Jose Marcelo Ferreira, aka Ze Maria, has a few stories to tell. In fact, he has so many stories that it takes three video calls over two days to tell just a few of them that he considers the most interesting.
Over the past three decades, he has been from world football to May and back again, stopping in various countries around the world. There are stories from his days as a footballer: with Carlo Ancelotti, Fabio Cannavaro and Lilian Thuram at Parma; memories with Roberto Mancini, Adriano and Luis Figo at Inter; stories of Mario Zagallo, Ronaldo and Romario with Brazil.
Then, he has spent time coaching in Kenya, a remote ski resort in Romania and second-tier Albania. There are also thoughts on the current state of football and the barriers he faces as a black coach trying to take his career to the next level. During the conversation, which jumps from one place to another, talking about different periods, he returns to the same themes of relationships, trust and the power of persuasion.
More than once, he brings up his favorite quote from Bernardinho, a Brazilian volleyball coach so successful that his house contains more precious metal than most central banks in the country: “A great coach is one who can convince a player to do what he wouldn't do."
For Ze Maria, that coach was Ancelotti, whom he calls "the biggest influence" and "one of the three best coaches in the world." Ancelotti was the promising young coach at Parma when Ze Maria moved there from Flamengo in 1996.
"Barcelona and Real Madrid contacted me, but I rejected them. My dream was to play in a big club in Italy, since in Brazil we only watched Serie A matches", says Ze Maria, who had great challenges. "Serie A was the most difficult league in the world. It was difficult for me, because as a full-back, I only wanted to attack. But in Italy I was forced to learn to defend and cover the central defenders".
Ancelotti helped him adapt, asking him to work hard, but also encouraging him. For this reason, Ze Maria has only good words for Ancelotti, who in 1997 was runner-up in Italy with Parma.
"He treats you first as a person, then as a player. At Parma we had a fantastic team with players like Buffon, Cannavaro, Thuram, Sensini, Dino Baggio, Chiesa and Crespo. Ancelotti knew how to manage him very well, and only great coaches do that," says Ze Maria, who last year closely observed Ancelotti's work for a week in Napoli, before the Italian took charge of Everton.