Cesar Renato de Oliveira RIZZO is Old Dominion Soccer Club’s Director of Coaching.
Cesar was born and grew up in Jau, Sao Paulo State, Brazil, and has played soccer since he was five. He is married to Cibele Cavassani Rizzo. Their son Lucas Cavassani Rizzo is a senior student and soccer player at Bishop Sullivan Catholic High School.
Cesar grew up playing at the local youth soccer clubs in Jau as a goalkeeper. At age 13, he joined his home city’s professional U-15 soccer team within the E.C. XV de Novembro de Jau club, and played for that club from 1983 to 1986. He considers his team winning the U-17 Sao Paulo State Championship in 1985 as his most important accomplishment during this period. Because his team was so successful, they advanced to the professional adult level. Practicing and playing with older players while “playing up” rapidly improved Cesar’s skills. In 1987, Cesar was hired as a U-15 and U-17 youth goalkeeper coach, prior to beginning college.
From 1988 to 1993 Cesar studied economics at the Instituicao Toledo de Ensino, in Bauru, Sao Paulo State. While he was in college, he played semiprofessionally at amateur leagues for local soccer clubs.
After he graduated from college in 1993 with a bachelor’s degree in economics, Cesar began his career as a youth soccer coach. Together with a friend (a former professional Santos FC goalkeeper), Cesar started a soccer academy project with the Caicara Clube de Jau (CCJ) club in 1994. Due to its enormous success, Cesar was offered a position as CCJ’s Youth Soccer Coordinator. He worked for CCJ from 1994 to 2000-- developing youth soccer players from ages 5 to 18, supervising youth tournaments for the club, and participating at local, regional and state championships and others activities. In 1995 the club’s U-15 youth soccer team participated in the Gothia Cup (Gothenburg, Sweden) and the Holland Cup (Amsterdam, Holland).
In 2001, Cesar was invited to return to his home city’s professional soccer club (E.C. XV de Novembro de Jau) coaching the U-15 soccer team. In 2002 he took over the U-17 squad as the team’s head coach, and they won the Sao Paulo State Championship. In 2003, he moved up to become E.C. XV de Novembro de Jau’s overall assistant Head Coach; during the season Cesar was asked to step up as the club’s Head Coach. The club’s main objective was to keep the soccer team in the same division (Sao Paulo Professional Third Division). Cesar accomplished this with 4 wins, 2 ties and 3 losses. His notable successes with E.C. XV de Novembro de Jau opened many opportunities for Cesar.
In 2004 he coached the Associacao Atletica Barra Bonita semiprofessional soccer team. In the same year he was invited to return to the Youth Soccer Coordinator position at Caicara Clube de Jau. In 2006 he moved up to the Sao Paulo Professional First Division at Rio Claro FC as the Youth Soccer Coordinator and U-15 Soccer Coach. In 2007, he took a job as the U-20 Sao Paulo Professional State Second Division coach for EC Uniao Sao Joao. In 2008 Cesar was the assistant to the Head Coach at EC Rio Branco – Professional Sao Paulo State Second Division – with the specific responsibility of scouting opponents, before coming up to Old Dominion Soccer Club in October 2008.
Since 2001 Cesar Rizzo has worked between seasons in the U.S. as Associate Director at Eurotech Soccer, teaching the Brazilian style of soccer to US players and coaches. Cesar is very well known in the soccer clubs in Sao Paulo and has developed many young players. Some of them have played for famous Brazilian soccer clubs such as Clube Atletico Mineiro, AA Ponte Preta, Guarani Futebol Clube, Barueri FC, EC Irati, SC Corinthians Paulista, SE Palmeiras, EC Noroeste, Sao Paulo FC and others. Cesar has frequently been called upon to recruit soccer players for the Sao Paulo clubs and has helped players looking for soccer opportunities.
Cesar Rizzo has the following soccer credentials: Soccer Coach Diploma, Futsal Course, Sports Marketing Course, Total Soccer Course, “A” Brazilian Soccer License, International Soccer Course, National Youth Diploma by NSCAA, Tactical Soccer Diploma (w/ 1994 and 2006 Brazilian National Team Soccer Coach Prof. Carlos Alberto Parreira) and the most significantly the Physical Education Master Degree in Sports Training.
