Toni Oliveira Biography

Toni Oliveira, born on 14 October 1946 in Mogofores, Portugal, is a Portuguese former footballer and coach who played as a midfielder, most notably for Benfica and also managed many clubs during his career.

Toni began his playing career at the small Salesianos de Mogrofores club, before transferring to Académica de Coimbra when he was 17. Together with Académica, Toni made it to the final of the 1967 Portuguese Cup but was defeated by Vitória Setubalile.

Toni left for SL Benfica in 1968, where he would play a total of 13 seasons and 391 league games throughout the rest of his career. With Benfica, Toni won eight Portuguese league titles and five cups. He was named Portuguese Player of the Year in Benfica's double championship season of 1971/72.

For the Portuguese national team, Toni played 33 international matches. His debut came in October 1969 against Romania. In his time as Portugal national player, the team failed to qualify for the World Cup and his career in the national team came to an end in March 1978 in a friendly match against France.

Toni became an assistant coach at Benfica a year after his retirement, working consecutively with Sven-Goran Eriksson, Pal Černaji, John Mortimore and Ebbe Skovdal. With the latter's dismissal, Oliveira was named head coach of the Eagles in the 1987/88 season and went on to become Portuguese vice-champion and European Champions Cup finalist with the team, only to lose in a penalty shoot-out to PSV.

In the following season 1988/89 Toni went on to win the 28th league title for the club, losing only twice in 38 league games, and then left the club before returning in November 1992 to win the 1993 Portuguese Cup and another league title in 1994.

All You Need to Know About Toni Oliveira Biography

Starting in 1994, Toni spent one year with the French side, Bordeaux. He was fired at the end of the season because of poor results on the domestic scene. After that, in the summer of 1995, Toni became manager of Sevilla but was already fired on 15 October the same year following a 0-3 home defeat to Espanyol.

Toni assisted his fellow countryman Carlos Queiroz in the

between 1998 and 1999, and in December 2000 he became manager of Benfica for the third time where he stayed for one year.

Later he was in charge of the Chinese side Guangzhou Fuli and Egyptian side Al Ahly, winning the national Supercup in 2003 with the latter, before beginning to work with Asian clubs from 2007, Saudi Arabia's

and Al Ittihad and the Emirati side Sharjah.

Toni became head coach of Iranian club Tractor Sazi in 2012, where he was in charge intermittently until December 2015 and won the Iranian Cup in the 2013/14 season.

Toni Oliveira Information

Now that we know him better, in this section of

Toni Oliveira biography

, we will share some general information about him such as

Toni Oliveira nationality

to let you know him even more.

Toni Oliveira Bio

• Full Name: António José da Conceição Oliveira

• Nickname: N/A

• Profession: Professional Football Coach

Toni Oliveira Physical Stats

• Weight: 80 Kg

• Height: 1.83 m

• Eye Color: Dark Brown

• Hair Color: Dark Brown

Toni Oliveira Football Information

• Position: Midfielder

• Jersey Number: 8

• Professional Debut: 1965

Toni Oliveira Date of Birth and Personal Info

• Date of Birth: 14 October 1946

• Birth Place: Mogofores, Portugal

• Zodiac Sign: Libra

• Nationality: Portuguese

In this section of

Toni Oliveira biography

stay tuned as we want to share some information about

Toni Oliveira childhood

and more.

Toni Oliveira Early Life

The young Toni launched his football career as an amateur in the small Anadia club. When he was 16 years old, he had a place in the team, but never played higher than in the regional league throughout his years at the Anadia club.

Académica de Coimbra

Nevertheless, once his career at Anadia was over, he joined a big Portuguese club in the first division when he was 19 years old, to try his luck. Toni was signed by

but never made more than one appearance in his debut season at the club.

The following season he once again made no more than one appearance for the club, but nevertheless achieved second place in the league and a runner-up finish in the Portuguese Cup. Finally, he began to play regularly only in his third season at the club, where he appeared in a total of 17 league games.

In this section of

Toni Oliveira biography

stay tuned as we want to share some information about his

playing career.

Benfica

Following a very good season with his previous club, he went to Benfica Lisbon for a transfer fee of equivalent to 6,500 euros. He played a lot of football in his first season at Benfica, appearing in a total of 23 matches and managed to win the Portuguese league title.

