Santos announced in the early hours of this Thursday (19) the dismissal of Argentine coach Juan Pablo Vojvoda, 50. After seven months in charge of the team, the coach was informed of his dismissal by the board while still in the Vila Belmiro locker room after the 2-1 defeat to Internacional, in a match valid for the seventh round of the Brazilian Championship.
Along with Vojvoda, assistants Nahuel Martinez and Gáston Liendo, physical trainer Luis Azpiazu, goalkeeper trainer Santiago Piccinini and psychologist Christian Rodrigues leave the club.
“Santos FC announces the departure of coach Juan Pablo Vojvoda and the members of his technical committee. The club is grateful for the services provided and wishes him success in his career,” said the association in a statement.
With three spells at the club – in 2008, 2018 and the last between 2020 and 2021 –, Cuca emerges as the favorite to succeed in the position. However, President Marcelo Teixeira’s fear of a negative repercussion similar to that faced by arch-rival Corinthians when he hired the professional in April 2023 weighs against the coach.
At the time, shortly after the announcement, the coach dealt with a wave of rejection and protests on social media due to his conviction for sexual violence as a Grêmio player, alongside three other athletes from the Gaucho team. The victim was a 13-year-old teenager in Switzerland in 1987.
The work was completed after just two matches. Convicted in absentia and without legal representation at the time, Cuca only returned to coaching a football team after the Regional Court of Bern-Mittelland annulled the initial sentence in the case, in January 2024.
Since then, he went to Athletico-PR in the same year and worked at Atlético-MG for eight months in 2025, speaking out a few times about what happened. He won a Campeonato Mineiro title during the period.
Vojvoda’s departure forces Santos to pay in full the amount stipulated in the contract, valid until December 2026, estimated at R$11.7 million. The calculation is based on the coach’s monthly earnings, of around R$1.3 million.
The club, therefore, further increases its debt to recent former coaches. FIFA has already ordered Peixe to compensate the Portuguese Pedro Caixinha, fired in April 2025, with 2.3 million euros (R$ 14.4 million), in addition to a fine of 5% per year from the date of termination – formalized on April 14. Santos appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Vojvoda has long lived with intense pressure in his role, which worsened after the 2-2 draw against Mirassol, in the interior of São Paulo, on the 10th of this month.
The Santos board understood that there was no further progress in the work and that the coach’s cycle had come to an end, as he had a 12-day break without games.
Among the top hats, the criticism was due to constant changes in the lineups, the lack of a team even after seven months in office and even wrong choices in substitutions. The internal assessment is that the cast is good and the low performance was not justified.
Even with a strong appeal from his peers for his dismissal, the coach won a vote of confidence from president Marcelo Teixeira for a sequence of two matches at Vila Belmiro: the classic against Corinthians, last Sunday (15), and the clash with Inter, then last placed in the Brasileirão. The coach only scored one point from the six played, making maintenance almost unsustainable.
Vojvoda arrived at Santos in August last year surrounded by hope after his long work at Fortaleza, a club he left after 310 games, five titles, three classifications in the Libertadores da América and runner-up in the Copa Sudamericana.
At Santos, however, he fought against relegation in the last Brasileirão and was never able to convince. In total, there were 33 matches, with ten wins, 13 draws and ten defeats, a performance of 43.4%, similar to predecessors Cleber Xavier (42.2%) and Pedro Caixinha (43.1%).
In addition to Cuca, other names are also discussed among the directors: Vanderlei Luxemburgo, very close to President Marcelo Teixeira, and Tite, who would have Neymar’s approval.
