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Martim Francisco
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Martim Francisco
Martim Francisco Ribeiro de Andrada (21 February 1928 – 22 June 1982) was a Brazilian association football coach. He is widely credited with the invention of the 4–2–4 formation when guiding his first club, the Villa Nova AC of Nova Lima, to the State Championship of Minas Gerais in 1951. He won further state championships with Atlético Mineiro of Belo Horizonte in 1953, CR Vasco da Gama of Rio de Janeiro in 1956 and SE Gama of Brasília in 1979. Other clubs he coached include Corinthians, Cruzeiro, America FC of Rio de Janeiro and Athletic Bilbao in Spain. With Bangu AC he won the State Champions' Cup of 1967.
Martim Francisco, scion of a distinguished Brazilian family – his ancestors include José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva, considered the "Patriarch of Brazilian Independence", and many other lustrous personalities – studied psychology and law. An accident prevented him from playing football beyond the youth level and he never acquired a formal coaching diploma. In 1954 it was reported that he had 650 books about football, of which he considered El preparador técnico from Spain and Tácticas y técnicas from Argentina as the most important ones. In his opinion, the WM of Herbert Chapman and the third defender of Izidor Kürschner were the basis of all tactics. He considered from early on the intermingling of club officials with the work of the coach as a major problem. His bynames included primeiro lorde dos gramados brasileiros ("First Lord of the Brazilian fields"), professor and cientista do futebol ("Scientist of Football"). He died aged 54 from alcohol related illness.
The 13-years old Martim Francisco joined the local team Olympic where he played as goalkeeper – with a brief interlude at EC Juventus – until an accident forced him to stop playing football. When the final course of his university studies took him to Rio de Janeiro, he had in 1948 the chance of getting a closer look at the coaching profession under the notable Uruguayan coach Ondino Viera, who then was in charge of Fluminense FC. On return to Minas Gerais he worked as assistant to Urbano Santos, who coached the state amateur team. In 1950 he became director of the regional department (departemento do interior) of the state football association FMF.
Martim Francisco commenced his club-coaching career 1951 at Villa Nova AC, based in Nova Lima. The club had won in the 1930s four times the state championship and since then had turned into one of the lesser sides of the competition. Francisco replaced the then common WM-formation, introduced to Brazil in the late 1930s by the Hungarian Izidor Kürschner and developed further by Flávio Costa, with the 4–2–4 system, which means the tactical line-up of the team consisted of four defenders, two midfielders and four attackers. To provide more equilibrium in the natural flow of a match one of the attackers was ordered back to midfield when the team was defending and on defender moved forward when the team was in attack. This concept is widely regarded an invention of Martim Francisco - at least he is credited with being the first one to having deliberately deployed it - and was used by the Brazilian national side when it won the World Cups of 1958 and 1962, albeit in the latter tournament evolved largely to a 4–3–3. Martim Francisco found the inspiration to the system by observing the final of the Copa Rio in July 1951 in the Maracanã Stadium, where SE Palmeiras of São Paulo overwhelmed Juventus FC of Turin in Italy. He thought, that Juventus might be able to reverse the flow of the match by pulling back one of their five attackers to midfield and a midfielder back to defence, transforming their 3–2–5 formation effectively to 4–2–4.
With this tactic he led Villa Nova, with some aid of Prão, a former player of the club who also held coaching responsibilities, to the State Championship of 1951, decided in matches against Atlético Mineiro in January 1952. This remains to date the last state championship of the club. Star of this side was the left-winger Benedito Custódio Ferreira "Escurinho", who later played for Fluminense and the national team.
Martim Francisco continued his career in 1952 with EC Siderúrgica from Sabará, also in the vicinity of the capital, state champions of 1937, which he took to the second place of the competition. In this year he also achieved a notable win with the state's youth team over the selection of Rio de Janeiro.
After this Martim Francisco coached the state's oldest and most successful club, Atlético Mineiro in the capital Belo Horizonte. He led the club in 1953 to its 16th state title. He left the club after a friendly match in Rio de Janeiro against Botafogo FR in mid March 1954. At least between 1951 and 1953 he was also coach of the state selection of Minas Gerais, which competed in the Campeonato Brasileiro de Seleções Estaduais, the championship of state teams.
His new club was America FC in the then national capital Rio de Janeiro where he succeeded by the end of March 1954 Otto Glória, who should later rise to fame in Europe with SL Benfica. In the ensuing Rio-São Paulo Tournament between the leading clubs of both cities America finished only eighth in a field of ten participants, but he could raise the team to second place in the Rio State Championship, behind CR Flamengo. 1955 brought improvement with a now fifth place in the Torneio Rio-São Paulo. In the State Championship America stayed in the race until the end, when a deciding matches against Flamengo had to be held end of March 1956. But by mid march Martim Francisco and America had already parted ways in deep controversy, after Francisco had signed for local rivals CR Vasco da Gama. America lost those matches under the Francisco's assistant coach Antônio Carlos Mangualde. Leônidas da Silva, the ageing top scorer of the 1938 World Cup, Canário who later played for Real Madrid, and the Argentine Martín Alarcón were amongst the best known players of America in these years.
