São Paulo acted quickly in the market and agreed this Friday morning (15) for the return of coach Dorival Júnior, on a short-term contract valid only until the end of the season.
The club fired predecessor Roger Machado late on Wednesday night (13), minutes after being eliminated away from home by Juventude, in the fifth phase of the Copa do Brasil.
Assistants Lucas Silvestre (son of Dorival) and Pedro Sotero also return to the club, as well as analysts Guilherme Lyra and João Marcos Soares.
It will be the 64-year-old coach’s third stint with the Morumbi club. The first was between 2017 and 2018, when they didn’t win titles.
He returned to command the tricolor in 2023, when he led the team of Lucas Moura and Rodrigo Nestor to win their first Brazilian Cup, beating the favorite Flamengo in the decision.
In total, the coach has 92 games for the team, with 42 wins, 22 draws and 28 defeats, which corresponds to a success rate of around 53.6%.
The good work in his second spell at São Paulo led Dorival to the Brazilian team, with the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation) announcing his signing in January 2024, after the dismissal of Fernando Diniz.
He didn’t stay at the head of the national team for long, for just over a year. He was eliminated by Uruguay in the quarter-finals of the Copa América, in a penalty shootout, and a 4-1 defeat against Argentina, at the Monumental de Núñez, in Buenos Aires, in the Qualifiers. He was fired by the CBF a few days after the defeat against their historic rival.
A month later, he made his debut on the Corinthians bench, replacing Argentine Ramón Díaz. He commanded the black and white team until the beginning of April, when he was fired by the board after a defeat to Internacional in the Brazilian Championship, replaced precisely by Fernando Diniz.
During his time at the Parque São Jorge club, he won his fourth Brazilian Cup title — he also won in 2010, with Santos, and in 2022, with Flamengo —, in addition to the Brazilian Super Cup.