From then on, he settled in very well at Benfica, and became one of its icons in his second season, in which he didn't score any goals, but played a total of 26 games, and in the same year, he was selected as a member of the Portuguese national team for the first time. Toni's third season, 1970-71, saw him play somewhat less but still be a regular starter for the Lisbon club.

He spent many seasons as a first-team player, regularly playing alongside great footballers such as Humberto Coelho and Eusébio, and was elected Portuguese Footballer of the Year in 1972 just after four years at the club.

From then on, he became Portuguese champion for many seasons, although he and the club never won any European competitions.

Las Vegas Quicksilvers

For a limited season, Toni moved to the United States to join the Las Vegas Quicksilvers and live the American dream, where he played with

, Humberto Coelho and Diamantino Costa, all Benfica players. It was not a successful season for him but in the club's only season in the North American Soccer League, he managed to make sixteen league appearances for the Quicksilvers team.

Return to Benfica

He came back to Benfica Lisbon after the Quicksilvers to play in the 1977-78 season, where he regained his regular starting place and appeared in all the league games, and scored two goals. For the next two seasons, he continued to play for the club, before retiring from playing football in the 1980-81 season, where he appeared in only one league match and ended his career at Benfica with almost 400 games and twenty goals.

Portugal National Team

Toni started his international career in his second spell at Benfica. Thanks to his outstanding performances for the club, he won his first cap on 12 October 1969 for the preliminary rounds of the 1970 World Cup against Romania, where he played in the second half.

Toni was called up again that same year against England and played the entire friendly match. Since then he was not called up again, with the exception of 1972, when he was again part of the team. He participated in the two qualifying matches against Cyprus for the 1974 World Cup.

He continued to be called up to the

and took part in the Independence Cup in Brazil with his country. The Portuguese team had a great tournament, making it to the final, which they lost in the last minutes to the host country, Brazil.

The great performance of the finalists Portugal, and those of Toni, earned him a place in the starting line-up of the team. He participated in several friendlies and numerous qualifiers for the Euro 1976 and the 1978 World Cup in Argentina that followed.

His first and only goal in his thirty-second international cap came on 16 November 1977 against Cyprus. He was last selected for the national team on 8 March 1978 against

, losing the friendly match (0-2). All in all, in eleven years with the Portuguese national team, he played thirty-three times and scored just one goal between 1969 and 1978.

Toni Oliveira Profile

He made his comeback during the 1981-82 season at Benfica Lisbon, where he had become a legend in Portuguese football. Between 1981 and 1987 he was an assistant coach for several seasons. Meanwhile, he became part of the staff of the Portuguese national team, where he was invited by Fernando Cabrita to be the technical coordinator of the selection throughout the Portuguese team's campaign at Euro 1984, which was held in France that year. Afterwards, Toni resumed his position as an assistant coach at Benfica.

Benfica

Following the Ebbe Skovdahl venture, and after only twelve matches in the league, he was appointed Benfica's new coach. He had a historic first season, finishing only second in the league, but nevertheless managed to reach the final of the 1987-1988 European Champion Clubs' Cup, knocking out clubs such as RSC Anderlecht and Steaua Bucharest in the semi-finals.

However, his team lost on penalties in the final, thus giving the first European Champion Clubs' Cup to PSV Eindhoven. However he stayed at the club for another season and it was a fruitful one as he was able to win the Portuguese league title and secure a final place in the Portuguese Cup, although they were not successful on the European stage.

Subsequently, he continued his work at Benfica, but as assistant coach to the new coach Sven-Göran Eriksson, a Swede who had previously coached at Fiorentina. He was assistant coach until the 1992-93 season when he once again was appointed head coach to replace Tomislav Ivic after he left the club following the defeat against FC Porto (0-1) on the fifteenth day.

From then on he managed the club until the end of the season, winning the Portuguese Cup but not the league. Toni's last season at Benfica was in 1993-94, where he played the entire season, winning the league by two points over their arch-rivals FC Porto, as well as winning the Supercup and reaching the semi-finals of the European Cup Winners' Cup.

His second spell as the head coach of Benfica is the most successful during his career, as he managed to win around 66 percent of matches he had coached the team.

Girondins de Bordeaux

Toni left Benfica to try a new adventure, this time choosing France and the Girondins de

to be their coach. He replaced Rolland Courbis as a coach but in March of that season, he was relieved of his duties with eight games to go by Eric Guérit, a player in the team. The Girondins' performance was not good and this led to his departure at the end of the season, notably with poor performances in the French Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup.

