Zé Ricardo · Biography

On 26 May 2016, after Muricy Ramalho left, Flamengo handed their first team on an interim basis to the coach who, months earlier, had won the Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior with the club’s under-20 side. Three days later, on 29 May, José Ricardo Mannarino, known as Zé Ricardo, made his debut with a 2-1 win over Ponte Preta. On 14 July 2016 he was given the job on a permanent basis. Born on 13 March 1971 in Rio de Janeiro and holding Brazilian and Italian citizenship, he reached the professional game after nearly two decades developing players in futsal and youth football.

From futsal to the Flamengo academy

A right-footed centre-back, he came through the youth ranks at São Cristóvão and played for Olaria, but gave up eleven-a-side football while still a junior, without turning professional. In futsal he did play professionally until the age of 25. At 21, while still playing, he was already coaching the Vila Isabel futsal team. In the 1990s he worked in the youth set-ups at Vasco da Gama and Botafogo and coached adult teams in Italy. In 1998 he joined Flamengo’s futsal department.

The move to the full-sized pitch came in 2005, when he took charge of Flamengo’s under-13s. In 2008 he left to work at Audax Rio, and in 2012 he returned to Flamengo to coach the club’s younger age group, winning the Brazil-Japan Friendship Cup with them in 2014. In October that year he took over the juniors, with whom he won the Otávio Pinto Guimarães Tournament in 2014, the Rio state under-20 championship in 2015 and, in January 2016, the Copinha, Flamengo’s third title in that competition.

Flamengo head coach (2016-2017)

In the 2016 Brazilian Série A, Zé Ricardo’s Flamengo finished third and qualified for the 2017 Copa Libertadores. The following year brought his first trophy as a senior coach: the 2017 Campeonato Carioca, won unbeaten. In the Libertadores, however, the team went out in the group stage. He was sacked on 6 August 2017, with Flamengo fifth in the league, after roughly 430 days in charge. His record read 90 matches, 48 wins, 25 draws and 17 defeats.

Vasco, Botafogo, Fortaleza and Internacional

In August 2017 he agreed terms with Vasco da Gama. He took over midway through the league season and guided the side to seventh place, enough to qualify for the 2018 Copa Libertadores. In 2018 he was voted best coach of the Campeonato Carioca. He resigned on 2 June that year, citing personal reasons, straight after a 2-1 home defeat to Botafogo at São Januário.

Two months later, in August 2018, he took charge of Botafogo themselves, staying until 12 April 2019. Later in 2019 he also had spells at Fortaleza, from August to September, and at Internacional, who appointed him on 21 October and let him go around 48 days later.

Qatar, a second Vasco spell and Japan

In June 2021 he accepted his first job abroad, signing for Qatar SC. On 4 December 2021 Vasco, then in Brazil’s second tier, announced his return for a second spell. He led the team in 25 matches, with 12 wins, 8 draws and 5 defeats, and resigned on 5 June 2022 to move to Japanese football.

At Shimizu S-Pulse he inherited a side fighting relegation from the J1 League. The club finished the 2022 campaign in 17th place and went down. On 3 April 2023, with Shimizu in the J2 League, the club terminated his contract.

Cruzeiro, Goiás, Criciúma and Sporting Cristal

Back in Brazil, Cruzeiro hired him on 4 September 2023 to replace the Portuguese coach Pepa. He lasted ten matches, with three wins, two draws and five defeats, and left on 12 November. On Christmas Day 2023 he joined Goiás, where he recorded nine wins, six draws and one defeat before being dismissed on 25 March 2024.

On 16 December 2024 he was unveiled by Criciúma, with whom he won the 2025 Recopa Catarinense, the second trophy of his senior career; he left in May 2025 after 21 matches. On 3 April 2026 Peruvian club Sporting Cristal named him as Paulo Autuori’s successor while the team was competing in the Libertadores. His time in Lima ended by mutual agreement on 5 June 2026. In late October 2026, Santa Cruz, newly promoted to Brazil’s Série B, confirmed the appointment of Zé Ricardo.