ISL 2016: Portuguese Nelo Vingada set to be new NorthEast United Head Coach
NorthEast United has reportedly signed Portuguese coach Nelo Vingada as their new head coach for the upcoming third season of the Indian Super League. The decision came in just days after their earlier appointed Brazilian coach Sargio Farias shockingly parted ways with the club and joined a Thai club.
63-year-old Eduardo Manuel Vingada, or Nelo Vingada as he is commonly known, brings with him rich 35 years of coaching experience. He was last in charge of Portuguese Super Liga club, CS Maritimo, but was sacked when he failed to influence the team to a better position in the league. He was also the assistant manager of the Portuguese U20 team which won back to back FIFA U20 World Cup in 1989 and 1991.
Vingada was also the manager of the Saudi Arabia national team who won the Asian Cup 1996 and qualified for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, but was sacked right before the tournament.
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Amongst the bigger names, he was also the assistant coach of Portuguese club Benfica, under head coach Graeme Souness. He also had stints as head coach for the Egyptian U23 National team and the Jordan National Football team.
He was also the manager of the Iran Olympic team and had a contract till the Rio Olympics 2016. But due to Iran’s embarrassing performance in the 2014 Asian Games, he was shown the exit door.
However, because of his rich bag experience, Nelo Vingada is also nicknamed ‘The Professor’ and he would like to have a good India campaign with NorthEast United who finished fifth last season.