Jorvan Vieira (born 29 September 1953) is a Brazilian-Portuguese football coach and former player who played for Botafogo, Vasco da Gama and Portuguesa in the Brazil Serie A, and current manager.
Vieira was appointed assistant manager to the Moroccan national side for the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. Alongside compatriot José Faria he led Morocco into the second round of the tournament as group winners ahead of England, Portugal and Poland,[2]
He then managed the Kuwait under-20 side[3] before having an impressive spell and leading Al Qadisiya to the Kuwaiti league title, which was followed by further success when he was in charge of Egyptian club Al-Ismaili in 2001. Vieira was re-appointed as the coach of the Oman Under-20 side in the same year. After spending a year in the job, Vieira went on to coach the Malaysia Under-20 side before returning to Oman, where he led Al-Nasr Salalah to the Sultan Qaboos Cup, and was manager of Al-Ta'ee in Saudi Arabia.[4]
On 26 December 2007 it was officially announced that Vieira signed a one-year contract with Mes Kerman F.C. in the Iran Pro League for an approximate fee of $640,000.[5] Yet a few days later on 29 December the deal fell through due to financial reasons.[6]
Vieira signed a one-year contract with Iraq on 2 September 2008 to manage them for the second time, when he led them in the Gulf Cup.[9]
On 10 August 2013 Jorvan Vieira was named coach of Kuwait's national side. The Brazilian led Iraq's national side to success in the 2007 Asian Cup.[10]
In October 2018 Jorvan Viera was named coach of Ismaily from Egypt. After a string of poor results sitting in the bottom of the league and getting knocked out of the 2018-19 Arab Club Champions Cup at the expense of Raja Casablanca on penalty's 4-2 he resigned on 13 December 2018, after only 2 months at the club.
Asian Cup success
Less than two months ahead of the 2007 AFC Asian Cup finals Vieira was named coach of war-torn Iraq. He led them all the way to the final of the 2007 WAFF Championship but finished as runners-up after losing 1–2 in the final against Iran. After this tournament, Iraq played in the Asian Cup. Incredibly, he led Iraq to the 2007 Asian Cup title after stunning the pre-tournament favourites Australia in a 3–1 victory,[11] edging Korea on penalties[12] and finally upsetting regional heavyweights Saudi Arabia 1–0 in the final.[13]
Personal life
Jorvan Vieira is a Muslim. He converted to Islam while coaching Morocco, he says about this: "Reports have suggested that I converted to Islam but 'converted' is not the right term – I wasn't religious before. Nor is it true that I only became a Muslim because of my Arab wife, as has also been claimed".[3]
He holds a doctorate in sports sciences from France.[3]
He is the son of a Portuguese father, a Brazilian mother and is married to Khadija Fahim, a Moroccan woman.[14] As the result of this he holds Brazilian and Portuguese nationalities.[15]
Jorvan thinks of himself mainly as being Portuguese, confesses that he always carries with him his Portuguese passport, and that his identification cards at football matches identify him as being Portuguese. In an interview to the Portuguese newspaper Diário de Notícias, he even states that in the future, he wants to live the rest of his life in Portugal, and that he plans to coach a Portuguese football club.[16]
