Cuca confirmed as Santos coach, calls for supporters’ backing | OneFootball

Santos appointed Cuca as head coach, posting a video of him celebrating the deal and appealing for supporters’ backing. The team are close to the Brasileirão relegation zone and have not won for almost a month.

Juan Pablo Vojvoda was dismissed after Wednesday night’s defeat to Internacional, and the board moved quickly to secure Cuca.

In the video he said he is excited and hopeful, aware of the responsibility, yet confident of doing a good job and getting the best from each player. He asked for fans’ help, which he called fundamental, and said he hopes they can still have a good year in the Copa do Brasil, the Sudamericana and especially the Brasileiro.

He takes over for the Brasileiro and will contest the Copa do Brasil and the Sudamericana in April. His contract runs to the end of the year and he arrives with assistant Cuquinha and fitness coach Omar Feitosa. It is his fourth spell, after 2008, 2018 and 2020/21.

His appointment was welcomed by president Marcelo Teixeira and some around the board, but it also prompted backlash from sections of the fanbase and online over a 1987 case in Switzerland alleging sexual violence against a minor involving him and other players.

In 1989 he was convicted in absentia, a ruling annulled by Swiss courts in 2024 on procedural grounds without a merits review. The case later became time barred. The victim, aged 13 at the time, died by suicide and the family did not pursue it further.

Source: Diario Do Peixe