São Paulo – Football coach Zico announced this Thursday (1st) on his Facebook profile that he will coach Qatar’s Al Gharafa. Zico said he will travel next weekend to sign the contract with the Doha-based team, and said the Arab team had been “courting” him since 2012.
“I am boarding a flight to Qatar on Saturday. I have in fact reached an agreement with Al Gharafa, verbally and by email, and my arrangements with the team are well underway. I am travelling to set the last details straight and sign the contract. I am enthused about the new challenge, but I would rather discuss it further once I have signed (the contract),” said the former number 10 shirt for Flamengo.
Zico revealed that talks with the Doha-based team started in 2012, after the club dismissed another Brazilian coach: Silas. On that occasion, the deal did not go through because Zico was coaching the Iraqi national team through the Qualifiers for the World Cup due next year in Brazil. Zico left the Iraqi team in November 2012 due to late payments.
This is not the first time that Al Gharafa is coached by a Brazilian. In addition to Silas, Caio Júnior, Marcos Paquetá and Celso Roth have led the team, whose athletes have included the Brazilians Juninho Pernambucano, Zé Roberto, Alex, Fernandão and Sony Anderson. Currently, the midfielder Nenê plays in Al Gharafa.
Zico, in turn, has coached eight teams: Kashima Antlers, from Japan; CFZ, from Rio de Janeiro; the Japanese national team; Fenerbahçe, from Turkey; Bunyodkor, from Uzbekistan; CSKA, from Russia; Olympiacos, from Greece; and the Iraqi national team. The coach’s press relations office could not be contacted for comments on the deal.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
