Career
He began his manager career as soon as he retired from football, in 1987, he coached Esporte Clube Juventude. He really started to show his abilities as a manager when he coached the top Paranaense clubs: Atlético Paranaense, Coritiba, and Clube. As of 1996 he had great success winning Copa do Brasil with.
Others teams he has managed are Portuguesa, and the Japanese team Cerezo Osaka in 1997.
In May 2007, J. League Division 2 side Cerezo Osaka sacked Satoshi Tsunami and appointed Levir Culpi as a manager. While he had taken charge of the team, he discovered the talent of Shinji Kagawa, who then played as a defensive midfielder, and played him as an attacking midfielder.
Kagawa made good combination with Takashi Inui, another talented young player, and the team under Culpi promoted to the J. League Division 1 in 2010. He continued to display his ability to grow young players and construct an attacking team
With such players as Kagawa, Inui, Akihiro Ienaga, Hiroshi Kiyotake, Adriano Ferreira Martins, and Luís Fernando Martinez, the team finished 3rd in 2010 and qualified for the AFC Champions League.
In November 2011, he decided not to extend his contract, saying "I"ve come to the conclusion that now is the time to return to the far distant Brazil and spend time with my family." On 26 August 2012, Cerezo Osaka announced termination of contract with Sérgio Soares and reappointment of Levir Culpi. In April 2014, Levir Culpi was announced as coach for the fourth time in his career. He managed to perform a double in 2014, winning both the Recopa Sudamericana and the Copa do Brasil.