Scolari wants to lead European club

Brazil's FIFA World Cup-winning coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has announced his resignation in order to work with a European club.

World Cup victory
Scolari, who took charge of Brazil in June 2001, will step down after this month's friendly against Paraguay having masterminded his nation's fifth World Cup triumph, beating Germany 2-0 in the final, after beating Belgium, England and Turkey in the knockout stages.

'I will look to work in Europe'
And he has revealed that, after an extended holiday, he wants to coach a team in a European league. "In the next 60, 90, 120 days, until the end of the year, I will stay with my family," he said. "After that, I will look to work in Europe, which is one of my professional targets. If I go to a European team which is not a winning team, it will become one. And if it is already a winner, it will be even more of a winner."

Criticism at home
Although he transformed a Brazil team in danger of missing out on World Cup qualification into the champions in Korea/Japan, he had continued to receive criticism at home for his decisions, and has decided to step down while still ahead.

Copa Libertadores triumph
He began his coaching career in 1982, and although he has spent most of that time in Brazil, he has had spells in charge of clubs in Saudi Arablia, Kuwait - where he also led the national side for a year - and Japan. His biggest coaching successes were winning the Copa Libertadores - the South American equivalent of the UEFA Champions League -  with Grêmio FB Porto-Alegrense in 1995, and SE Palmeiras in 1999.