Sevilla

Spain was waiting for him, and he joined

during the 1995-1996 season. He played all the matches of the whole season, but could not prevent the team from finishing in the second half of the table. In Europe, he did not get further than the third round of the UEFA Cup, losing to Barcelona. At the end of the season, he was replaced by José Antonio Camacho.

Assistant Coach at UAE National Team

Subsequently, Carlos Queiroz invited him to become the new assistant coach of the United Arab Emirates national team. In this position, Toni joined Rolão Preto and José Alberto Costa, participated in the Pan Arab Games but failed to achieve success, and made it to the preliminary rounds of the Asian Cup of Nations. The Emiratis were unable to qualify, meaning that Carlos Queiroz's tenure as coach was over and so was the entire staff, including Toni.

Return to Benfica

Toni was back to help Benfica Lisbon once again and arrived for the start of the 2000-2001 season. At the end of this season, Benfica was very poor and did not get past sixth place in the Portuguese league, which was their worst season. This was also true in the Portuguese Cup, where after losing against the arch-rivals FC Porto by (0-4), they were knocked out with a draw (1-1) at home, in the second leg.

Benfica's European form was also not very good, following a first round defeat to a Swedish team. Thus, this was the end of Benfica's darkest season, but Toni remained in charge for the following season. However, the season was not a great success and Toni was fired during the season, which made way for Jesualdo Ferreira to take charge of the team.

Shenyang Ginde

His next destination was China, where he signed a contract with Shenyang Ginde shortly after being dismissed from Benfica. He started working in the Chinese first division and had a mediocre time between the top and bottom of the table. After finishing eleventh in the league, he went on to play his second season without success and stepped down on the fifth matchday of the new league campaign to join the Egyptian team Al Ahly SC.

Al Ahly SC

He won the Egyptian Supercup on penalties with Al Ahly SC, although he was not very successful during his career with the club. Shortly after the seventh matchday of the league, he was fired following a very poor start to the season for the Cairo club. Al-Ahly were close to relegation at the start of the season, which made former club president Hassan Hamdy impatient. He was fired and was succeeded by his fellow Portuguese, Manuel Jose.

In this section of Toni Oliveira biography stay tuned as we want to share some information about his coaching career in Saudi Arabia.

Al-Ettifaq

During the 2007-2008 season, Toni went to Al-Ettifaq in the Saudi Arabian league. He managed to finish fourth at the end of the season, and at the end of the season he moved on to another country. He only managed to secure 13 wins out of 28 matches and get a win ratio of 46.43 percent.

Sharjah SC

Following his spell in Saudi Arabia, he travelled to a neighbouring country to

and had a bad season there. The club was fighting to avoid relegation and they were relegated shortly before the end of the season after the 18th matchday. He participated in the AFC Champions League but his team was knocked out from the competition.

His spell with the Sharjah club was one of the worst during his career, as he only achieved a win ratio of 30.77 percent with 8 wins, 3 draws and 15 defeats in a total of 26 matches in charge of the club.

Al-Ittihad

Toni came back to Saudi Arabia to coach Al-Ittihad Jeddah, where he took over the team after the departure of Enzo Trossero and Manuel Jose as a coach. In February, Toni started to work for the club in order to play at the end of the league season. He participated in a few Champions League matches, enabling his team to make it to the second round, and then he handed over the coaching duties to Dimitri Davidovic who took over the team for the rest of the season.

In a total of 23 matches on the bench of the Saudi club, Toni clinched 12 wins, got 8 draws and suffered 3 defeats, thus achieving a win ratio of 52.17 percent. In this section of Toni Oliveira biography stay tuned as we want to share some information about his coaching career at the Iranian club Tractor Sazi.

Tractor FC

On June 10, 2012, Toni signed a one-year contract and became the head coach of

, which was playing in the Iranian Premier League at the time. Upon signing for his new club, after seeing the reception of the club fans, Toni said: “In 34 years of playing and coaching different teams, I have never seen such a reception from any fans, Tabriz fans attend the stadium in every game or even training sessions as if they are celebrating for winning a trophy. I have not seen any enthusiastic fans even at Benfica.”

He made his debut on the Tractor bench on 20 July 2012, in the opening match of the 2012-13 Iranian Premier League against Saipa, which ended in a 0-0 draw at home. Five days later, Tractor got their second draw of the season, this time with the score of 1-1 against the Paykan club.

