Brazilian footballer
Rodrigo Marques de Santana (born 29 May 1982), known as Rodrigo Santana, is a Brazilian football coach and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He is the current head coach of Athletic-MG.
Career
Born in Santos, São Paulo, Santana played as a midfielder and retired in 2010, aged 28, after suffering a hand injury while representing Confiança.[1] He started his career as Camboriú's assistant, being named manager shortly after.
In 2011, Santana was named manager of Pinheiros' under-20 manager, being in charge of the first team afterwards. He left the club in November,[2] being immediately appointed Nenê Belarmino's assistant at Uberaba.
On 14 February 2012, Santana left Uberaba and was named Portuguesa Santista manager.[3] Late in the year, he was also in charge of União Suzano during a trip in Bolivia.[4]
In 2013, Santana was Grêmio Barueri's assistant during the Campeonato Paulista Série A2.[5] On 5 November of that year, he was presented as manager of the under-20 squad of São Carlos for the ensuing Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior;[6] the following 8 February, he replaced fired Roberto Oliveira as manager of the main squad,[7] acting as an interim until the end of the competition and suffering relegation.
On 10 June 2014, Santana left São Carlos[8] and was appointed manager of Juventus the following day.[9] He was sacked on 11 March 2016, after achieving promotion to the second division of Paulistão the previous year.[10]
On 15 April 2016, Santana returned to Uberaba and was named manager of the main squad.[11] On 26 October, he was named at the helm of URT.[12]
On 20 July 2018, Santana signed for Atlético Mineiro as a coordinator of the youth division.[13] On 4 October 2018, he was named manager of the under-20s.[14] On 12 April 2019, he was appointed interim first team manager after the dismissal of Levir Culpi,[15] and on 24 June, he was named permanent manager.[16]
On 13 October 2019, Santana was sacked after a defeat to Grêmio.[17] On 16 February 2020, he took over Avaí in the place of sacked Augusto Inácio,[18] but was himself dismissed on 1 August.
On 29 October 2020, Santana replaced fired Jorginho at the helm of Coritiba in the top tier.[19] He was himself dismissed on 13 December, after winning only two points out of 15.[20]
On 12 May 2021, Santana was named manager of Confiança in the Série B,[21] but was sacked on 26 July after the club was in the last position.[22]
On 5 December 2022, Santana was briefly announced as one of the new assistant coaches for Corinthians 2023 season.[23] However, on the next day, the signing was cancelled due to Santana being linked to anti-democratic acts related to the 2022 Brazilian general election.[24]
On 27 July 2023, after a brief period at Indonesian side RANS Nusantara, Santana was named manager of Bolivian Primera División side Vaca Díez.[25] He returned to his home country on 9 December, after being appointed in charge of Série C newcomers Athletic-MG.[26]
