Bio

Eduardo de Souza is in his fourth year as head coach of the Richard Bland College men's soccer program during 2017-18.  de Souza has led the Statesmen to a three-year record of 27-28-5, though 22-15-4 over the past two seasons, including the 2016 NJCAA Region X Tournament Championship.  He also serves the College as the International Student Coordinator in the Office of Enrollment Services.

de Souza led Richard Bland to a new school record of 12-7-2 during 2016, including 7-6-1 in Region X, before winning three-straight matches in the Region X Tournament for the program's first-ever region title.  The fifth-seeded Statesmen upset defending national champion and top-seeded Louisburg (N.C.) 2-1 in the semifinals before battling second-seeded Spartanburg (S.C.) Methodist to a 1-1 double-overtime tie in the title match, winning in a PK Shootout, 4-2, to claim the championship.  Richard Bland advanced to the NJCAA Southeast District Championship, dropping a 2-0 decision to nationally-ranked No. 15 Eastern Florida State College in the semifinals.  The Statesmen placed six team members on the 2016 All-Region X Team.

In 2015, de Souza led the Statesmen to a 10-8-2 record, including 7-5-2 in Region X, and the school's first-ever victory in the Region X Tournament.  The Statesmen defeated Cape Fear (N.C.), 4-0, before falling to eventual NJCAA national champion Louisburg (N.C.) in a semifinal (4-1).  Richard Bland placed six team members on the 2015 All-Region X Team.

de Souza was named head coach on August 5, 2014, just 17 days before the start of the 2014 season.  He inherited a team that finished its inaugural 2013 season with a 2-14 overall record and guided Richard Bland to a 5-13-1 record, including 3-12-1 in Region X, and the program's first post-season match in the Region X Tournament.  The Statesmen placed one team member on the All-Region X Team.

de Souza brings more than 13 years coaching and 10 years playing experience to Richard Bland College. In 2015, de Souza was the head coach of the Palm Beach Suns FC in their inaugural season. Palm Beach Suns FC is an American soccer club based in Boca Raton, Florida. Founded in 2015, the team plays in the Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. The Palm Beach County Based PDL team looks to bring back a winning team and organization to sunny South Florida, helping players to reach the professional level. Although the Suns are still considered an amateur team, the organization prides itself in holding players no different from professional clubs through professional training, 

de Souza is a product of Brazil's Gremio FBPA, but also has playing experience in Spain (Desportivo) and the United States (Tempest A League and Metro Stars). He helped Gremio FBPA to a several state championships in Brazil.

He began his coaching career at Sport Club International-Professional Club in Brazil, where he worked primarily with the junior program, coaching the likes of Brazilian National Team members Rafael Sobis, Alexandre Pato and Nilmar.

Prior to coming to Richard Bland, de Souza spent six seasons as part of the Longwood University men's soccer program, serving two seasons as the team's Associate Head Coach, winning the Big South Conference championship in 2011. Prior to joining the Lancers, he served as an Associate Head Coach at the Schulz Academy in Boca Raton, Fla. For three years, he was an assistant coach at NCAA Division I Mercer University while the team won the Atlantic Sun Conference. 

In the past three years de Souza led Zico Soccer Academy in Orlando Florida and in N.Y. City. In his role he worked with Arthur "Zico" Antunes Coimbra, a world-renown soccer player who played for Brazil in three World Cups and scored more than 400 goals in his professional career. In addition, de Souza coached Olympic Development Program (ODP) in Georgia and Virginia from 2004 to 2011. 

de Souza currently holds a US Soccer Coaching B License, in addition to his Brazilian A License. He earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communication at Trevecca Nazarene University in Tennessee and a Master of Science degree in Education at Mercer University.

He was a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) All-American student-athlete at Mid-Continent University in Kentucky, helping the program to a pair of NAIA Final Four appearances before transferring to Trevecca Nazarene.

A native of Porto Alegre, Brazil, de Souza and his wife Larissa have a five-year-old daughter Livia, and the family resides in Farmville.

de Souza Year by Year