Alexi Stival, commonly known as Cuca, is a Brazilian retired footballer who played as a forward, and manager, currently without a club. He made one appearance for the Brazil national team in 1991. Since his retirement, he has been the manager of a number of clubs, mostly in his native country.
Playing career
Club
Born in Curitiba, Cuca started his career with Santa Cruz-RS after graduating with hometown side Pinheiros. He moved to Juventude in May 1985, and was a regular starter for the club until his transfer to Grêmio in July 1987. While at Grêmio, Cuca scored the decisive goal of the 1989 Copa do Brasil Final against Sport. He moved abroad for the first time in his career in August 1990, spending six months at La Liga side Real Valladolid. Upon returning to Brazil, Cuca joined Grêmio's fierce rivals Internacionalon loan. After struggling with injuries, he featured regularly for Palmeiras and Santos. Cuca was signed by Portuguesa ahead of the 1994 season, but failed to impress. He subsequently represented Remo, Chapecoense and Coritiba, retiring with the latter in 1996 at the age of 33.
Shortly after retiring, Cuca started managing Uberlândia in 1997. He was subsequently in charge of Avaí, Brasil de Pelotas, Internacional de Limeira, Internacional de Lages, Remo, Criciúma, Gama, Paraná and Goiás, gaining notoriety with the latter after taking the latter club in the last position of the 2003 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A and avoiding relegation by finishing ninth. On 17 December 2003, Cuca was appointed manager of São Paulo in the place of Roberto Rojas. He was dismissed the following 2 September, after being knocked out of the year's Copa Libertadores in the semifinals and dropping to the seventh place in the league. Eight days after leaving São Paulo, he was named Grêmio manager, but could not avoid the club's first-ever relegation. On 3 February 2005, Cuca replaced Júlio César Leal at the helm of Flamengo, Dismissed on 15 April, he took over Coritiba on 6 May. Cuca was sacked by Coxa on 12 October 2005, being appointed in charge of São Caetano on 9 November. On 22 May 2006, Cuca was presented as the new Botafogo manager. He resigned on 28 September 2007, but returned to the club on 7 October after the departure of Mário Sérgio; he resigned for a second time on 29 May 2008. Cuca was appointed Santos manager on 2 June 2008, but resigned on 7 August after the club was seriously threatened with relegation. He returned to Flamengo on 12 December, after a two-month spell at Fluminense, but was relieved from his duties the following 23 July. Cuca returned to Flu on 1 September 2009, replacing Renato Gaúcho. Sacked on 19 April of the following year, he took over Cruzeiro on 8 June 2010 and managed to lead the club to a second place, two points shy of champions and former club Fluminense. He left the side on 19 June 2011, being replaced by Joel Santana. On 8 August 2011, Cuca was announced as new manager of Atlético Mineiro, replacing Dorival Júnior. He won the 2012 Campeonato Mineiro and also lifted the 2013 Copa Libertadores, but on 18 December 2013, after a 3–1 defeat to Raja Casablanca, he was dismissed. On 21 December2013, just three days after being sacked by Galo, Cuca was appointed at the helm of Chinese Super League side Shandong Luneng. He announced his departure from the club on 6 December 2015, after winning the Chinese FA Cup and the Chinese FA Super Cup. On 14 March 2016, Cuca replaced Marcelo Oliveira at the helm of high-spending Palmeiras. He led the club to a Série A title after 22 years, but opted to resign on 30 November, alleging "personal reasons". Cuca returned to Verdão on 5 May 2017, replacing fired Eduardo Baptista and signing a contract until the end of 2018. On 13 October, he was himself dismissed, with his assistant Alberto Valentim taking his place. On 30 July 2018, Cuca was appointed manager of Santos for the second time. He took the club out of the relegation zone, but left after finishing in a disappointing tenth position due to a health problem. On 14 February 2019, Cuca agreed to a two-year contract with São Paulo, effective as of 15 April due to his heart condition.
