Luiz Felipe Scolari's Biography
His father Benjamin was a central defender in the 1940s.
Luiz Felipe Scolari played football for Aimore (as a junior), Caxias, Juventude, Novo Hamburgo, and CSA.
Scolari gained a physical education qualification and pursued a career in coaching.
His accolades early on included masterminding Criciuma's victory in the Copa do Brasil in 1991, and also strong results from Gremio and Palmeiras, with both of which Luiz Felipe Scolari won the Copa Libertadores (the South American equivalent of the European Cup).
Scolari's spells at Gremio and Palmeiras were broken by a two year spell at the helm of Al Qadisiya in Kuwait.
Scolari then switched to international management and coached Brazil to the 2002 World Cup, having replaced Emerson Leco as Brazil coach the year before.
In December 2002, Luiz Felipe Scolari took over as Portugal manager and he led them to the final of Euro 2004.
In 2006 Scolari coached Portugal to the World Cup semi-finals.
In the summer of 2008 it was announced that Luiz Felipe Scolari would take over as coach of Chelsea on 1 July 2008.
Scolari followed in the footsteps of Claudio Ranieri, Jose Mourinho and Avram Grant in managing Chelsea under the ownership of Roman Abramovich.
According to Tim Vickery on the BBC website, Scolari, or 'Big Phil' as he is sometimes known, "is by nature remarkably open. He holds court on such subjects as the fact that he tells his players to commit fouls, his admiration for General Pinochet or his prejudice against homosexuals."
On 9 February 2009, Luiz Felipe Scolari was sacked as Chelsea manager.
On 8 July 2014 Scolari had what he described as the worst day of his life when Brazil, who were hosting the World Cup, lost in the semi-finals to Germany 1-7 with him back as manager.
Back to Top