Luiz Felipe Scolari is known for leading Brazil to victory in the 2002 FIFA World Cup. He also coached prestigious teams such as Portugal, English Premier League side Chelsea, and again the Brazilian national team at the 2014 World Cup.
He worked in many countries during his long career; for example, he also managed Kuwait and Guangzhou Evergrande in China. In 1997, before his name was known around the globe, he coached Júbilo Iwata. He actually worked in Japan only for four months, but in that short period of time, Scolari (at the time known as Felipe in Japan), build the foundation for a system that later helped many young players to develop their football.
At the time, Iwata had Brazilian international Dunga in addition to Japanese talents such as Masashi Nakayama, Hiroshi Nanami and Toshiya Fujita. There were also youngsters such as Daisuke Oku and Takashi Fukunishi, who were developing rapidly into top players. Scolari guided these men with solid tactics, and even though he left in the middle of the season, the team went on to win the Second Stage and ultimately beat Kashima Antlers in the Championship—to become the J.League champions for the first time under Scolari’s successor, Takashi Kuwahara.
For several years, Júbilo Iwata, along with Kashima, has been a J.League powerhouse and Scolari had a huge influence on their rise to the top of Japanese football.
