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Three Trophies, Two Years and One Exceptional Coach: The Rise and Fall of Fernando Diniz’s Fluminense

July 6, 2024
Brasileirão

“The way they play, we’ve never faced, never. I Iove how they associate between each other, the respect all of the time for the ball. They play a typical Brazil style from the 70s, 80s, early 90s. We have to be resilient, otherwise it’s gonna be really difficult to win this final.”

 

Seven months ago, those were the words of Pep Guardiola, as his treble-winners prepared to face South American champions Fluminense in the final of the FIFA Club World Cup. However, on June 24, Flu’s heroic Copa Libertadores-winning manager Fernando Diniz had his contract terminated, with the side languishing in last place after 11 matches of the 2024 Brasileiro Série A season. 

 

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In a footballing nation with a uniquely cut-throat attitude to sacking managers, Diniz’s two years at Fluminense established his place among the club’s all-time greats, and his impact was seismic. Star striker Germán Cano, one of the faces of Diniz’s tenure, was so emotional on the day of his dismissal that he was unable to participate in training. 

 

As much as any manager anywhere in football, Diniz lived and died by the sword. His distinctive football philosophy, discussed and analysed worldwide and known in Brazil as ‘Dinizismo,’ produced some of the most extraordinary football played anywhere in the global game today – spellbinding and overwhelming in its heyday, its final form was bordering on suicidal. 

 

Having earned top-flight pedigree in his playing career, Diniz begun his coaching career in São Paulo’s regional third tier, forging a reputation for possession-based football on his way to managing in Brazil’s Série A. He proved a divisive figure in spells at São Paulo, Santos and Vasco da Gama – as well as a short earlier spell at Fluminense in 2019 – but it was when he returned for a second spell with Tricolor in 2022 that his career and reputation would be transformed. 

 

 

Coming back to the club shortly before the beginning of the Brasileirão season, Diniz would lead Fluminense to a third-place finish on 70 points – their best league performance since winning the title in 2012. The side’s daring, exciting football, centred around the attacking flair of Jhon Arias and Paulo Henrique Ganso, quickly cemented Flu as Brazil’s great entertainers. 

 

Their style of play became subject to discussion in Brazil and beyond. Plenty of managers boast of their attacking, aggressive brands of football, but Dinizismo is different. Whilst Pep Guardiola’s interpretation of “positional play” – the tactically strict model of possession-based football popularised by Johan Cruyff at Barcelona – has become almost ubiquitous at the top level of the modern game, Diniz doesn’t just offer an alternative to this approach: he opposes it. 

 

“Because I like to have the ball, people associate me with Guardiola. But stop there,” he told football chat-show Bem Amigos in 2022. “His way of having the ball is the opposite of mine. In Guardiola’s teams, those who are on the right are on the right, those who are on the left are on the left and the ball reaches those spaces. The way I see it right now is almost a-positional. The players migrate from position. It is a freer game.”

 

 

Of course, there is no right or wrong way to play football. But in an era where many criticse modern tactics for stripping the game of its individuality, Dinizismo offers a refreshing antidote. It is also important to note that Diniz did not invent this school of thinking, dubbed by some English-speaking observers as ‘relationism’ – it is rooted in the great Brazilian teams of past decades, as Guardiola noted ahead of the final last December. 

 

Diniz’ first (and only) full year in charge of Rio’s oldest club began in perfect fashion, as his team completed a sensational comeback from a 2-0 first-leg defeat against rivals Flamengo in order to claim back-to-back Carioca titles for the first time since the 1980s – and they did it in typical fashion, blowing their neighbours away to go 4-0 up within 65 minutes. It was the first major trophy of his managerial career, a vindication for his brand of football which had regularly been dismissed as idealistic up until that point.

 

 

By this point, the Flu faithful were in love with their radical leader – and after a fairly solid start to the regular season, particularly on the continental front, Diniz received a shock offer from the CBF to become interim manager of the Brazilian national team, continuing to share the role with his club duties. This was due to the federation prioritising an ultimately-unsuccessful offer to hire Carlo Ancelotti, with the timing of the appointment for both parties widely questioned in the media. 

 

Debate also surrounded whether a squad of players used to the European train of thought would be able to flourish in Diniz’ ultra-traditional system, and despite two victories in his first international window, they were to be his only two whilst in charge of the Seleção. As Fluminense’s league form also began to falter, he was dismissed from the national hot seat after a 1-0 defeat to Argentina in November – it was Brazil’s first ever home defeat in World Cup qualifying. 

