After leading the men’s national team of Brazil to a breathtaking gold medal appearance at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Bernardo ‘Bernardinho’ Rezende returns to club duties to guide Rexona-Sesc Rio de Janeiro in their third FIVB Volleyball Club World Championship appearance.
As a player, the 57-year-old Rio native is a two-time Olympian - he played for Brazil in Moscow 1980 before winning a silver medal in Los Angeles 1984. He also won a silver medal at the 1982 FIVB Volleyball World Championship.
As a coach, Bernardinho spent a few years with clubs in Italy before taking charge of the women’s national team of Brazil in 1994, leading the side to bronze medals at the Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. He switched to the men’s national team of Brazil in 2001, leading them to Olympic gold in Athens 2004, followed by two silvers in Beijing 2008 and London 2012 and culminating with another gold in Rio 2016. He also led Brazil to three consecutive FIVB World Championship titles in 2002, 2006 and 2010. In the late 1990s, Bernardinho also took charge of the Rio de Janeiro Volei Clube women’s team, which he led to 11 national league titles, as well as to South American Club Championship gold medals in 2013, 2015 and 2016.
Bernardinho coached Rio de Janeiro to a silver medal at the 2013 FIVB Volleyball Club World Championship, when they lost to VakifBank Istanbul in straight sets in Zurich. Last year, also in Zurich, he led the team to fourth place.