(Reuters) – Rio de Janeiro club Flamengo have appointed Brazil’s Dorival Junior as their new head coach to replace Paulo Sousa as they look to bounce back from a poor start to the season.
Sousa, who joined Flamengo in December last year, left the club earlier this week following back-to-back league defeats against Bragantino and Fortaleza, which left them in 14th place in Brazil’s top tier after 10 matches.
In a statement on Friday, the club said Dorival, 60, had signed a deal that will run until December 2022. This will be Dorival’s third stint at the club, having previously coached them in 2012 and 2018.
His first job as manager was with Ferroviaria in 2002, after which he coached a string of Brazilian teams.
Dorival takes over at one of Brazil’s biggest and most successful clubs, albeit one regularly in flux. He will be Flamengo’s fifth coach in two years.
Domenec Torrent, Rogerio Ceni, Renato Gaucho and Sousa have taken charge since the departure of Portuguese boss Jorge Jesus in July 2020 but all left after short spells, buffeted by the long shadow of the victorious Jesus and the demands of a large fan base.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Kim Coghill)