 

 

Despite falling out of the title race amid the ill-fated job-sharing experiment, Tricolor’s Copa Libertadores form remained encouraging. Having topped a group containing Argentine champions River Plate – hammering them 5-1 in the process – Flu progressed past Argentinos Juniors and Olimpia, before prevailing in an epic all-Brazilian semi-final against Internacional to set up a showpiece final against Boca Juniors at the Maracanã, Fluminense’s home stadium.  

 

After taking a first-half lead through Cano’s 13th goal in 12 Copa outings, Flu were pegged back by Luis Advíncula’s fine equaliser with 18 minutes remaining. The final entered extra time, and as is now etched into club folklore, the trophy was won by a sensationally worked goal brilliantly finished off by 21-year-old striker John Kennedy. The beauty of the winner was fittingly reflective of a side wedded to such an attractive brand of football, and the significance of that day was visible in the emotions of Diniz himself. 

 

 

In the wake of their achievement however, Diniz remained his deeply philosophical self, saying: “A champion is not the one who wins the title. A champion is the one who lives with dignity, respects and works with love. If I hadn’t have won, I would’ve kept working to win next time – the championships are over and life goes on. A champion is the one who constantly improves and manages to supplant easy criticism. Those who know what’s going on are inside – whoever is outside sees a mirage.”

 

After finishing the league season in 7th, Fluminense had the honour of travelling to Saudi Arabia for the FIFA Club World Cup. The tournament is taken extremely seriously in Brazil, so it was a welcome relief when Tricolor defeated Egyptian champions Al-Ahly in 2-0 in the semi-final to set up the aforementioned glamour final against Manchester City. In both the semi-final and final, Diniz named the same starting eleven which defeated Boca Juniors in Rio. 

 

Any optimism that Flu could achieve a result to shock the world began to fade instantly, as Julián Álvarez’ freak opener put City in front after just 40 seconds. Despite some outrageous passages of possession play and flashes of attacking intent, the Brazilians were to remain behind for the rest of the encounter which was comprehensively won 4-0 by Guardiola’s footballing gods. 

 

 

Large quarters of the footballing world were now familiar with Diniz and his team – but as quickly as things took off, they quickly came tumbling back down. The loss of club captain Nino to Zenit St. Petersburg was an early obstacle in 2024, as the squad returned to training much later than their Brazilian counterparts due to their participation FIFA’s showpiece club tournament. 

 

There was still time for a third trophy for Diniz though, as his team defeated Ecuadorian side LDU Quito in the Recopa Sudamericana, South America’s equivalent to the UEFA Super Cup. Their search for a third successive Carioca title was however quashed by a 2-0 aggregate semi-final defeat to Flamengo a fortnight later. 

 

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Signings of ex-Brazil internationals Renato Augusto and Douglas Costa, as well as Arsenal winger Marquinhos, indicated a re-invigorated Tricolor squad ahead of the new Brasileirão season – but their form was abysmal from the very beginning. A side once celebrated for their attacking identity were now being frequently out-created, and with their high-risk strategy of playing out from the back now well-known, opponents had a lot of joy forcing errors out of 43-year-old goalkeeper Fábio. 

 

Diniz’s refusal to move away from his principles lost the patience of some supporters, and after his side managed just one victory in their first ten Série A matches, yet another loss to great rivals Flamengo left Fluminense at the bottom of the league table. The ugly 1-0 defeat at the Maracanã was the 50-year-old’s fatal moment.

 

The news of his sacking was a hugely significant story in Brazil, but in the end, not a significant surprise. “I didn’t want it to end like this,” he said in a highly emotional press conference. “It’s a great feeling of gratitude for Fluminense, but a big feeling of sadness. A lot of emotion lived for me and my family.

 

 

“I apologise for the moment we are going through from not being able to win, but we never lacked dedication and courage to achieve it,” he tearfully added. Whilst regretful and apologetic for how his tenure came to an end, Diniz also made another thing absolutely clear, in a much more defiant message.  

 

“Football for me has never been mechanical. I’ll continue like this, I’m not going to bend to the system. I suffered a lot to be who I am. The football system is cruel to a lot of people. My life in football is to make something firm so that the system is less cruel.”

 

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Fernando Diniz will always be a club legend at Fluminense, and tales of his whirlwind 26 months in charge will be told forever. His next managerial venture may not be so iconic or successful – but as he has always maintained, he will still be the same manager: a radical footballing idealist determined to stay in touch with Brazilian football’s soul. 

 

By: Martin Crawford / @crawford7martin

Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Mauro Pimentel – AFP

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