Portuguese coach Pedro Caixinha is among the candidates to take charge of Grêmio in 2025. The 54-year-old left Bragantino in October after failing to secure victory in seven matches, plunging the São Paulo club into a struggle to maintain.
The results that led to his dismissal this season contrast sharply with his performance in 2023. Under Caixinha’s leadership, Bragantino had the best campaign in his history in the Brasileiro points system, finishing in sixth place with 62 points and qualifying for the pre-Libertadores.
However, in 2024, the team has not advanced beyond the semi-finals of the Paulistão, the preliminary phase of the Libertadores, nor the round of 16 of the Copa Sudamericana and the Copa do Brasil.
“What stands out is how he knows precisely what he wants his team to achieve during the match, from start to finish, in the build-up and finishing phases when in possession. He aims for a high volume of chances and pressure to win the ball back. Caixinha communicates this clearly to his players and to the press,” comments journalist Rodrigo Seixas from Correio de Atibaia, who followed the coach’s work in Bragantino.
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Caixinha’s tenure at Bragantino included 124 matches, with 50 wins, 38 draws and 36 losses, achieving a win rate of 50.53%.
“In 2024, the work has not gone as planned. We must also take into account Bragantino’s opponents, injuries and squad. Caixinha had difficulty restoring the team’s style of play. He is very demanding, which could have created a lot of fatigue, because he expects a lot from his squad. I think his ideas no longer had the same impact on the team,” Seixas assesses.
Professional career
After an unremarkable career as a goalkeeper, he left the field to concentrate on his studies. He holds a degree in sports science with a specialization in football, and has a master’s degree in high-performance coaching as well as the required UEFA qualifications to work at the elite level of European football.
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Caixinha started in the youth academy of Desportivo Beja and was assistant coach to José Peseiro at Sporting, where he is said to have become friends with José Mourinho, who encouraged him to pursue the UEFA A License.
In 2010, he began his solo coaching career at União Leiria in Portugal. Immersing himself in this new path, Caixinha became a citizen (or coach) of the world.
He worked in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Scotland and Argentina, but it was in Mexico that he reached the pinnacle of his career. At Santos Laguna he won the Copa MX Apertura in 2014, the Liga MX Clausura in 2014/2015, and the Campeón de Campeones title in 2015, trophies celebrated alongside goalkeeper Marchesín, currently at Grêmio. His success earned him a second stint with the team in 2022. At Cruz Azul, he won the Copa MX Apertura in 2018 and the Supercopa MX in 2019.
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Before arriving at Bragantino, he had a brief six-month stint at Talleres in Argentina, where he led the team to the quarter-finals of the 2022 Libertadores.
Profile
Name: Pedro Miguel Faria Caixinha
Age: 54 years old
Nationality: Beja, Portugal
Clubs : Desportivo Beja (youth), Sporting (assistant), Al-Hilal (assistant), Panathinaikos (assistant), Rapid București (assistant), Équipe nationale d’Arabie saoudite (assistant), União Leiria (Portugal), Nacional (Portugal) ), Santos Laguna (Mexico), Al-Gharafa (Qatar), Rangers (Scotland), Al-Shabab (Saudi Arabia), Talleres (Argentina), and Bragantino.
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