Relive the highs and lows of Abel Ferreira at Palmeiras | OneFootball

This Wednesday, Palmeiras announced the renewal of the contract of coach Abel Ferreira. The Portuguese coach has been in charge of the alviverde for five years and his new deal is valid until the end of 2027.

With a trajectory marked by ups and downs, Gazeta Esportiva has selected six great moments of the Palmeiras coach and six episodes not so good for the Portuguese.

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Two-time Libertadores Champion

Right in his first year in Brazil, Abel Ferreira won the 2020 Libertadores, beating Santos in the grand final. Due to the pandemic, the final was held at the beginning of 2021 with a reduced crowd at the Maracanã.

At the end of 2021, Palmeiras was crowned champion of the tournament again, this time defeating Flamengo. With a goal by Deyverson, the Verdão became the only team to win the trophy twice in the same year.

Semifinal against River Plate

One of the most memorable moments of the 2021 Libertadores campaign was the semifinal against River Plate. Alviverde beat River 3-0 in Argentina. And even losing the return leg 2-0 at Allianz Parque, Palmeiras qualified for the Libertadores final.

Abel Ferreira celebrates his first Libertadores title, at Maracanã. (Photo: Staff Images / Conmebol)

Copa do Brasil Champion

Also in 2020, Palmeiras won the Copa do Brasil for the fourth time in its history. During the tournament, several players missed games due to covid-19. Despite the pandemic issues, the Verdão beat Grêmio 3-0 on aggregate. It was the first national title for Abel Ferreira as the team’s coach.

Two-time Brasileirão Champion

In 2022, Palmeiras won the Campeonato Brasileiro, leading the table for most of the year. The highlight was the great season of Gustavo Scarpa, who was the player with the most assists in the competition.

Then in 2023, Botafogo led the Brasileirão for 33 consecutive rounds, until suffering a historic comeback 4-3 in a direct duel against the Verdão. The win at Nilton Santos gave the necessary boost for the Paulistas to take the lead and lift the trophy.

Paulistão Three-peat

Abel Ferreira reached all the Campeonato Paulista finals he participated in and, between 2022 and 2024, was crowned champion. Beating São Paulo, Água Santa and Santos in the finals, the coach matched the feat of Oswaldo Brandão, back in the 1930s.

Abel Ferreira with the 2022 Brasileirão trophy, at Allianz Parque. (Photo: Cesar Greco / Palmeiras)

Important Comebacks

In the 2023 Campeonato Brasileiro, Abel Ferreira's team needed a win at Nilton Santos stadium to cut the gap to leader Botafogo to three points. In the first half, the home team scored three goals and confirmed their favoritism. In the second half, however, Palmeiras scored four times and secured the comeback that resulted in that year’s title.

Then, in the 2025 Libertadores semifinal, Alviverde lost to LDU 3-0 at the altitude of Quito. At Allianz Parque, the Ecuadorians saw Abel’s team dominate the match and pull off the biggest comeback in the history of a Libertadores semifinal.

Fourth Place at the 2020 Club World Cup

After ending Palmeiras’ 21-year drought without conquering South America, Abel Ferreira went after the world title in Qatar. Just a week after winning the Libertadores, Palmeiras went to Al Rayyan hoping to face Bayern Munich, but ended up with the worst campaign by a South American at the time. After falling to Tigres-MEX in the semifinal, Palmeiras lost on penalties to Al-Ahly-EGI and finished in fourth place in the competition.

Elimination by CRB in the 2021 Copa do Brasil

Defending the 2020 Copa do Brasil title, Palmeiras was drawn against CRB in the third round of 2021. After winning in Alagoas, Verdão lost at Allianz Parque and, on penalties, was knocked out in the tournament debut.

Eliminations in the Libertadores

After winning the Libertadores in 2020 and 2021, matching the feat of Pelé’s Santos and Telê’s São Paulo, Abel’s Palmeiras aimed for an unprecedented achievement for Brazilian football in 2022: conquering South America three times in a row. However, despite an almost perfect campaign, with eight wins and two draws before the semifinal, Verdão fell one step away from the final. After losing in Paraná, the São Paulo team even managed to turn it around at Allianz Parque, but saw Athletico-PR equalize and end the alviverde dream.

In 2023, there was another elimination in the Libertadores semifinal. After knocking out Atlético-MG and Deportivo Pereira-COL in the knockout stage, Palmeiras faced its nemesis, Boca Juniors, and was again eliminated on penalties, at Allianz Parque. The following year, the elimination came earlier, once again at home. Against Botafogo, Verdão almost had a “magical night,” but ended up being eliminated by an aggregate score of 4-3.

(Photo: Cesar Greco/Palmeiras/by Canon)

Pre-Contract with Al-Sadd

The biggest controversy involving Abel Ferreira happened off the pitch. In 2023, in the final stretch of the Brasileirão, Al-Sadd, from Qatar, claimed to have signed a pre-contract with the Portuguese coach to take over the team at the start of the following year. The Middle Eastern club took the matter to Fifa, and the controversy was only resolved this year, when Palmeiras reached an agreement involving the economic rights of midfielder Giovani.

Paulistão Runners-up and End of Rivals’ Droughts

Back in 2021, Abel Ferreira had a negative mark as Palmeiras coach. His first runners-up finish with the club was in the 2021 Campeonato Paulista, when Alviverde lost to São Paulo, who ended a nine-year trophy drought.

Moreover, in the other state runners-up finish for the coach, which happened this season, Abel did not reach the unprecedented fourth consecutive title and also ended another rival’s drought. By losing to Corinthians in the final, Palmeiras ended Timão’s eight-season drought.

2025 Season

Still this season, Palmeiras accumulated other negative results and, for the first time, Abel faced criticism from the fans. In addition to the state runners-up finish to Corinthians, Verdão, despite competing until the end in all tournaments, ended a season without titles for the first time since 2019.

One of the biggest criticisms from fans was the fact that Palmeiras finished as runners-up in three competitions. In the Brasileirão and Libertadores, the team finished behind Flamengo and was eliminated in the Copa do Brasil by rivals Corinthians. In the Club World Cup, Alviverde fell in the quarterfinals to Chelsea, who went on to win the tournament.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.