Nélson "Nelsinho" Baptista Júnior (born July 22, 1950) is a Brazilian retired footballer who played as a right back, and manager he was most recently manager of J1 League club Kashiwa Reysol.
Born in Campinas, São Paulo state, he started his career in 1967, playing for Ponte Preta, but the best moment in his career was playing for São Paulo, where he won the 1975 Campeonato Paulista, and played 262 matches, having scored five goals.[1][2] He has also played for Santos, where he won the 1978 Campeonato Paulista, and Juventus.[2]
In July 2009, Nelsinho returned to Japan to manage Kashiwa Reysol. Despite being unable to stave off relegation to J2 League at the end of the year, the club relented and allowed him to remain in charge. In 2011, Reysol under him won their first ever J1 League title, making history by becoming the first team to win the championship following promotion.[6] In the same year, Nelsinho Baptista received the J. League Manager of the Year at the J. League awards in Yokohama.[7]