Dario Pereyra
Encyclopedia
Alfonso Darío Pereyra Bueno (born 19 October 1956) is a Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...

an former football player. Having played for Club Nacional de Football
Club Nacional de Football
Club Nacional de Football is a Uruguayan sports club based in Montevideo. It is best known for its professional football team, which plays in the Uruguayan Primera División....

 in his home country, he reached stardom playing for São Paulo FC
São Paulo Futebol Clube
São Paulo Futebol Clube , commonly known as São Paulo, is a professional football club based in São Paulo, Brazil. They play in the Campeonato Paulista, São Paulo's state league, and the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A or Brasileirão, Brazil's national league, and are one of the only five clubs to...

 as a centre-back along with Oscar
José Oscar Bernardi
José Oscar Bernardi , nicknamed Oscar, is a noted association footballer, having been on the Brazil national football team and a member of São Paulo Futebol Clube and Associação Atlética Ponte Preta, and having played in defence at the Football World Cup in 1978, 1982, and as a reserve in 1986...

. He is still remembered and revered as one of the best centre-backs in the history of Brazilian football.

Legend has it that, whilst returning from a victory in an away match that crowned São Paulo the Brazilian champions
Campeonato Brasileiro Série A
The Campeonato Brasileiro de Clubes da Série A , popularly known as the Brasileirão , is a professional football league at the top of the Brazilian football league system held annually since 1959. Contested by twenty clubs, it operates a system of promotion and relegation with the Série B...

, he wouldn't understand what the fuss was all about, but the supporters would not let him sleep. He had won a few times the national championship in Uruguay, so he felt that winning the Brazilian championship was nothing special. He latter realized how difficult it is to win a Brazilian National title. It had been the first time São Paulo F.C. won that championship.

Playing career

Darío Pereyra started his career at the Nacional de Montevideo and debuted at the Uruguay national squad when he was only 18, becoming the captain of the national team at 19. After having scored 14 goals in 34 matches in the national team, São Paulo F.C. hired him on October 17, 1977 for 5 million cruzeiros, the second largest sum to be ever paid for a player at the time in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

. He arrived at the Congonhas airport wearing a São Paulo jersey, and was received warmly by the supporters of that team. Pereyra was not able to play immediately after his arrival, for he did not have the necessary documentation to do so. In December 1977, Real Madrid C.F.
Real Madrid C.F.
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol , commonly known as Real Madrid, is a professional football club based in Madrid, Spain. The club have won a record 31 La Liga titles, the Primera División of the Liga de Fútbol Profesional , 18 Copas del Rey, 8 Spanish Super Cups, 1 Copa Eva Duarte and 1 Copa de la...

 made an offer that could have cut his São Paulo career short, but the player was not interested in playing in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 at that particular time.

Throughout his time at São Paulo, he and Oscar, who was also a centre-back, became a line of defence that is frequently remembered as one of the best in that club's history. He played a total of 451 matches in that club, scoring 38 gols. After the 1988 São Paulo state championship
Campeonato Paulista
The Campeonato Paulista de Futebol Profissional da Primeira Divisão - Série A1, simply known as the Campeonato Paulista, is the top-flight professional football league in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. The league is contested between 20 clubs and typically lasts from January to April...

, Pereyra has transferred to Flamengo
Clube de Regatas do Flamengo
Clube de Regatas do Flamengo , also known as Flamengo and familiarly as Mengão, is a Brazilian sports club based in the Flamengo bairro, Zona Sul, Rio de Janeiro, best known for its professional football team...

, where he played only 11 matches. After that, he was hired by Palmeiras
Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras
Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras is a Brazilian football club from São Paulo. The club was founded on August 26, 1914, as Palestra Italia but changed to the current name on September 14, 1942...

 in early 1989, when he was already 32. In the following year, he played for two years at Gamba Osaka
Gamba Osaka
is a Japanese professional association football club, currently playing in the J. League Division 1. The team's name comes from the Italian word "gamba" meaning "leg" and the Japanese , meaning "to do your best" or "to stand firm". Located in Suita, Osaka, the team's home stadium is Osaka Expo '70...

, then called Matsushita Electronic, where he would end his playing career.

Darío Pereyra also made regular appearances in the Uruguayan national team
Uruguay national football team
The Uruguayan national football team represents Uruguay in international association football and is controlled by the Uruguayan Football Association, the governing body for football in Uruguay. The current head coach is Óscar Tabárez...

, and has played in the 1986 FIFA World Cup
1986 FIFA World Cup
The 1986 FIFA World Cup, the 13th FIFA World Cup, was held in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia had been originally chosen to host the competition by FIFA but, largely due to economic reasons, was not able to do so and officially...

.

Managerial career

Darío was an assistant manager at São Paulo when he took over the interim manager position in 1997, succeeding manager Muricy Ramalho. Under his management, São Paulo shook off a weak campaign in the São Paulo State Championship, but the team only obtained the vice-championship title and a 13th position in the Campeonato Brasileiro
Campeonato Brasileiro Série A
The Campeonato Brasileiro de Clubes da Série A , popularly known as the Brasileirão , is a professional football league at the top of the Brazilian football league system held annually since 1959. Contested by twenty clubs, it operates a system of promotion and relegation with the Série B...

. After 1998, Pereyra was replaced by manager Nelsinho Baptista.

On October 3, 1998, Pereyra was the fifth manager to take up Coritiba in that very year. However, he managed to lead the team to six victories and five draws in 13 matches. At the end of the 1998 Brazilian championship, he managed Atlético Mineiro, where he eventually obtained the Minas Gerais State Championship
Campeonato Mineiro
Campeonato Mineiro is the state football league of the state of Minas Gerais and is controlled by the Minas Gerais Football Federation FMF ....

in 1999.

Personal life

Pereyra is currently employed by football marketing company Traffic in Brazil as a supervisor responsible for discovering talented, young football players.
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