Vanderlei Luxemburgo da Silva (born 10 May 1952) is a Brazilian professional football coach and former player. He is currently a free agent. A left wingback, Luxemburgo represented Flamengo, Internacional and Botafogo before retiring in 1980. He subsequently became a coach and led Palmeiras, Corinthians, Cruzeiro and Santos to Série A titles, winning the tournament five times, a record total. In 2005 he worked at Real Madrid, but was dismissed in December of that year. His surname is after revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg. Playing career Born in Nova Iguaçu, Rio de Janeiro, Luxemburgo played the most of his youth football for Botafogo, but made his senior debut with Flamengo in 1972; at the club, he was mainly a backup to Júnior. He left Fla in 1978 to Internacional, but remained at the club for just one year before returning to his first team Botafogo. He retired in 1980, aged 28, due to a knee injury. Coaching career Early career Before being a first team trainer, Luxemburgo spent the rest of the 1980 campaign with Antônio Lopes' Olaria, but not being officially under contract with the club. He was also Lopes' assistant at America-RJ (1981) and Vasco da Gama (1981–82). Luxemburgo's first coaching experience occurred in 1983, with Campo Grande; he only lasted eight matches at the club, being sacked after altercations with the board. In the same year, he also managed Rio Branco-ES, winning the Campeonato Capixaba with the side. In 1984, after managing Friburguense, Luxemburgo then moved abroad to Saudi Arabia's Al-Ittihad; initially Joubert's assistant, he was in subsequently charge of the club. He was at the helm of Democrata-GV in the following year, but only lasted three months. Luxemburgo subsequently rejoined Lopes' staff at Fluminense in 1986, where he acted as head coach of the under-20 squad. In the following year, he replaced Pinheiro in charge of America-RJ. Another stint in the Middle East following, being again assistant of Joubert at Al-Shabab. Luxemburgo returned to Brazil in October 1988, after being invited to manage Bragantino, winning the 1990 Campeonato Paulista. He subsequently worked at Flamengo, Guarani and Ponte Preta before being hired by Palmeiras in 1993; he led the latter club to both the state and league championships in 1993 and 1994. When Luxemburgo left in 1995 for Flamengo, Palmeiras' performance was visibly affected, and when he came back in 1996 (after a short period at Paraná), the team