With a frightening average, Athletico is a machine for firing coaches in the Petraglia Era

Club Athletico Paranaense is looking for a new coach to lead the professional football team in the Brazilian Championship Series B. We offer:

Salary above the Second Division market average
High-level facilities at CT do Caju
Modern stadium with retractable roof and synthetic grass approved by FIFA
~~Job stability and long-term project~~

In an imaginary job advertisement for the position of Athletico coach, the word "stability" and the term "long term" cannot appear . Despite the speech of innovation, rebellion, enthusiasm and ambition, Furacão does more of the same and, without knowing what it wants, sustains a frightening culture of rotation in the football leadership.

Over the last 31 years – most of them with Mario Celso Petraglia as director – Rubro-Negro has hired (and fired) 101 coaches. The average is 3.26 per season. In other words, there is no work that can resist the powerful Atlético winds of immediacy.

Athletico doesn't support anyone

The last time a single coach led Athletico throughout the entire annual calendar was in 1982, with the historic Geraldo Damasceno in the red-black dugout.

The longest-serving in recent years were Tiago Nunes , who took over on an interim basis in June 2018 and stayed until the beginning of November 2019, and Paulo Autuori , who worked from March 2016 to May 2017, when he became director.

The person who had the most spells at Furacão was Antônio Lopes (six), followed by Geninho and Vadão (five). In total, 69 different people managed the team during that period.

In terms of continuity, only ten coaches were kept from year to year, with Geninho and Vadão achieving the feat twice. However, none of them completed a season in charge of the team. See the list below:

Abel Braga (97-98),
Wadao (99-2000),
Genie (01-02),
Wad (06-07),
Ney Franco (07-08),
Genie (08-09)
Antonio Lopes (09-10)
Sergio Soares (10-11)
Claudinei Oliveira (14-15)
Christopher Borges (15-16)
Tiago Nunes (18-19)
Paulo Autuori (20-21).

However, surprisingly, Petraglia was not responsible for the season with the highest number of changes in command in the last 31 years. Between 2009 and 2011, during a period of Petraglia's hiatus in power, the person in control was Marcos Malucelli.

In 2011, the year of relegation to Series B, there were six coaches in total: Sérgio Soares, Leandro Niehues, Geninho, Adílson Batista, Renato Gaúcho and Antônio Lopes.

"Whoever wins the game is the player"

One of Petraglia's famous quotes helps explain the mentality perpetuated at Athletico. In 2020, when several red-blacks were asking for the return of Tiago Nunes, who is currently being challenged at Universidad Católica in Chile , the president downplayed the role of coaches.

"The widows of the former coach, stop thinking that the coach is the one who wins matches! The player is the one who wins matches! 16 athletes from the 2019 group left for various reasons!", published the old Twitter account, currently X.

This exaggerated change of coaches, which consolidated a culture of work interruptions, was seen in the biggest failures of the Hurricane in this century: the relegations of 2011 and 2024.

What is also clear is that the club does not follow a clear line regarding the working style and line of thought of who should lead the team. There is no defined standard, everything depends on the moment and the circumstances.

Last coach fired, Barbieri surpassed Cuca

Maurício Barbieri, who was fired this month , remained as coach for longer than all five of the club's coaches in 2024, for example. He spent 134 days (between the day of the official announcement and dismissal) and played 24 games. The numbers surpass those of Cuca, who played 23 games in 112 days as the club's coach last season.

The constant changes were pointed out as one of the main errors that led to the relegation to Série B. However, Athletico changed the leadership again and is now betting on the Portuguese João Correia as an emergency solution.

Athletico coaches in 2024 and 2025