Early career Upon retiring as a player in 1982, he was appointed manager of
CSA, his former club, and would go on to win the
Alagoas state championship in his first season. After spells with
Juventude (twice),
Brasil de Pelotas and
Pelotas and
Saudi Arabian side
Al Shabab, he moved to
Grêmio, where he won the 1987
Gaúcho state championship. After managing
Goiás, Scolari had a two-year stint in charge of
Kuwaiti side
Qadsia, with whom he won the prestigious
Kuwait Emir Cup in 1989. This was followed by a brief period as manager of the
Kuwait national team, winning the 10th
Gulf Cup in Kuwait. Scolari returned to Brazil to coach
Coritiba. He stayed for just three matches, losing all of them. After the last loss, he abandoned the club by boarding the winning team's bus back to his hometown; and did not return even to collect his wages. Scolari coached
Criciúma to their first major national title, in the
1991 Copa do Brasil. He returned to club management in the Middle East, managing
Al-Ahli and a second spell at
Qadsia.
Return to Grêmio In 1993, Scolari returned to Grêmio, where, albeit leading the team to historic victories, he was criticized by the Brazilian media for playing a pragmatic style of football regarded as "un-Brazilian". He claimed six titles in only three years, including the
1995 Copa Libertadores, which qualified Grêmio for the
Intercontinental Cup, which they lost to
Dutch side
Ajax on penalties. The following year, they won the
Brazilian Championship. His team featured no real superstar and depended on workman-like players such as Paraguayan right back
Francisco Arce, tough-tackling
midfielder Dinho,
Paulo Nunes, and centre forward
Mário Jardel. He also led the team through the
2001 Copa América, where they were unexpectedly eliminated in the quarter-finals by
Honduras following a 2–0 defeat. After the match, Scolari commented: "I will go down in history as the Brazil coach who lost to Honduras – it's horrible. But Honduras played better, they deserved their win." In the build-up to the 2002 World Cup finals, Scolari refused to include veteran
striker Romário in his squad, despite public pressure and a tearful appeal from the player himself. Brazil entered the tournament unfancied, but wins over
Turkey,
China,
Costa Rica,
Belgium,
England and Turkey again took them to the final, where they beat
Germany 2–0 with two goals from
Ronaldo to win their fifth
FIFA World Cup title. Scolari resigned in August 2002, intending to move to Europe.
Portugal In November 2002 Scolari was appointed coach of
Portugal, who would be the host nation for
UEFA Euro 2004. The appointment was controversial as Scolari was highly paid, and was the first foreigner to coach Portugal since
Otto Glória. Scolari caused more controversy by calling up Brazil-born
Deco, who had only recently become eligible for Portuguese citizenship. At Euro 2004, Portugal got through the group stage and saw off England in the quarter-finals on penalties before beating the Netherlands in the semi-finals. In the
final, however, they were beaten in a 1–0 upset by tournament
underdogs
Greece. Scolari managed Portugal through the
2006 World Cup in Germany, where they reached the semi-finals, again coming out victorious in the quarter-finals against England. But they did not reach the final due to a semi-final defeat against eventual runners-up
France. Following the tournament, Scolari was strongly linked with the job of England manager, but chose to see out his contract with Portugal. Scolari took Portugal to
Euro 2008, where they reached the knockout stage by placing first in
Group A before being eliminated by Germany in the quarter-finals. During the tournament, he announced that he would be joining English side
Chelsea for the
2008–09 season.
Chelsea in 2008 Scolari took over as manager of Chelsea on 1 July 2008. This was announced shortly after Portugal's Euro 2008 match against the
Czech Republic on 11 June. With this appointment, Scolari became the first World Cup-winning manager to manage in the Premier League. In previous press conferences, Scolari had talked about "tantrums" and "triumphs" and had a reputation as a tough and unpredictable person. When asked whether his decision to join Chelsea was financial, he responded, "Yes, that is one of the reasons," but also added, "I'm 59 and I don't want to work as a coach until I'm 70. I want to retire in four or five years, so it was a financial matter but there are other things." He also said, "I could offer my son the opportunity to study elsewhere. You only get this kind of opportunity once so you take it or leave it, but it was not only financial." Scolari later said that he had turned down an offer to manage
Manchester City. Scolari's first match in charge of Chelsea was a
friendly match against Chinese side
Guangzhou Pharmaceutical, a 4–0 victory. He made
Barcelona midfielder
Deco, a player he was familiar with on the Portugal national team, his first signing for a fee of around £8 million, but was subsequently frustrated in his attempts to sign Brazilian international
Robinho from
Real Madrid. Under Scolari, Chelsea had the biggest away win of the club in five years in which Chelsea won 5–0 at the
Riverside Stadium in October 2008. It was also the club's biggest win ever at
Middlesbrough. Scolari was sacked as Chelsea manager on 9 February 2009 after a run of poor form culminating in a 2–0 defeat at
Liverpool followed by frustrating 0–0 home draw with
Hull City. The club's stated reason for his removal was that "the results and performances of the team appeared to be deteriorating at a key time in the season". Scolari's replacement at Chelsea for the remainder of the 2008–09 season was Dutch manager
Guus Hiddink, who simultaneously managed the
Russia national team.
