Antônio Carlos Zago

Club

Bolivia

Position

Manager

Nationality

Brazil

Date of birth

1969-05-18

Birthplace

Presidente Prudente, Brazil

Height

184 cm

Antônio Carlos Zago (born 18 May 1969), sometimes known as just Antônio Carlos or simply Zago, is a Brazilian professional football manager and former player who manages Bolívar.

Born in Presidente Prudente, a city of the state of São Paulo, also having Italian origins, Zago began playing professional football with São Paulo, where he remained for three years, and then signed to Albacete Balompié, Spain, where he stayed for only one season. He returned to his homeland, this time to Palmeiras, another team of São Paulo and a rival to his previous Brazilian team. After three years with the club, he emigrated once again, this time to Japanese club Kashiwa Reysol, where once again remained for only one year before returning to play in São Paulo, but this time at Corinthians, being one of the few players who have played in all the three biggest teams of the city and archrivals as well.

In January 1998, Zago moved to the Italian capital to join Roma, at the request of the club's manager Zdenek Zeman, who was looking to reinforce the team's defensive line. In his Serie A debut with the club, on 11 February 1998 at Lecce, he was sent off after only a few minutes of play; his performances with the giallorossi soon improved, however, and he was able to demonstrate his quality and skill, leading to him being recalled to the Brazilian national side in 1999. Zago played for five seasons with Roma, and was also part of the 2001 Scudetto-winning team; Zago partnered with compatriot Aldair and Argentine Walter Samuel to form a sold back-line, which aided Roma in claiming the Serie A title. Due to his success and performances with Roma, Zago still remains a popular figure with the romanista fans, who nicknamed him Terminator during his time at the club.

In November 1999 Zago was the protagonist of a shocking episode, when he spat on Lazio player Diego Simeone's face during a derby match. The outcome was a positive attitude towards him by the fans, who paid tribute to his action in the song "Brusco", the phrases "Zago: spits fire as a dragon" and "people can only keep their mouth shut, otherwise AC Zago will spit at them". Zago is also one of the few Brazilian players who is known with his name and surname. During the years he spent to Rome he had chosen his name on the shirt to be written in different ways, the first "ANTÔNIO CARLOS", then "AC ZAGO" then simply "ZAGO."

In 2002, after nearly joining Bolton Wanderers, Zago left Roma. After a year of inactivity, h