In Montes Claros, deep in Minas Gerais, North Esporte Club are preparing for their first national season with a name more familiar to the stadiums of Madrid than Brazil’s fourth tier. Michel Salgado, the former Real Madrid and Spain right-back, has been appointed head coach for 2027.
The 50-year-old Spaniard succeeds Kléberson, Brazil’s 2002 World Cup winner, who remained in charge until this month. Salgado is expected to arrive in Brazil in November as North begin work towards a campaign that will take the young club into new territory.
Quick facts
- Michel Salgado will coach North Esporte Club in the 2027 season.
- North are based in Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, and were founded in 2022.
- The club will enter Brazil’s Série D and the Copa do Brasil for the first time.
- Salgado replaces former Brazil international Kléberson.
- It will be Salgado’s first full appointment as a senior team’s head coach.
North earned their national place by winning this year’s Troféu Independência, a result that secured entry to both Série D and the Copa do Brasil. Privately controlled and founded only four years ago, the club have moved quickly through the local game: they won Minas Gerais’ regional second division in 2025 and made their Campeonato Mineiro top-flight debut this year.
Club officials believe Salgado’s playing pedigree can give weight to the project as national competition begins. During a decade at Real Madrid, from 1999 to 2009, he made 371 appearances and collected 11 trophies.
Those honours included two UEFA Champions League titles, four Spanish league championships, three Spanish Super Cups, one UEFA Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup. He also won 53 caps for Spain, appearing at Euro 2000 and the 2006 World Cup.
Speaking in Portuguese in a video recorded in Dubai, Salgado said: “I like challenges. I am eager to travel to Brazil and ready to achieve great results.” He appeared signing the agreement alongside North president Victor Oliveira.
The role represents a first proper managerial test for the former defender. His previous coaching work included a spell as Javier Aguirre’s assistant with Egypt between 2018 and 2019, as well as a caretaker stint at Cyprus club Pafos.
For North, the appointment is a statement at the beginning of a wider journey: a small club from Brazil’s interior, stepping onto the national map with a European champion on the touchline.
