Milton da Cruz (born 1 August 1957) is a Brazilian professional football coach and former player who played as a forward. He is the current assistant manager of São Paulo. His career is widely related to São Paulo, club he represented as a player and served as an interim manager on a number of occasions before leaving in 2016.

Club career

Known as Milton in his playing days, he joined São Paulo's youth setup in 1975, being promoted to the first team in 1977. He subsequently represented Estudiantes Tecos, Nacional Montevideo, Internacional, Sport Recife, Catuense, Náutico, Yomiuri FC, Nissan Motors FC, Botafogo and Kashima Antlers. In May 1993, Cruz joined Oklahoma City Slickers of the USISL. He was the club's topscorer, as his side finished third, and subsequently retired at the age of 36.

International career

Cruz appeared with Brazil under-23s at the 1984 Summer Olympics in United States, appearing in three matches only as a substitute.

Coaching career

In 1997 Cruz returned to his first club São Paulo, as an assistant manager. In 1999, after Paulo César Carpegiani's dismissal, he was named interim. In 2002, Cruz left Tricolor to join Oscar's staff at Ittihad, but returned to the club in the following year. Until his dismissal from the club in March 2016, he worked as an assistant coach, being an interim on nine further occasions. On 19 February 2017, Cruz had his first experience as a head coach, being named in charge of Náutico. He was sacked on 7 May, despite having only three defeats in 12 matches. On 8 August 2017, Cruz was appointed head coach of Figueirense in the Série B, but left on 10 September of the following year. On 18 December 2018, he was named at the helm of Sport Recife for the upcoming season. On 18 February 2019, after just seven matches, Cruz resigned from Sport. He returned to São Paulo on 9 March 2021, as a technical consultant, being later named Rogério Ceni's assistant on 19 October.

Club statistics

Honours