Athletico 100 years: Geninho, the champion

Two hours before the final game of the 2001 Brazilian Championship, in the locker room at the Anacleto Campanella Stadium, the coach Geninho He gave each of the players a champion banner with their name on it and said: “For me, you are already champions. Don’t let anyone take that band off your chest.” The motivational strategy was so successful that on the field, Athletico didn’t give São Caetano a chance and became the first Brazilian champion of the new millennium.

Eugênio Machado Souto, known as Geninho, was born and raised in Ribeirão Preto (SP) and was there as goalkeeper for the local Botafogo team (when he played with athletic idol Sicupira). Afterwards, he played for teams like Vitória and Juventude. He had already traveled the world as a coach when he arrived at Furacão in August 2001.

He was the fourth coach of the season, but he was the right man at the right time. And on the right team. With his good-natured manner, he managed to unite a discredited “group of bandits” and transform it into an unbeatable team when, in the final stretch of the competition, he managed to keep the cast of bohemian stars within the Caju CT.

Geninho, above all, understood that Athletico is only a winner when the team connects with the fans, something he managed to do once again in 2008, when he saved the club from a relegation that seemed imminent. The following year, he was champion of Paraná. In 2011, he had a third and quick stint in the Atlético bunker. For a large part of the red and black fans, Geninho is a genius, the greatest coach in our centuries-old history.