By TALES AZZONI
Associated Press Writer
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- Some of Brazil's top soccer clubs _ including defending national champion Santos _ will be led by new coaches when the 2005 season starts in January.
Santos became the latest club to change its coaching staff by signing Oswaldo de Oliveira to replace Vanderlei Luxemburgo, who took over Real Madrid on Thursday.
Coach swapping is common in Brazilian soccer, but an unprecedented number of the country's most traditional clubs have hired new coaches for the upcoming season.
Flamengo, Brazil's most popular club, 2003 Brazilian championship winner Cruzeiro and former Copa Libertadores champion Gremio are among the clubs with new coaches.
Fluminense, 2001 national champion Atletico Paranaense, and 2000 and '01 runner-up Sao Caetano also have new men in charge.
Santos, which won its second Brazilian championship in three years less than a month ago, reached a deal with Oliveira on Friday after Luxemburgo left the club to join Madrid, o Estado de S. Paulo and several other Brazilian newspapers reported.
Santos' official Web site said Friday that Oliveira will be officially introduced Monday.
One of Brazil's most successful coaches, Oliveira led Corinthians to the national title in 1999 and the FIFA Club World Championship in 2000. He had previously coached Vasco, Fluminense and Sao Paulo.
Oliveira, who was Luxemburgo's assistant in Santos in 1997, was without a team since being fired from Corinthians after a disappointing stint at the beginning of the 2004 season.
Flamengo, which barely avoided relegation in the Brazilian championship, picked Julio Cesar Leal to try to return the five-time national champion to the glory days of the 1980s.
Leal, who replaced interim coach Andrade, led Brazil's Under-20 squad to the 1993 World Youth Championship and was recently coaching in Kuwait.
