Place of birth Olhao, Portugal Name Manuel Cajuda Date joined 2015 Years Team | 1967–1969 Olhanense Height 1.81 m Playing position Role Football manager Manages Ajman Club | |
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Full name Manuel Ventura Cajuda de Sousa Date of birth (1951-06-27) 27 June 1951 (age 64) Team coached Ajman Club (Manager, since 2015) Children Joao Pedro Sousa, Hugo Cajuda | ||
Current team BEC Tero Sasana F.C. | ||
Manuel Ventura Cajuda de Sousa (born 27 June 1951) is a Portuguese football manager, currently in charge of Chinese club Sichuan Longfor FC.
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In a career which spanned three decades, he managed nearly 20 teams in his own country, and also worked in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.
Playing career
Born in Olhão, Cajuda played exclusively in his native Algarve region during his career, starting out at S.C. Olhanense. In 1975 he joined what would be his main club, S.C. Farense also in the second division.
In the 1983 summer, even though the Faro side had just promoted to the Primeira Liga, 32-year-old Cajuda decided to retire from playing.
Manager career
Immediately after retiring, Cajuda started working as a manager with Farense, leading the team through 12 games in its first-ever season in the first division and managing to help it retain its league status after finishing 12th. He continued to work in his native region in the following years, with Portimonense SC, Olhanense and Louletano DC.
In 1994, after years of working almost exclusively in the second level – the exception being S.C.U. Torreense in the 1991–92 campaign – Cajuda signed for S.C. Braga, remaining in Minho for the following eight years (ranking in fourth place in 1997 and 2001), with two incomplete seasons with C.F. Os Belenenses in between. He managed to finish in the top six with his following two clubs, U.D. Leiria – he had already been in charge of them nine years before, in division two – and C.S. Marítimo.
Cajuda left the Madeira side only one game into the 2004–05 season, and joined S.C. Beira-Mar also in the main category, but only lasted an additional ten matches in Aveiro. After a brief spell with Associação Naval 1º de Maio he left for Egypt with Zamalek SC, becoming its second Portuguese coach after Nelo Vingada.
Cajuda returned to Portugal midway through 2006–07 campaign joining Vitória de Guimarães – being announced on Christmas Day – which he led to promotion and a third position in the following year, just narrowly surpassing S.L. Benfica for the last UEFA Champions League berth and only to lose controversially in the last qualifying round against FC Basel of Switzerland. He left at the conclusion of 2008–09 with an eighth-place finish, joining Al-Sharjah SCC of the United Arab Emirates.
In late September 2011, Cajuda became Leiria's third coach of the season after dismissed Pedro Caixinha and Vítor Pontes. He was relieved of his duties on 14 March 2012, with the team ranking last in the league.
Personal life
Cajuda's sons, Hugo (born 1979) and João (1984), were both involved in sports: the former played twice for Braga in the top division – under the management of his father – mainly representing their reserves during a short spell. The latter was engaged in gymnastics in his youth, but later took up an acting career.