Vasco fired coach Rafael Paiva on Sunday (24/11), after the 3-1 defeat to Corinthians, in the Brasileirão, and is moving in the market in search of a replacement. Three foreigners were approached to coach the team in 2025, according to information from the “ge” website.
Felipe Maestro takes over Vasco on an interim basis for the three remaining commitments in the Brazilian Championship. He has experience as a coach at Tigres, Bangu (in two spells), Confiança and Volta Redonda. He has been Vasco’s technical director since June 2024.
With no risk of relegation, Vasco is in 11th place in the Brazilian Championship, in the classification zone for the Copa Sudamericana, but the sequence of four defeats and below-expected performance culminated in the change of technical command.
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Who can coach Vasco in 2025?
See below names surveyed by Vasco to be the coach in 2025.
Pedro Caixinha (without club)
Portuguese Pedro Caixinha was fired by Red Bull Bragantino after almost two years, a period in which he played 124 games, with 50 wins, 38 draws and 36 defeats.
Under Caixinha’s command, Bragantino reached two semi-finals of the Campeonato Paulista (2023 and 2024), in addition to having had its best campaign in the history of points, in 2023.
In addition to Vasco, Grêmio and Santos are mentioned as possible destinations for Pedro Caixinha.
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Gustavo Quinteros (Vélez Sarsfield)
Gustavo Quinteros, an Argentine naturalized Bolivian, is in his first season at the helm of Vélez Sarsfield and is leader of the Argentine Championship. He has a contract with the club until the end of 2024, and there has been no confirmation of renewal yet.
At 59 years old, the coach has extensive experience in South American football, having played in Bolivian, Arab, Ecuadorian and Argentinean football.
He commanded the Bolivian and Ecuador national teams, in addition to stints at Colo-Colo (Chile), Emelec (Ecuador), Universidad Católica (Chile) and Tijuana (Mexico). Accumulates four titles – Liga Ecuador, Liga Chilena, Taça Chile and Supercopa de Chile.
Hernán Crespo (without club)
Crespo began his coaching career in the youth teams of Parma, in Italy, and then coached Modena. The first experiences in South America were in Argentina, at Banfield and Defensa y Justicia. He had a brief spell at São Paulo, in 2021, when he won Paulistão.
Since then, he has coached Al-Duhail, from Qatar, and Al Ain, from the United Arab Emirates. He had a close name with Grêmio in recent weeks.
MORE: How much did Vasco win in the Copa do Brasil?
Why was Rafael Paiva fired?
Rafael Paiva was fired as a result of Vasco’s drop in performance in the Brasileirão. The team has four consecutive defeats. There is no risk of relegation, but they could be left out of the fight for a place in the Copa Libertadores, which was one of the main goals of the season.
When announcing his resignation, Pedrinho claimed that the decision “was not easy, but it was necessary”.
– Just to inform you that Paiva will not remain. I want to publicly thank him for the work he did during this period, which was not the first. Before me, he already had another spell, where he also faced the team in a difficult situation and delivered comfortably. With me, he caught the team in a complicated situation, led them to a Copa do Brasil semi-final, and reached 43 points early. But it is a decision that has to be made. No one is happy, but we realized that it has to be done. We realize that it is necessary – said the club president.
Rafael Paiva took permanent command of the team in June, after Álvaro Pacheco left. Paiva managed the team in 35 games, with 13 wins, 10 draws and 12 defeats.
MORE: Corinthians x Vasco: result, goals and how the game went
Vasco’s next games
- Vasco x Atlético-GO – 12/01 (Sunday) – 9:30 pm – Brazilian Championship
- Vasco x Atlético-MG – 04/12 (Wednesday) – to be defined – Brazilian Championship
- Cuiabá x Vasco – 08/12 (Sunday) – to be defined – Brazilian Championship
