Best Portuguese Managers of All Time

Portugal is one of a kind when it comes to the playing style in the European football. They tend to rely on the individual skills and playing the game with a high tempo and that’s what makes the Portuguese football one of the most eye-catching ones across the world. Just take a look at the most famous Portuguese football players throughout the history: Eusébio,

, Rui Costa, Cristiano Ronaldo, and many more. All of them had that especial magic in their feet which could mesmerize football fans all over the world.

In addition to some brilliant players, Portugal had also blessed the world of football with so many great tacticians. Yes, Portugal had produced so many technically gifted players who could turn a game on its head with their skills, but that is not enough to win trophies in football. Behind every successful football team in the history, there is a mastermind who led the players and helped them to reach to their full potential. So, without any hesitation, let’s get down to business and talk about the

best Portuguese managers of all time

.

Who Are the Greatest

Portuguese Managers of All Time?

Ranking the 10 best Portuguese managers of all time is a tricky job. Of course, there are a few managers that cemented their place amongst the best Portuguese coaches of all time and you just can not ignore them; but on the other hand, there is not a huge gap between the other managers. And that’s what makes it difficult to create a shortlist of the top 10 best Portuguese managers of all time. Nonetheless, lets have a quick look at our ranking of the greatest Portuguese managers of all time and then have a career review of each of them:

• Leonardo Jardim

• Jesualdo Ferreira

• Carlos Queiroz

• Sergio Conceisao

• Paulo Fonseca

• Andre Villas Boas

• Jorge Jesus

• Artur Jorge

• Fernando Santos

• Jose Mourinho

Leonardo Jardim

José Leonardo Nunes Alves Sousa Jardim as known as Leonardo Jardim did not have a fruitful coaching career but his spell at Monaco was so spectacular that granted him a place in the best Portuguese managers of all time shortlist. Jardim is one of those coaches that didn’t have a professional career as a footballer. In 1996, when he was just 22 years old, Jardim started his coaching career at the Santacruzense youth team. Leonardo was climbing up the ladder one step at a time and after achieving some decent results in the Portuguese lower divisions, got his first big job at Braga in 2011. Winning 15 league games in a row helped him to finish the league on the third place which was a great achievement.

After winning a domestic double with

, Jardim started his magical spell at Monaco in 2014. On his first two seasons, Jardim finished the league on the third place and in the 2016-17 he won the club’s first league title after 17 years. Monaco’s young talents such as Bernardo Silva and Kylian Mbappe were thriving under Jardim which led to an unbelievable run at the UCL as they managed to knockout Manchester City and Dortmund just to get eliminated in the semi-final by Juventus. Right now, Jardim is coaching the Saudi Arabian side, Al Hilal; but he still has a long road ahead of him as a coach and we could expect another “Monaco 2016-17” from Leonardo Jardim. 

Jesualdo Ferreira

One of the most successful Portuguese managers in terms of the domestic football is Jesualdo Ferreira. As a midfielder Ferreira didn’t have a remarkable playing career and started his managerial career in 1981 and since then, he experienced coaching a couple of dozen different squads. Despite he was on the coaching business for more than decades, his first major trophies came with Porto in 2006 which was a league title. But that was just the beginning, Jesualdo Ferreira managed to win the league title in the next two seasons as well which made him the first manager ever that won three back-to-back league titles in the Portuguese football.

He also won two Taca de Potugal and a Portuguese Supercup with Porto to become one of the most successful managers at the club. Ferreira also had relatively decent spell at Benfica and Sporting but didn’t manage to win any trophies with them. In 2014-15 season Jesualdo Ferreira won a domestic double with the Egyptian side,

. Winning another four domestic trophies with Al Sadd in Qatar is Ferreira’s latest achievements as a football coach. Although Jesualdo Ferreira didn’t won as much as you would expect for a manager who is working for four decades, but his brilliant spell at Porto earned him a place amongst the best Portuguese managers of all time.

