Miami FC News Release - www.miamifc.com

 

Monday, January 9, 2006

 

MIAMI, FL -- Miami FC announced today that Chiquinho de Assis has been named the new franchise’s Head Coach. He will be responsible for selecting and leading the professional team, which officially begins its USL First Division regular season on Sunday, April 23, 2006, at home versus the 2004 Champion Montreal Impact.

Chiquinho de Assis is known in the world of soccer as a successful youth and professional head coach in Brazil with an uncanny ability to discover young talents who have gone on to become international soccer stars. Examples include world-renowned players such as: Dida, starting goalkeeper for the Brazilian National Team and AC Milan (Italian League Serie A); Dudu, midfielder for the Brazilian National Team and CSKA Moscow (Russian First Division); and Adailton, defender for Rennes (French First Division) and captain of the 2003 Brazilian Youth World Champions.

For the past seven years de Assis has spent the majority of his time as Head Coach of the youth soccer program of Vitoria da Bahia, one of the oldest sports clubs in Brazil. Vitoria is especially well-respected for its youth player development programs. From 1998 trough 2005, de Assis led Vitoria to three Philips Cup Championships, and won the Professional Bahia Cup twice with an Under-20 team. He also conquered titles like the U.S. Cup 1998 held in Minneapolis and the 1999 Milk Cup Tournament in the Netherlands.

His coaching career has also featured other notable achievements including: his professional coaching debut in 1989 when he led a relatively unknown Catuense to a third place finish (among 96 teams) in the Professional Brazilian B Series Championship; and a second place finish with Vitoria da Bahia at the 2001 Under-21 World Tournament in Italy.

He also played soccer professionally, debuting with the world famous club Flamengo in Brazil as an offensive midfielder in 1970 at the young age of 16. His professional playing career, which lasted from 1970-1983 included stints with other clubs such as Fluminense and Bahia.

The appointment of de Assis as head coach is effective immediately. He will be joining the team for the third and fourth preliminary tryout sessions today though Thursday, January 9 - 12 at Miami’s Tropical Park.