League-wide protests against Lima
Allegations of abuse: Coach has to resign after comeback
April 16, 2024, 7:05 a.m
The footballers are defending themselves successfully: Because 19 players accused former Brazilian national coach Kleiton Lima of harassment and abuse and there were nationwide protests, he resigned from FC Santos shortly after his comeback.
Brazil’s former national women’s soccer coach Kleiton Lima has been caught up in his allegedly abusive past. As a result of league-wide protests against his reinstatement at Brazilian women’s first division club FC Santos, the 49-year-old announced his resignation again just a few days after his comeback to the parent club of Brazil’s late icon Pele. According to the club, Lima also received death threats before his resignation.
Lima’s return to the Santos women’s team despite previous allegations of sexual harassment and abuse by 19 players sparked a wave of outrage across the country. Before the championship games in Brazil’s top women’s league last weekend, players from several teams covered their mouths and ears as a sign of protest against Lima. Other teams posed in jerseys with the number 19 on their backs, symbolizing the number of alleged victims of Lima’s attacks.
Allegations last year
Santos brought the former professional player back as head coach in the first half of April. Previously, an investigation launched late last year was closed inconclusively due to a lack of evidence of Lima’s misconduct before his first resignation over the allegations.
His departure again is likely to mean the end of his career as a coach for Brazil’s most successful women’s coach. In 2011, the former midfielder led the Brazilians to the quarter-finals of the World Cup finals in Germany after his team had won the South American Championship a year earlier. Lima has worked in Santos since 1999, with several interruptions. In addition to the national championships in 2007 and 2009, Lima also won the Champions League counterpart Copa Libertadores twice with the Santos women (2009 and 2010).
In Brazil, the cases of ex-national players Dani Alves and Robinho, who were sentenced to prison for rape, have in recent weeks led to greater sensitivity in society as a whole for the protection of women from sexual violence by men. Against this background, the men’s national team and the national association CBF publicly distanced themselves from their former stars after a long period of silence.