Zé Maria (footballer, born 1973) facts for kids
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | José Marcelo Ferreira | ||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 25 July 1973 | ||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Oeiras (PI - Brazil) | ||||||||||||
| Height | 1.74 m | ||||||||||||
| Playing position | Right back Right midfielder |
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| Club information | |||||||||||||
| Current club | Olbia (head coach) | ||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† | ||||||||||
| 1991–1995 | Portuguesa | 28 | (2) | ||||||||||
| 1993 | → Sergipe (loan) | 38 | (5) | ||||||||||
| 1994 | → Ponte Preta (loan) | 22 | (0) | ||||||||||
| 1996 | Flamengo | 14 | (1) | ||||||||||
| 1996–1998 | Parma | 45 | (2) | ||||||||||
| 1998–2004 | Perugia | 144 | (16) | ||||||||||
| 1999 | → Vasco Gama (loan) | 34 | (4) | ||||||||||
| 1999 | → Palmeiras (loan) | 15 | (1) | ||||||||||
| 2000 | → Cruzeiro (loan) | 29 | (2) | ||||||||||
| 2004–2006 | Inter Milan | 29 | (1) | ||||||||||
| 2006–2007 | Levante | 14 | (0) | ||||||||||
| 2008 | Portuguesa | 5 | (1) | ||||||||||
| 2008–2009 | Città Castello | ||||||||||||
| Total | 416 | (35) | |||||||||||
| National team | |||||||||||||
| 1996–2001 | Brazil | 25 | (0) | ||||||||||
| Teams managed | |||||||||||||
| 2010 | Group Castello | ||||||||||||
| 2010 | Catanzaro | ||||||||||||
| 2015 | Ceahlăul | ||||||||||||
| 2016–2017 | Gor Mahia | ||||||||||||
| 2017–2018 | Tirana | ||||||||||||
| 2019 | Portuguesa | ||||||||||||
| 2024– | Olbia | ||||||||||||
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Honours
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José Marcelo Ferreira (born July 25, 1973), known as Zé Maria, is a former Brazilian football player. He is now a coach. Currently, he is the head coach for the Serie C Group A club Olbia.
Zé Maria was famous for his accurate crosses. He could play as a right back or a right midfielder. He spent most of his career playing in Italy's Serie A. He played for three teams there, especially Perugia.
Contents
Playing Career
Early Years in Brazil
Zé Maria was born in Oeiras, Piauí, Brazil. He began his professional football journey with Portuguesa in 1991. During his time there, he was loaned out to other clubs twice. In 1995, he was chosen for the "Bola de Prata" (Silver Ball) team of the year in the Brazilian League. This honor led to him joining Flamengo in 1996.
Moving to Italy
In the summer of 1996, Zé Maria moved to Italy. He signed with Serie A club Parma. He played regularly for two seasons with Parma. After that, he stayed in Italy and joined Perugia.
Time with Perugia
His start with Perugia was a bit difficult. He was loaned back to Brazil three times. During these loan periods, he won the Copa Libertadores with Palmeiras in 1999. He also won the Copa do Brasil with Cruzeiro in 2000.
Eventually, Zé Maria became a key player for Perugia. In his third full season, he helped his team finish 10th in the league. He also scored six goals that season. Perugia then played in the UEFA Intertoto Cup. They reached the third round of the UEFA Cup the next season. However, his team was also relegated from Serie A in 2004.
Later Club Experiences
After Perugia, Zé Maria played for Inter for two seasons. He played quite often in his first season (2004–05). But in his second season (2005–06), he only played eight times, mostly as a substitute. Inter won the Italian league title, known as the Scudetto, that year. This happened because of a football scandal called Calciopoli.
After Inter, Zé Maria joined La Liga club Levante UD in Spain for free. He started the 2006–07 season as the main right-back. However, he later lost his spot. He played 14 league games that season. His team, Levante, just managed to avoid being relegated.
After being released by Levante, Zé Maria returned to Brazil. He rejoined Portuguesa in January 2008. In August of that year, he made a surprising move. He accepted an offer from A.S.D. Città di Castello, an amateur team in Italy.
Zé Maria retired from playing football at age 36. He decided to stay in Italy and later started his own football school in Perugia.
International Career
Zé Maria played 25 games for the Brazilian national team over five years. He did not play in any FIFA World Cups. However, he did play in two FIFA Confederations Cup tournaments. He was part of the team that won the first-ever Confederations Cup in Saudi Arabia in 1997. He also played in one Copa América (South American Championship), which Brazil also won in 1997 in Bolivia.
In 1996, Zé Maria helped the Brazilian Olympic team win a bronze medal. This was at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. He played in all six matches during the tournament.
Coaching Career
First Coaching Jobs
On March 15, 2010, Zé Maria started his first job as a head coach. He took charge of Serie D club S.S.D. Group Città di Castello. Later that year, he became the manager of fourth division team F.C. Catanzaro. However, he was removed from this role after only a few months.
Managing KF Tirana
On June 16, 2017, Zé Maria signed a one-year contract to manage Tirana in Albania. His first match was a 2–0 loss to Maccabi Tel Aviv in the UEFA Europa League qualifying round. Tirana was knocked out of the competition after losing the second game.
Zé Maria won his first trophy with Tirana on September 6. They won the 2017 Albanian Supercup by beating Kukësi. This made Tirana the first club from the Albanian First Division to win the Supercup. Tirana started their league season with a 1–0 home win. They also won all their matches in September and November, leading their group. Zé Maria led Tirana to their biggest win of the season, a 6–0 victory.
Tirana finished the year in first place, with only one loss. In January 2018, Tirana signed new players at Zé Maria's request. In February 2018, Tirana was eliminated from the Albanian Cup.
Tirana continued their winning streak in the league. They finished first in their group and qualified for the promotion play-off. On April 14, the team officially earned promotion to the top league for the next season. They won the Albanian First Division championship on May 16. On June 2, Zé Maria extended his contract with the club until June 2020.
Recent Coaching Roles
On October 5, 2022, Parma announced that Zé Maria would work as a technical assistant for their youth team. He left Parma in November 2024 to become the new head coach of Serie D club Olbia.
Coaching Statistics
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | |||
| Gor Mahia F.C. | Jan 2016 | Jun 2017 | — | ||||
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | |||
| Tirana | 17 June 2017 | 12 October 2018 | 46 | 30 | 7 | 9 | 65.22 |
Achievements
As a Player
- Flamengo
- Campeonato Carioca: 1996
- Palmeiras
- Copa Libertadores: 1999
- Cruzeiro
- Copa do Brasil: 2000
- Perugia
- UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2003
- Inter Milan
- Serie A: 2005–06
- Coppa Italia: 2004–05, 2005–06
- Brazil National Team
- Copa América: 1997
- FIFA Confederations Cup: 1997
- 1996 Summer Olympics: Bronze Medalist
As a Manager
- Tirana
- Albanian Supercup: 2017
- Albanian First Division: 2017–18
See also
In Spanish: Zé María para niños
