Gustavo Leal (football manager)

Leal was born in Rio de Janeiro, he never played as a professional footballer, although he was part of some Brazilian football youth squads. He began his career as a coach in teams of minor categories of Brazilian football like Quissamã, Serrano and Mesquita. In 2014 he was hired by Fluminense FC to manage the Under-17 squad, he remained in the position until 2017.^[1]

In February 2018, Leal was hired as the manager of the Slovakian team ŠTK Šamorín, although he only remained in the position for 13 games, later he remained at the club as Sanjin Alagic's assistant, until December 2018. Leal was part of the Slovakian team due to the agreement the club had with Fluminense.^{[2][non-primary source needed]} In 2019 he returned to the Brazilian team to manage the club's U-20 team.

While he was coaching the Fluminense youth team, Leal was invited to join the Brazil national under-20 team, managed by André Jardine, as an assistant, later he would go on to advise the under-23 team, for which he was part of the squad that participated in the 2020 Summer Olympics, winning the gold medal.^[3]

In February 2022, Jardine was appointed as manager of the Mexican team Atlético San Luis, Leal was selected as the club's technical assistant.^[3] In June 2023, after Jardine was hired as the head coach of Club América,^[4] Leal was convinced by Atlético San Luis to remain at the team and become the head coach, being announced as their manager on 20 June.^[3]

As of match played 28 April 2024

Managerial record by team and tenure

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				P	W	D	L	Win %
Šamorín		1 February 2018	21 July 2018	13	7	3	3	053.8
Atlético San Luis		20 June 2023	29 April 2024	44	15	4	25	034.1
Total				57	22	7	28	038.6

• Gustavo Leal coach profile at Soccerway
• Liga MX manager profile (in Spanish)