Having played with two different systems in the previous two matches against Saipa and Paykan, Toni decided to play their third league match of the season with a 4-3-3 attacking system, which paid off and Tractor won their home match against Mes Kerman 2-1. Following that, Toni and Tractor were able to win their two consecutive matches against Rah Ahan and Sanat Naft.

The highlight of their league campaign was definitely the 5-0 win over Gahar Zagros on the 9th matchday of the Iranian Premier League and the 1-4 win over Sepahan, which was the Isfahani clubs worst defeat in the history of the Iranian Premier League.

Following Tractor’s 3-2 away loss against Foulad on 18 November 2012, Toni and the Tractor team started an unbeaten run, winning 9 and drawing 3 matches before losing again on the 29th matchday, against

with a score of 1-0. Toni was fired from his post as Tractor’s coach with two matches remaining to the end of the league.

Under the guidance of Toni, the Tractor Tabriz team finished the Iranian Premier League in second place, with 65 points in a total of 34 matches, just two points behind the champions Esteghlal FC. With 5 defeats, Tractor had the best record alongside Esteghlal. By finishing as runner-ups in the Iranian Premier League, Toni qualified Tractor for the next season’s

.

During the 2012-13 AFC Champions League, Tractor was drawn in Group A alongside the Emirati Al-Jazira, Qatari club El-Jaish and the Saudi Al-Shabab Riyadh. In Tractor’s first-ever match in the Champions League, Toni guided his team to a 3-1 win against Al-Jazira at the Yadegar-e-Emam Stadium, in front of almost 70 thousand Tractor fans. In that match, Mehdi Seyed-Salehi, Javad Kazemian and Masoud Ebrahimzadeh scored for Tractor and the only goal of the Emirati club came from Ali Mabkhout.

In their second ACL match, Tractor played against El-Jaish Sports Club in Qatar, which ended 3-3. Despite their rather good start in the Champions League, Tractor lost all of their remaining matches and finished as the last club in their group with 4 points in six matches, thus failing to make it to the next round.

Return to Tractor

Following his dismissal from the Tractor club the previous season, he was replaced by the Iranian coach Majid Jalali. However, in February 2014, the club’s board decided to sack him due to poor results in the league and once again appoint Toni as their head coach.

Toni first match in his return to the Tractor bench was played on 4 February 2014 in the semi-final of the Iranian Hazfi Cup against Foulad. Toni and Tractor managed to secure a 1-0 win at home, thus reaching the final of the tournament.

His next match as the head coach of Tractor in the league was played on 9 February against Naft Tehran, which finished in a 3-0 defeat. Five days later, Toni guided his team to win the Hazfi Cup with a 0-1 away win against Mes Kerman on 14 February 2014, thus securing this trophy for the first time in the club’s history. That season, he had the legendary Iranian midfielder, Ali Karimi, in his squad, who had a key role in winning the Hazfi Cup final.

In his next league match, Tractor suffered another 3-0, this time at home against Rah Ahan. Following this match, Tractor started their AFC Champions League campaign alongside the likes of Al-Ain FC, Lekhwiya and Toni’s former club Al-Ittihad Jeddah.

Like the previous season, Tractor also finished fourth in their group, with a 1-0 home win against Al-Ittihad Jeddah, two draws against Lekhwiya and Al-Ain FC and losing the other three matches, thus collecting five points.

In their next league match against Foulad, they suffered another defeat with a score of 2-1. However, in the last two matches against Esteghlal Khouzestan and Esteghlal Tehran, Tractor managed to win 1-0 and 3-1 respectively and finish the league in sixth place. By the end of the season, the club decided not to renew his expiring contract and thus Toni left the club once again.

Third Spell with Tractor

In the second half of the 2014-15 season, Toni was named as the new coach of Tractor FC on the anniversary of winning their first Hazfi Cup title, this time replacing the sacked Rasoul Khatibi. His first match on the bench of Tractor in his third spell was on the 21st matchday of Iranian Premier League against Naft MIS, which ended in a 1-2 away win for them.

In their next league match, Toni defeated

with a score of 1-0 at home, before securing another win against Rah Ahan (0-3) four days later. With 7 wins, 2 draws and 1 defeat against

, Toni managed to finish the league in second place, only one point behind the Champions Sepahan.

