and then for Vasco, from the same city. He was nicknamed Paquetá because he used to live on Paquetá Island, in Rio de Janeiro.
He has already coached Flamengo, also from Rio, and Avaí, from Florianópolis. The coach headed the Brazilian Under-17 and Under-20 teams, both of which won the respective world championships, in 2003.
Paquetá has also coached Saudi team Al-Hilal and the Saudi national team. In Qatar, he coached Al-Gharrafa and Al-Rayan. These two teams are now run by the Brazilians Caio Júnior and Paulo Autuori, respectively.
The Libyan Federation also signed contracts with Egyptian coaches, for the Under-20 national team, Serbian coaches, for the Olympic team, and German coaches, for other youth categories.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