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Martim Francisco
Martim Francisco Ribeiro de Andrada (21 February 1928 – 22 June 1982) was a Brazilian association football coach. He is widely credited with the invention of the 4–2–4 formation when guiding his first club, the Villa Nova AC of Nova Lima, to the State Championship of Minas Gerais in 1951. He won further state championships with Atlético Mineiro of Belo Horizonte in 1953, CR Vasco da Gama of Rio de Janeiro in 1956 and SE Gama of Brasília in 1979. Other clubs he coached include Corinthians, Cruzeiro, America FC of Rio de Janeiro and Athletic Bilbao in Spain. With Bangu AC he won the State Champions' Cup of 1967.
Martim Francisco, scion of a distinguished Brazilian family – his ancestors include José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva, considered the "Patriarch of Brazilian Independence", and many other lustrous personalities – studied psychology and law. An accident prevented him from playing football beyond the youth level and he never acquired a formal coaching diploma. In 1954 it was reported that he had 650 books about football, of which he considered El preparador técnico from Spain and Tácticas y técnicas from Argentina as the most important ones. In his opinion, the WM of Herbert Chapman and the third defender of Izidor Kürschner were the basis of all tactics. He considered from early on the intermingling of club officials with the work of the coach as a major problem. His bynames included primeiro lorde dos gramados brasileiros ("First Lord of the Brazilian fields"), professor and cientista do futebol ("Scientist of Football"). He died aged 54 from alcohol related illness.
The 13-years old Martim Francisco joined the local team Olympic where he played as goalkeeper – with a brief interlude at EC Juventus – until an accident forced him to stop playing football. When the final course of his university studies took him to Rio de Janeiro, he had in 1948 the chance of getting a closer look at the coaching profession under the notable Uruguayan coach Ondino Viera, who then was in charge of Fluminense FC. On return to Minas Gerais he worked as assistant to Urbano Santos, who coached the state amateur team. In 1950 he became director of the regional department (departemento do interior) of the state football association FMF.
Martim Francisco commenced his club-coaching career 1951 at Villa Nova AC, based in Nova Lima. The club had won in the 1930s four times the state championship and since then had turned into one of the lesser sides of the competition. Francisco replaced the then common WM-formation, introduced to Brazil in the late 1930s by the Hungarian Izidor Kürschner and developed further by Flávio Costa, with the 4–2–4 system, which means the tactical line-up of the team consisted of four defenders, two midfielders and four attackers. To provide more equilibrium in the natural flow of a match one of the attackers was ordered back to midfield when the team was defending and on defender moved forward when the team was in attack. This concept is widely regarded an invention of Martim Francisco - at least he is credited with being the first one to having deliberately deployed it - and was used by the Brazilian national side when it won the World Cups of 1958 and 1962, albeit in the latter tournament evolved largely to a 4–3–3. Martim Francisco found the inspiration to the system by observing the final of the Copa Rio in July 1951 in the Maracanã Stadium, where SE Palmeiras of São Paulo overwhelmed Juventus FC of Turin in Italy. He thought, that Juventus might be able to reverse the flow of the match by pulling back one of their five attackers to midfield and a midfielder back to defence, transforming their 3–2–5 formation effectively to 4–2–4.
With this tactic he led Villa Nova, with some aid of Prão, a former player of the club who also held coaching responsibilities, to the State Championship of 1951, decided in matches against Atlético Mineiro in January 1952. This remains to date the last state championship of the club. Star of this side was the left-winger Benedito Custódio Ferreira "Escurinho", who later played for Fluminense and the national team.
Martim Francisco continued his career in 1952 with EC Siderúrgica from Sabará, also in the vicinity of the capital, state champions of 1937, which he took to the second place of the competition. In this year he also achieved a notable win with the state's youth team over the selection of Rio de Janeiro.
After this Martim Francisco coached the state's oldest and most successful club, Atlético Mineiro in the capital Belo Horizonte. He led the club in 1953 to its 16th state title. He left the club after a friendly match in Rio de Janeiro against Botafogo FR in mid March 1954. At least between 1951 and 1953 he was also coach of the state selection of Minas Gerais, which competed in the Campeonato Brasileiro de Seleções Estaduais, the championship of state teams.
His new club was America FC in the then national capital Rio de Janeiro where he succeeded by the end of March 1954 Otto Glória, who should later rise to fame in Europe with SL Benfica. In the ensuing Rio-São Paulo Tournament between the leading clubs of both cities America finished only eighth in a field of ten participants, but he could raise the team to second place in the Rio State Championship, behind CR Flamengo. 1955 brought improvement with a now fifth place in the Torneio Rio-São Paulo. In the State Championship America stayed in the race until the end, when a deciding matches against Flamengo had to be held end of March 1956. But by mid march Martim Francisco and America had already parted ways in deep controversy, after Francisco had signed for local rivals CR Vasco da Gama. America lost those matches under the Francisco's assistant coach Antônio Carlos Mangualde. Leônidas da Silva, the ageing top scorer of the 1938 World Cup, Canário who later played for Real Madrid, and the Argentine Martín Alarcón were amongst the best known players of America in these years.