Otto Glória

Who was Otto Glória?

Otto Martins Glória was a Brazilian football coach. He had his greatest successes with Benfica in Lisbon, Portugal, which he guided to nine national trophies. With the Nigerian national football team he won the 1980 African Cup of Nations

In his first period with Benfica, the club was transformed to professional standards. Otto Glória founded a home for the players and focused on recruiting players from the periphery of the Portuguese capital and also from the African overseas provinces. In these years between 1954 and 1959 the club won two Portuguese championships and three cups.

In February 1962 he takes on the reins with Olympique Marseille. The club was then stuck in the second division and saw its aspirations to return to the first division endangered. In his four months with the club did not lose a single match and achieved its objective.

In his second tenure with Benfica he had continuous success on the national level, winning two more championships and cups. He also led the club into the 1968 final of the European Cup of Champions in London against Manchester United, which was lost 1-4.

At the 1966 FIFA World Cup in England he led the Portuguese national football team, with Eusébio, who became the tournament's top scorer, to the third place. In the process Portugal inflicted a 1-3 defeat on Glória's home country Brazil. The official head coach of the Portuguese team was then Manuel da Luz Afonso.