Bunyodkor On 6 June 2009, Scolari was spotted in attendance at
Uzbekistan's World Cup qualifier against
Japan; on 8 June 2009, Scolari revealed that he had signed an 18-month contract with the Uzbekistani champions
FC Bunyodkor. The contract made Scolari the highest paid
football manager in the world, earning €13 million a year. He left by mutual consent on 29 May 2010 after failing to guide Bunyodkor past the last 16 in the
AFC Champions League, although he cited concern regarding his son's education as the key reason.
Return to Palmeiras On 13 June 2010, Scolari was announced as Palmeiras' new manager. He signed a -year contract. Palmeiras were 2012
Copa do Brasil champions under his management. In September 2012, Scolari left by mutual consent after an unsatisfying result in the
Campeonato Brasileiro.
Return to Brazil In November 2012, after two months without a club, Scolari returned to managing the
Brazil national team, replacing the outgoing
Mano Menezes. at a press conference at the 2014 FIFA World Cup After a successful campaign which earned them a
semi-final spot in the
2014 FIFA World Cup, Brazil were
defeated 7–1 in an upset loss against Germany at the
semi-final stage, which became their biggest-ever defeat at the World Cup (their largest margin of defeat was previously losing 3–0 to France in the 1998 final), the record for most goals conceded in their World Cup track record and its first home loss in a competitive match since 1975. Scolari described the match as "the worst day of [his] life", and took responsibility for the loss. On 14 July 2014, following a further 3–0 defeat in the
third place playoff match against the Netherlands, Scolari resigned from his position as Brazilian manager.
Third return to Grêmio On 29 July 2014, Scolari signed with Grêmio. He was officially unveiled by the club the following day at the
Arena do Grêmio. On 19 May 2015, Scolari resigned from his position after a poor start to the season.
Guangzhou Evergrande On 4 June 2015, Scolari was appointed head coach of
Chinese Super League champions
Guangzhou Evergrande, signing a one-and-a-half plus one-year contract. After four months in charge, Scolari led the club to victory in the
2015 Chinese Super League and
AFC Champions League, defeating
Cosmin Olăroiu's
Al-Ahli side with a
1–0 aggregate win in the final. He extended his contract for one year on 24 October 2016 after his potential successor
Marcello Lippi was appointed as the manager of
China national team. Scolari led Guangzhou win three consecutive league titles from 2015 to 2017. He refused to extend his contract again by the end of 2017 season.
Third return to Palmeiras in 2019 On 27 July 2018, Scolari returned to Brazilian side
Palmeiras for a third time. On 2 September 2019, Scolari would be fired by club, that is under a poor performance after
2019 Copa America; in this period, Scolari gained only 23.8% of points played by Palmeiras.
Return to Cruzeiro On 15 October 2020, Scolari returned to manage the football team of
Cruzeiro. On 25 January 2021, Scolari and Cruzeiro parted ways by mutual agreement.
Fourth return to Grêmio On 7 July 2021, Scolari returned to Grêmio for the fourth time, with the goal of moving the team out of the last place in the
Brasileiro Série A and fighting for the
Copa Sudamericana. He left on a mutual agreement on 11 October, with the club second bottom of the league.
Athletico Paranaense On 4 May 2022, Scolari was hired by
Athletico Paranaense as a technical director, being also a manager of the first team "until new definitions". With favorable results, he ended up coaching the side for the remainder of the season, leading them to the
2022 Copa Libertadores final, lost 1–0 to
Flamengo. He stepped down as head coach and continued at the club solely as a director in the 2023 season, appointing his assistant
Paulo Turra as his successor.
Atlético Mineiro On 16 June 2023, Scolari accepted an offer to resume his coaching career at
Atlético Mineiro, signing a one-and-a-half-year deal. He led the club to an impressive run in the
2023 Série A, but left on a mutual agreement on 20 March 2024, despite the club being in the
2024 Campeonato Mineiro finals. ==Personal life==