- Since his arrival on October 30, 2020, the Portuguese coach has won 11 titles, including the 2020 and 2021 CONMEBOL Libertadores, and in March he surpassed Oswaldo Brandão as the most successful coach in the history of the 'Verdão'.
- With six semifinals in seven editions of the Copa, Abel will face Fluminense in pursuit of a third continental crown.
On October 30, 2020, Palmeiras announced a 41-year-old Portuguese coach who had just led PAOK into the Champions League and whom very few in Brazil knew. Six seasons later, Abel Ferreira is the most successful coach in the history of the São Paulo club, the foreign coach with the most titles in Brazilian soccer, and the man who turned the 'Verdão' into a regular in the decisive stages of the CONMEBOL Libertadores. The numbers need no adjectives.
Eleven titles in five and a half years. The list begins in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic with the 2020 Libertadores, won on January 30, 2021, at the Maracanã with Breno Lopes' goal in the ninth minute of stoppage time against Santos; it continues with the 2020 Copa do Brasil; the 2021 Libertadores at the Centenario in Montevideo, with Deyverson's extra-time goal against Flamengo; the 2022 Recopa; the 2022 and 2023 Brasileirão titles; the 2023 Supercopa; and the 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2026 Paulista championships. With the last one, on March 8, he surpassed Oswaldo Brandão's 10 titles, leaving Vanderlei Luxemburgo with eight and Felipe Scolari with six behind him. Since the 2023 Brasileirão, he has also been the foreign coach with the most titles in the history of Brazilian soccer, ahead of Uruguay's Félix Magno.
The back-to-back continental titles are the heart of his tenure. Palmeiras won two consecutive CONMEBOL Libertadores in 2020 and 2021 and has since been among the final four almost every year: a semifinalist in 2022, eliminated by Athletico Paranaense; a semifinalist in 2023, out on penalties against Boca at Allianz Parque; a finalist in 2025, when it lost 1-0 to Flamengo in Lima to Danilo's goal; and a semifinalist again in 2026. The only exception was 2024, with the Round of 16 elimination against Botafogo. That is six semifinals in seven appearances, with 46 wins in 72 matches and 153 goals scored to 55 conceded.
The road in this year's competition had its scares. The Verdão finished second in Group F behind Cerro Porteño, met the Paraguayan side again in the Round of 16 and eliminated it with a 1-1 draw in São Paulo and a 1-0 win in Asunción, and in the quarterfinals it survived Liga de Quito: 1-0 at home, 2-3 at altitude with two stoppage-time goals by Michael Estrada, and 4-3 on penalties with two saves by Carlos Miguel. "Fortunately, today the penalty curse is over," said Vitor Castanheira that night, the assistant to a head coach who could not speak: he had been sent off.
The detail matters because it describes the man. Abel Ferreira coaches with his heart in his mouth, as he himself puts it, and that style also cost him a three-match suspension in the Brasileirão for kicking a microphone during the game against Mirassol. A few days earlier, he had apologized to the fans for a remark that sounded like an early farewell: "I watched it again and I didn't like it. More than words, it's about attitudes. I have great respect for Palmeiras' history; nobody is bigger than Palmeiras. I love being at Palmeiras." He said it on September 9, after beating Liga de Quito 1-0.
His contract ties him to the club through December 2027, with no release clause for either side, in line with the mandate of president Leila Pereira. He signed it on December 10, 2025, after a year without titles and with three runner-up finishes, in the Paulista, the Brasileirão and the Libertadores, and after turning down approaches from Nottingham Forest and Wolverhampton. This week, the Portuguese press once again named him as Sporting's favorite for 2027; at Palmeiras they insist he will see out his contract. "Records, time... That's not what drives me," he had said in January, when he became the first coach in thirty years to start six consecutive seasons in charge of a Brazilian club, something that had not happened since Telê Santana at São Paulo between 1990 and 1995.
What drives him is three matches away. Palmeiras has reached the semifinals of the CONMEBOL Libertadores and the Copa do Brasil, where it will face Vasco da Gama, at the same time for the fourth time in its history, and is fighting for the Brasileirão three points behind Flamengo. Against Fluminense, with the first leg in Rio and the return leg at home on October 21, Abel will chase his fourth CONMEBOL Libertadores final with the club and his third Gloria Eterna, the one that would bring back the continental crown after five years. Five years of success don't have to end at five.
