Oceano has been out of work since he left Carlos Queiroz’s assistant in the Colombia national team in 2020 and when asked if he enjoyed working in Portugal, he replied: “Yes! Because it would be a curious fact: I would be the only black coach.” in the first division.” The former Sporting player’s response was a kind of fuse to address the racial issue: “Racism exists, let’s not hide it, because it exists. In Portugal, where I can speak more assertively, there is a dangerous racism. because it is structural racism. Do you think it is normal that there is no black coach in the Primeira Liga? Last year there was no one… Most people think it’s normal and that makes racism structural.”
For the now unemployed coach, “it’s not normal” “to see the few opportunities that black coaches have”, especially given the number of good black players. Lito Vidigal and Pepa were the last black coaches in the Primeira Liga, in the 2021-22 season. A scenario that is not exclusive to Portugal. Spain, Italy or Germany did not have a black coach in the main championships. Patrick Vieira (Crystal Palace – England), Patrick Kisnorbo (Troyes – France), Antoine Kombouaré (Nantes – France), Henk Fraser (Utrecht – Netherlands) and M’Baye Leye (Zulte Waregem – Belgium) were exceptions in the main European competitions .
“I find myself educating people about this topic of racism almost every day. It shouldn’t be my job, or rather, it should be everyone’s job,” the technician corrected, remembering how the case of Vinicius Jr. “went viral” because he is a player who is “at the top of the pyramid, who plays for Real Madrid and forces everyone to talk about the subject”, but according to him, “there is racism every week”: “The problem of this world is that something else always happens tomorrow; but sometimes what happened yesterday deserves to be remembered and discussed. This is a problem and it is a big problem.”
Racism marks Oceano Cruz’s interview and first episode of final cutO podcast of the agency Sports tailors. The former Portuguese international also talks about Sporting, Benfica, FC Porto and Sp. Braga and his phase as a player and that (lost) invitation to play for Barcelona, as well as Carlos Queiroz’s assistant coaching adventure in Iran and Colombia: “The label I trained with Queiroz makes me proud, it is a good label . It was a pleasure to have been with him all these years. And even today I have people who say to me: hey, I thought you were with Carlos.”
Source: DN
