Hélio César dos Anjos Pinto (born 7 March 1958), known as Hélio dos Anjos, is a Brazilian professional football coach and former player who played as a goalkeeper.
After a short playing career, Hélio dos Anjos began his coaching career with Joinville, and went on to win 12 state league titles with different clubs. He often returned to clubs he previously coached, being charge of Goiás (six times), Náutico (four times), Vitória, Juventude, Fortaleza, Sport Recife, Atlético Goianiense and Paysandu (three times each).
Playing career Born in Januária, Minas Gerais, Hélio dos Anjos moved to Belo Horizonte as a teenager, where he featured in the youth sides of . From the side, he moved to Flamengo after being spotted by Sebastião Lazaroni, youth coordinator at the time.
Known as just Hélio during his playing days, his spell at Fla was mainly as a third-choice behind Raul Plassmann and Cantarele. He was swapped with Joinville in 1981, with Lico moving in the opposite direction.
In 1982, aged just 23, Hélio suffered an injury in training which broke two of his vertebras; he was paralyzed for 45 days, and later retired.
Coaching career After retiring, Hélio dos Anjos worked as a scout for Diede Lameiro at JEC, before taking over the club's youth sides. An interim coach of the main squad in 1986, he became a permanent head coach of the club in 1988, leaving in the following year.
In the 1990s, Hélio dos Anjos was in charge of Avaí, Catanduvense, Juventude, Vitória (three spells), Ceará (achieving promotion in the 1992 Série B with the club), Sãocarlense, Joinville, Novorizontino, Náutico, Santo André, Atlético Paranaense, XV de Piracicaba, Remo (winning the 1995 Campeonato Paraense in an unbeaten status), Goiás (two spells), Sport Recife (winning two consecutive Campeonato Pernambucano titles), Grêmio and América Mineiro. He achieved two consecutive promotions from the Campeonato Paulista Série A2 in 1993 and 1994, with Santo André and XV, respectively, and won the 1999 Série B and two Campeonato Goiano trophies with Goiás.
Ahead of the 2001 season, Hélio dos Anjos became Eurico Miranda's first head coach at Vasco da Gama, but only lasted 16 matches. He later took over Guarani on 7 June 2001.
Sacked by Bugre on 13 August 2001, he subsequently returned to Juventude and Goiás, and was in charge of Gama in the first rounds of the 2002 Série A, leaving in September to take over Paysandu. He returned to Sport for a second spell for the 2003 campaign, winning the year's Pernambucano before leaving in the following year; for the remainder of the 2004 season, he was in charge of Fortaleza and Vitória.
Hélio dos Anjos agreed to return to Santo André on 22 November 2004, but left the club on 8 December, and was named Bahia head coach fourteen days later. Sacked on 18 April 2005, he returned to Fortaleza on 29 June, being dismissed in October and taking over Juventude afterwards.
On 7 June 2006, Hélio dos Anjos left Ju to return to Fortaleza, but resigned on 5 September to take over São Caetano. On 15 October, after seven losses in as many matches, he resigned from the latter.
In October 2006, Hélio dos Anjos returned to Náutico, and renewed his contract on 22 November, after achieving promotion to the Série A. On 16 March 2007, he moved abroad and replaced compatriot Marcos Paquetá as manager of the Saudi Arabia national team.
Hélio dos Anjos led Saudi Arabia to the 2007 AFC Asian Cup final, losing to Iraq. He was dismissed from the national team on 9 June 2008, and returned to Goiás seven days later. He was relieved from his duties at the latter on 25 January 2010, after a poor start of the season.
On 28 December 2010, after a short period in charge of Emirati side Al-Nasr, Hélio dos Anjos was announced as Vila Nova head coach for the ensuing campaign. He left on 8 February to return to Sport, but resigned on 20 June, returning to Vila on 26 June but again resigning on 10 August.
Hélio dos Anjos was appointed head coach of Atlético Goianiense on 12 August 2011, but left the club the following 3 March, after a fitness coach also resigned. He returned to the club on 30 May 2012, however, but resigned again on 9 July.
On 23 July 2012, Hélio dos Anjos replaced Argel Fuchs at the helm of Figueirense in the top tier, but was sacked on 24 August after the club's elimination in the 2012 Copa Sudamericana. On 6 March 2013, he returned to Fortaleza for a third spell, but was dismissed on 4 August.
Hélio dos Anjos returned to Atlético Goianiense for a third spell on 16 June 2014, but only lasted two months at the club. On 13 March 2015, after nearly six months unemployed, he took over Caxias.
On 5 April 2015, Hélio dos Anjos returned to Goiás after five years, but was sacked on 22 June, after five winless matches. On 18 August, he took over ABC in the second division, but left on a mutual agreement on 9 October.
On 31 December 2015, Hélio dos Anjos returned to Saudi Arabia to take over Najran. He was also in charge of Al-Faisaly and Al-Qadisiyah in the same country in 2016, before returning to Goiás on 16 September 2017.
