Botafogo coach, Portuguese Renato Paiva, 55, was 12 years old when Brazil was eliminated by Italy in the 1982 World Cup. He cried with the defeat, according to the basis of identifying in that team the basis of beautiful football.
Paiva’s words in the locker room after Botafogo’s victory over European champion Paris Saint-Germain, on the 19th, looked like a Brazilian.
“We have to recognize who we are, to realize who we are. Others are already smaller, as if we were anything.”
Survivor of the hardest group of the Club World Cup, Botafogo faces Palmeiras on Saturday for the round of 16. It is the only Brazilian duel so far. The winner faces Benfica, from Portugal, or Chelsea, from England.
The formation of the Lone Star beat Seattle Sounders (USA), 2-1, and PSG, 1-0. He lost to Atletico Madrid 1-0 in the last round.
Born in Pedrógão Pequeno, Vila de Ladeiras narrow right in the middle of Portugal – Lembra Ouro Preto, in Minas Gerais – Paiva did not insist on being a soccer player. He went to live in Setúbal at age 12, and when training in the base categories of Vitória coincided with the school times, he opted for the second.
Football, however, has always been the center of attention. He was a fan of the Championship Manager computer game, where the user, without control of players’ actions, simulates training a football team and needs to deal with tactical schemes, purchase, sale and injuries.
He practiced handball, indoor soccer and, passionate about the game, read an academic thesis by Carlos Carvalhal, one of the coaches of the Portuguese school that enjoyed the approach with the university.
The thesis opened his mind. Paiva began his coach career in Benfica’s children’s categories, a giant from the country where he has had to deal with the pressure for results. In interviews, he said he felt uncomfortable with the concept that winning was more important than forming athletes. I would like to make a presentation to parents at the beginning of the year to align expectations.
He spent 16 years at Benfica’s base. It helped train players who are successful in the main European teams and make up the victorious Portuguese generation, such as Bernardo Silva, Gonçalo Ramos and João Neves – the last two of PSG.
He saw coaches like Rui Vitória and Jorge Jesus, the one, win titles for the main Benfica, while being prepared to be the future of the Lisbon team. Before completing the second season at Benfica B, Paiva received contact from Independiente del Valle, Ecuador club that emerged this decade with well -formed teams. He accepted and won Del Valle’s first national title in 2021.
He trained León from Mexico and was hired by Bahia to 2023, the first year of Tricolor as SAF (Society of Football), under the control of the City Group. He was Bahian champion, but had a troubled relationship, to the point that some employees celebrate his departure.
Heard by the report under reserve, people who followed Paiva’s work in Bahia say the coach was polite, but changed behavior when the team went into a bad phase.
He was pressured by the fans for saying that he was “very quiet” with the work after suffering a 6-0 rout for Sport, hit a sectorist during a news conference and left the club 15 days later.
He said he felt hostility in Bahia, with physical threats and looks at airports.
After season in Mexico, Paiva returned to Brazil to take over a Botafogo of Rebordosa.
Brazilian champion after 29 years and Libertadores for the first time with Portuguese Arthur Jorge, who went to Qatar, Botafogo took a long time to choose a new coach in 2025, saw some of his main players come out and did ugly in the Carioca Championship, ending ninth. In February, Paiva, fourth Portuguese in four years, was announced.
He maintained the main feature of the champion formation, that of a fast team as soon as he recovers the ball, but developed malleability. Botafogo is fierce – the fans imitate dog barks when steering wheels and defenders disarm opponents – and fast, especially at Nilton Santos stadium, where synthetic grass makes the game more run.
Against Paris Saint-Germain, Paiva left a line of five to six athletes protecting the area, with individual persecution to the French, in order to recover possession and arm a counterattack in the shortest possible time.
“Botafogo with vertical attack and transition game began with Luiz Castro in 2023. What Paiva brought, and which matches what we saw against PSG, is an adaptability. Botafogo has a particular strategy for each match,” says Guilherme Dias, tactical analyst and owner of an Instagram profile about Alvinegro.
“I don’t say it’s a better, or more showy team than 2024, but it has more answers. It’s a more chameleon team.”
