Career
Pereira"s story began in the late 1970s when he started playing for local Goa clubs as a Child (Antao Brothers). His first move to a top club was with Salgaocar South Carolina in 1980 where he stayed on till 1983. Later he moved on to Tata Football Academy and then back to Salgaocar South Carolina in 1985.
He stayed on at Salgaocar till the end of his career in 1999.
Amongst the highlights of his career were leading Goa to victory in the 1980 Junior National Championship. He was also part of the senior India side from 1984-1991.
He was also the part of national team which features in 1984 AFC Asian Cup. Pereira"s coaching career began when he began coaching Salgaocar u-19.
That was a job which he held for two seasons.
Next came coaching the first team at Vasco South Carolina which he did for five seasons till 2005. Another prominent assignment was coaching Mahindra United from 2005 to 09. Then on June 9, 2009 Pereira signed on with Pune Football Club, where he has now managed for two seasons, leading them to top-five finishes in each season.
At the start of 2013-2014 I-League campaign Salgaocar replaced David Booth with Derrick Pereira.
Salgaocar started the 2013-2014 I-League brightly and at one time led the table for 6 gameweeks, but a rough patch of 8 games, which included 4 straight losses, derailed their campaign and saw them lose the title to Bengaluru Football Club. Salgaocar finished their campaign at 3rd place, which was a marked improvement over their past two campaign finishes.