Sacked by Goiás on 6 May 2018, Hélio dos Anjos spent more than a year unemployed before returning to Paysandu on 31 May 2019. He left the club on 15 September 2020, after having altercations with the club's board.
On 18 November 2020, Hélio dos Anjos returned to Náutico, and led the club to their best-ever start in the 2021 Série B, with the club being in the leadership for 14 rounds. On 18 August 2021, he resigned, but returned to the club on 23 September.
Sacked by Timbu on 11 February 2022, Hélio dos Anjos became head coach of fellow second division side Ponte Preta twelve days later. He led the club to the 2023 Paulista Série A2 title, but left on a mutual agreement on 18 April of that year, ten days after winning the competition.
Hélio dos Anjos returned to Paysandu on 28 June 2023, and led the club to a promotion in the year's Série C. On 6 September 2024, he was dismissed, and took over fellow second division side CRB 14 days later.
On 29 November 2024, after rejecting a wage cut offered by the club, Hélio dos Anjos was dismissed by CRB. On 16 April of the following year, he returned to Náutico for his fifth spell as head coach.
On 10 November 2025, after achieving promotion with Timbu to the second division, Hélio dos Anjos renewed his contract with the club until 2027, now with being head coach of the side in a shared command with his son Guilherme. Both were sacked on 23 September 2026, despite winning three of the last six matches.
Personal life Hélio dos Anjos' son Guilherme also works with football; both have been working together since 2012, with Guilherme as his assistant. He is also a businessman, member of the Construction G4.
In June 2016, Hélio dos Anjos was ordered by the Justice to pay an indemnization to player Edmílson Paulista after calling him a "homosexual" during a press conference in 1992, when both were at Joinville. In October 2023, he was suspended for nine matches after uttering homophobic curses to a referee.
Coaching statistics
+ Coaching record by team and tenureTeamNatFromToRecord Joinville12 January 19886 August 1989Avai28 August 198930 April 1990Catanduvense4 May 199023 June 1990Juventude15 July 199010 February 1991Vitória7 March 199130 July 1991Ceará5 August 199125 February 1992Sãocarlense20 June 199227 July 1992Joinville22 August 199210 December 1992Novorizontino14 January 199329 May 1993Náutico20 June 199329 October 1993Santo André12 November 19934 April 1994Athletico Paranaense27 April 199412 June 1994XV de Piracicaba20 June 199430 November 1994Remo10 February 19952 July 1995Goiás3 July 19954 December 1995Vitória4 January 199610 July 1996Sport Recife2 August 199628 May 1997Grêmio29 May 199712 November 1997Vitória1 January 199810 June 1998América Mineiro23 July 199826 August 1998Goiás10 February 199920 December 2000Vasco da Gama25 January 200114 February 2001Guarani7 June 200113 August 2001Juventude12 September 200122 October 2001Goiás9 November 200119 July 2002Gama1 August 20028 September 2002Paysandu9 September 20023 January 2003Sport Recife6 January 200325 March 2004Fortaleza23 April 200418 August 2004Vitória20 August 200430 September 2004Bahia14 February 20053 March 2005Fortaleza6 May 200516 October 2005Juventude18 October 20056 June 2006Fortaleza7 June 20063 September 2006São Caetano4 September 200614 October 2006Náutico15 October 20068 March 2007Saudi Arabia16 March 200710 June 2008Goiás15 June 200825 January 2010Al-Nasr22 February 201010 October 2010Vila Nova24 December 20107 February 2011Sport Recife8 February 201120 June 2011Vila Nova28 June 201110 August 2011Atlético Goianiense17 August 201116 March 2012Atlético Goianiense30 May 20129 July 2012Figueirense23 July 201224 August 2012Fortaleza6 March 20134 August 2013Atlético Goianiense16 June 20143 September 2014Caxias17 March 201506 April 2015Goiás6 April 201522 June 2015ABC18 August 20159 October 2015Najran28 December 201530 June 2016Al-Faisaly1 July 20166 November 2016Al-Qadsiah8 November 201622 April 2017Goiás16 September 201722 April 2018Paysandu31 May 201915 September 2020Náutico20 November 202018 August 2021Náutico24 September 202110 February 2022Ponte Preta25 February 202218 April 2023Paysandu29 June 20236 September 2024CRB23 September 202430 November 2024Náutico16 April 202523 September 2026Total—
Honours Player Flamengo Campeonato Brasileiro Série A: 1980 Campeonato Carioca: 1978, 1979
Coach Vitória Campeonato Baiano: 1992
Remo Campeonato Paraense: 1995
Sport Recife Campeonato Pernambucano: 1996, 1997, 2003
Goiás Campeonato Brasileiro Série B: 1999 Campeonato Goiano: 1999, 2000, 2009, 2015, 2018 Copa Centro-Oeste: 2000
Paysandu Campeonato Paraense: 2020, 2024 Copa Verde: 2024
Náutico Campeonato Pernambucano: 2021
Ponte Preta Campeonato Paulista Série A2: 2023
See also List of football managers with the most matches
References
External links Official website