During that season’s ACL campaign, Tractor was drawn in Group D with Al-Ahli Dubai Club, Nasaf Qarshi and Al-Ahli Jeddah. With one wind over Al-Ahli Dubai, a draw against Al-Ahli Jeddah and four defeats, they finished fourth in their group with just 4 points.

Toni started the new 2015-16 Iranian season with a goalless draw against Naft Tehran at home, before winning the Tabriz derby next week against Gostaresh Foolad FC with a score of 1-3. Their first league defeat of the season came on matchday 4 against Padideh.

After just 13 league matches and guiding the team to the semifinals of the

, Toni decided to step down from the coaching position of Tractor and terminated his contract with the club. Together with the Romanian coach Vasile Godja, Toni is the only manager to coach the club in three different spells. During these three spells, he managed to become an icon of the Tractor club and even today, the fans of Tractor regard him as one of the best coaches in the history of their club.

Kazma SC

Following his spells with the Tractor club, Toni worked as the head coach of the Kuwaiti side

between 2017 and 2019, managing them in a total of 64 matches. During his first season as the head coach of Kazma, Toni managed to win Kuwait Federation Cup for the club.

Style of Play

Toni plays a very entertaining and attacking match in the teams he manages, with 4-2-3-1 being his primary system of play, especially during his spells at the Tractor club. He also tries different systems like 4-3-3 and 4-4-2 in different matches.

Reception

While he was one of the best Portuguese footballers of his generation and even won the Portuguese footballer of the year, however, his coaching career wasn’t as successful as his playing days and he won much fewer awards and titles. However, he has a good reputation as a coach during his career.

Toni Oliveira outside Football

On 11 June 2013, Toni had to go under surgery to remove a malignant tumour which was detected a few weeks ago. The tumour was detected in a routine consultation and the doctors said that the diagnosis happened at the right time, that is, neither too soon nor too late.

Toni Oliveira Personal Life

In this section of Toni Oliveira biography, we will take a look into his personal life and share some info about

Toni Oliveira life story

and

Toni Oliveira religion

.

Family, Children and Relationships

Toni Oliveira is married to his wife Maria Manuela for so many years, having met her first during his playing days. The couple has two children, their son Antonio and their daughter Renato.

In 2013, both of their children got married in a short period of time. Renato Oliveira married his husband Jose Carlos Matos on 8 June 2013 and around a month later, Antonio Oliveira married his wife Márcia Silva in Tamariz.

Toni’s son Antonio, who has the same name as his father, was a former football player and at the time is working as the head coach of Brazilian team Athletico Paranaense.

Philanthropy

During his career, Toni has always participated in many different charitable projects. For example, during his time in Iran, he participated in a charity match in Tabriz to raise funds for the charity and even played a few minutes when he was 67 years old.

Legal Issues

There aren’t any legal issues regarding Toni Oliveira in the English or Portuguese media at the time of writing this article.

Toni Oliveira Career Statistics

In this section of Toni Oliveira biography, we will take a look at his career stats on the international and club level.

Club

During his playing career, between 1965 and 1981, Toni Oliveira played a total of 333 league matches for Académica, Benfica and Quicksilvers, scoring 16 goals.

International

For 9 years between 1969 and 1978, Toni was also a member of the Portuguese national team and in total, he represented his country on 32 occasions and also scored one goal. He has also played a total of 6 matches for the U21 team of Portugal.

Managerial

With 260 wins, 144 draws and 124 defeats in a total of 528 matches that Toni Oliveira has managed European, Asian and African teams, he has a win ratio of 44.1 percent. He has spent the biggest part of his coaching career in Benfica.

Toni Oliveira Honors

As a footballer, Toni Oliveira has won the Portuguese Primeira Divisão (8 times), Taça de Portugal (4 times) and the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, all with Benfica. While playing there, he also won the 1972 Portuguese Footballer of the Year award.

Toni Oliveira’s list of awards as a manager includes Primeira Divisão, Taça de Portugal and Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira and the European Cup runner-ups with Benfica, UEFA Intertoto Cup with Bordeaux, Egyptian Super Cup with Al-Ahly, Iranian Premier League runner-up (2 times) and Iranian Hazfi Cup with Tractor and Kuwait Federation Cup with Kazma.

He has also on the Iranian Football Coaches Association’s manager of the month award in February 2015.

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