Claudinei Oliveira · Biography

Claudinei dos Santos Oliveira was born in September 1969 in Santos, on the coast of São Paulo state, and started out in football at his hometown club. He spent more than a decade as a goalkeeper, but it was on the touchline that his career took hold: he learned to coach in Santos’s youth teams and, from 2013 on, managed a long list of clubs in Brazil’s Série A and Série B.

A goalkeeper in the provinces

He joined Santos in 1989 and stayed until 1990 without breaking into the first team. From there he played mostly for small clubs in inland São Paulo and Minas Gerais, including Jaboticabal, Nacional de Uberaba, Mamoré, Araguari and Caldense. His longest spell was at Portuguesa Santista, from 1996 to 1999. He later moved to the north of the country with Remo in 2000 and Tuna Luso in 2001, then retired in the early 2000s.

The Santos academy

He returned to Santos as a coach to work with the youth teams. He won the Campeonato Paulista at under-15 level in 2009, under-17 in 2010 and under-20 in 2012. In January 2013 he lifted the Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior, Brazil’s leading youth tournament. After Muricy Ramalho was sacked, he took over the first team in late May 2013 and stayed until the end of the Brasileirão, in which Santos finished seventh.

First steps in senior football

Goiás appointed him in January 2014 and let him go in April. Two days later he signed with Paraná in Série B, and in September that year he moved to Atlético Paranaense, where he stayed until March 2015. Vitória hired him that same month and dismissed him in May. In late 2015 he went back to Paraná for a second spell that ended in June 2016.

Two promotions with Avaí

Avaí named him as Silas’s replacement on 24 August 2016. In his first season he secured promotion to Série A with a round to spare. He could not prevent relegation in 2017 but kept the job until April 2018, when he was sacked after one win in eleven games. He returned to Florianópolis in December 2020, and 2021 was his best year there: he won the Campeonato Catarinense after a 1-1 draw with Chapecoense in the final, and took Avaí back to the top flight for his second promotion with the club. Avaí dismissed him in February 2022, six games into that season.

Recife, Paraná and Goiânia

Between his two Avaí spells he moved through several jobs. A week after leaving Florianópolis in April 2018 he joined Sport, where he stayed until August. That same month he returned to Paraná for a third time and stayed until October. He then managed Chapecoense from October 2018 to March 2019 and kept them in Série A. In 2019 he was in charge of Goiás from April to August, and in 2020 he coached Botafogo of Ribeirão Preto, resigning in November after five wins in 22 matches.

From Chapecoense to Santa Cruz

In 2022 he had spells at Operário Ferroviário, from March to July, and at Sport for a second time, from July to November. In December he took over Vila Nova and stayed until August 2023. That same month he returned to Chapecoense, then in the Série B relegation zone. On 25 November 2023, in round 38, which closed the championship, his side came from behind to beat Vitória 3-1 at the Arena Condá and stayed up, finishing 16th with 40 points. He was dismissed in February 2024. He then coached Guarani from February to April 2024, and Londrina in Série C from May 2024 to June 2025. That month he moved to Paysandu, where he stayed until September, and in September 2025 he joined Ferroviária, leaving in November. Santa Cruz appointed him on 24 February 2026 and dismissed him in May 2026.