Rogério Ceni is official as the new coach of Bahia until 2025

Rogério Ceni is from Bahia. In the early evening of this Saturday (9), the coach was made official as the new commander of the team that is fighting against relegation to Series B of the Brazilian Championship in 2024. Ceni is expected in Salvador this Sunday (10) to sign a contract until 2025 and give your first workout.

The coach’s first match will be against Coritibaon Thursday (14), at Couto Pereira.

Ceni arrives to take the place of the Portuguese Renato Paiva, who resigned last week. In a note, the coach thanked Grupo City, owner of the club’s SAF from Bahia, for the opportunity, but also mentioned a certain hurt in his departure. In just over nine months on the team, Paiva had a 49% success rate, with 19 wins, 15 draws and 15 losses and this year’s State Championship title.

The work at SAF in Bahia will be Rogério Ceni’s first since April, when he left command of São Paulo. Despite having its name linked to other clubs, such as Vasco, Flamengo and Athletico, the former goalkeeper has remained off the market for the last five months. On the Bahian team, Ceni’s work priority will be to save the team from falling to the second division of national football. Currently, Salvador’s team is first within the Z4, with 22 points won.

Bahia will be the second club in the Northeast that Ceni will manage, the fifth in his career. After a lackluster spell at São Paulo shortly after his retirement from goal, he followed a successful path at Fortaleza, where he won the Series B (2018), the Copa do Nordeste (2019) and two State Championships (2019 and 2020), being considered a key player in the club’s change in status.

Ceni repeated his success at Flamengo, where he became Brazilian champion (2020), the Brazilian Super Cup (2021) and the Campeonato Carioca (2021). He left the Rio team in July 2021 after disagreements with the board. In addition to a quick spell at Cruzeiro in 2019, Ceni returned to São Paulo in 2022, when they were runner-up in Paulista and the Copa Sudamericana. He needs to sign the contract and find a place to live in Salvador. His intention is to start as soon as possible after everything has been sorted out.