Manuel Cajuda

Manuel Cajuda

Cajuda in 2020
Personal information
Full name	Manuel Ventura Cajuda de Sousa
Date of birth	(1951-06-27) 27 June 1951
Place of birth	Olhão, Portugal
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
1967–1969	Olhanense
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1970–1971	Sambrasense
1971–1972	Olhanense
1972–1973	Sambrasense
1975–1976	Olhanense	29	(1)
1976–1983	Farense
Managerial career
1984	Farense
1987–1988	Portimonense
1988–1989	Olhanense
1989–1990	Louletano
1990–1991	Torreense
1991	O Elvas
1991–1993	Torreense
1993–1994	União Leiria
1994–1997	Braga
1997–1998	Belenenses
1998–2002	Braga
2002–2003	União Leiria
2003–2004	Marítimo
2004	Beira-Mar
2005–2006	Naval
2006	Zamalek
2006–2009	Vitória Guimarães
2009–2011	Sharjah
2011–2012	União Leiria
2013	Olhanense
2013	Chongqing
2014	Tianjin Songjiang
2015	Ajman Club
2015	BEC Tero Sasana
2017	Sichuan Longfor
2018–2019	Académico Viseu
2020	Leixões
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Manuel Ventura Cajuda de Sousa (born 27 June 1951) is a Portuguese football manager and retired footballer.

In a career which spanned three decades, he managed nearly 20 teams in his own country, and also worked in Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, China and Thailand.

Playing career

Born in Olhão, Cajuda played exclusively in his native Algarve region during his career, starting out at S.C. Olhanense. In 1975 he joined what would be his main club, S.C. Farense also in the second division.

In the summer of 1983, even though the Faro side had just promoted to the Primeira Liga, 32-year-old Cajuda decided to retire from playing.

Coaching career

Immediately after retiring, Cajuda started working as a manager with Farense, leading the team through 12 games in their first-ever season in the top flight and managing to help them retain their league status after finishing 12th. He continued to work in his native region in the following years, with Portimonense SC, Olhanense and Louletano DC.

In 1994, after years of working almost exclusively in the second level – the exception being S.C.U. Torreense in the 1991–92 campaign – Cajuda signed for S.C. Braga, remaining in Minho for the following eight years (ranking in fourth place in 1997 and 2001), with two incomplete seasons with C.F. Os Belenenses in between. He managed to finish in the top six with his following two clubs, U.D. Leiria – he had already been in charge of them nine years before, in division two – and C.S. Marítimo.

Cajuda left the Madeira side only one game into the 2004–05 season, and joined S.C. Beira-Mar also of the top tier, but only lasted an additional ten matches in Aveiro. After a brief spell with Associação Naval 1º de Maio he left for Egypt with Zamalek SC, becoming its second Portuguese coach after Nelo Vingada.

Cajuda returned to Portugal midway through 2006–07 campaign joining Vitória de Guimarães – being announced on Christmas Day – which he led to promotion and a third position in the following year, just narrowly surpassing S.L. Benfica for the last UEFA Champions League berth and only to lose controversially in the last qualifying round against FC Basel of Switzerland. He left at the conclusion of 2008–09 with an eighth-place finish, joining Sharjah FC of the United Arab Emirates.

In late September 2011, Cajuda became Leiria's third coach of the season after the dismissed Pedro Caixinha and Vítor Pontes. He was relieved of his duties on 14 March 2012, with the team ranking last in the league.

After nearly a quarter of a century away, Cajuda returned to hometown club Olhanense on 8 January 2013, succeeding Sérgio Conceição. He resigned on 1 May with the side having slipped from eighth to 14th, one place off the bottom.

Following brief spells across Asia, namely in China, Thailand and the UAE, Cajuda returned to his country to take over at Académico de Viseu F.C. in February 2018, replacing Francisco Chaló at a team challenging for a place in the top flight. Having finished that campaign in third, one place off promotion, he resigned the following 13 January them in 13th place.

On 26 January 2020, Cajuda was hired at Leixões S.C. who were placed tenth in the second tier. In six games he managed two victories, with the club finishing the championship in 9th place, before the club announced his departure on 9 May 2020.

Personal life

Cajuda's sons, Hugo (born 1979) and João (1984), were both involved in sports: the former played twice for Braga in the top division – under the management of his father – mainly representing their reserves during a short spell. The latter was engaged in gymnastics in his youth, but later took up an acting career.

External links

• Manuel Cajuda at ForaDeJogo (archived)
• Manuel Cajuda manager stats at ForaDeJogo (archived)