Carlos Queiroz

He is not the most decorated manager amongst the

famous coaches from Portugal

but Carlos Queiroz certainly is a great tactician that leaves his mark on every team that he manages. His coaching career started back in 1989 when he was the coach of Portugal U20 squad. With that team Queiroz managed to earn a gold medal of FIFA Youth World Cup in 1989 and later he got promoted to take the Portugal national team job for two years. After winning two domestic titles with Sporting and managing several club and national teams in Asia and Africa, in 2002 Sir Alex Ferguson chose Queiroz as his assistant manager.

His main job at Manchester United was to work on the defensive phase of the team which he proved that he is a master in it. Years later, Queiroz had a second spell at Portugal which ended up by losing to Spain in the 2010 World Cup round of 16. The highlight of Carlos Queiroz career came with Iran. He appointed as the national team head coach in 2011 and led his team to two consecutive World Cup final stages for the first time in the nation’s history. Although

didn’t win any silverwares with Iran, his consistency throughout eight years and building a strong core of young players in the team, will be appreciated by the Iranians forever.

Sergio Conceisao

During his playing days, Sergio Conceisao was a part of the golden ages of Lazio in the late 90s. He also represented his national team on 56 matches as a winger and eventually hanged up his boots in 2010. His ambition for a coaching career was so high that he started it just months after his retirement as a player. During five years, Conceisao coached a few midtable Portuguese teams and had a relatively successful season at

until he joined Porto in 2017. Porto was the same club that Conceisao made a name for himself as a player and now he returned to the club as a head coach to repeat those glorious days.

On his debut season at Porto, Sergio Conceisao won the league title for the club after a five-year wait. His teams are tending to play a defensive style of football which are lethal on counter-attacks. Sergio Conceisao added another league title to his name in 2020 in addition to three domestic trophies. His Porto has always been a threat for the giant European clubs in the Champions League and qualifying from the group stage for three times in four seasons is a proof of that.  Every summer Sergio Conceisao is linked with a move to some clubs in the Europe’s top five league and sooner or later, that would happen and we could see even more of his brilliant ideas on the green pitch.

Paulo Fonseca

Another young Portuguese coach that has shown some great potential on his early years as a coach. Paulo Fonseca was a mediocre defender in his playing days and used to play for midtable teams in Portuguese top flight. He cut his teeth as a manager in 2005 at the lower divisions. After gaining experience and developing his coaching methods, Fonseca joined Porto in 2013 and won a Supercup with the club. He also won a domestic cup with Braga in 2016 and joined

in the next season. On every each of his three seasons at Shakhtar, Fonseca managed to win the domestic double of League and Ukrainian Cup titles.  

He also got some decent results in the European campaign including an important win against Guardiola’s Manchester City. In 2019 Paulo Fonseca joined AS Roma in Italy to help the club in its rebuilding project. But the ownership changes and the Covid-19 pandemic didn’t help him at all. On his debut season, Fonseca finished the league on fifth place which was an improvement from last season. the next year, he reached to the Europa League semi-final but injuries got him stranded and he suffered a huge lost against Manchester United. Nevertheless, Fonseca showed that with the right players, he can play an attractive attacking football based on the possession game and has a bright future ahead of him.

Andre Villas Boas

Another great tactician that never had a career as a football player, Andre Villas Boas started his journey as an assistant coach to Jose Mourinho. He was a part of Mourinho’s staff for several years and when he started his own coaching career in 2009, Villas Boas has shown that he learned a lot from his mentor. In his debut season as a manager, he saved Academica from relegation and soon after

signed him as their new head coach in 2010. His only season at Porto was nothing short than a miracle, at the age of only 33, Andre Villas Boas led his side to an undefeated season in the league as they conceded only 13 goals during the campaign.

In addition to that, Andre won the domestic cup and the Europa League in the same season to complete a treble, just like what Mourinho did at the club. Villas Boas continued following Mourinho’s footsteps and moved to Chelsea in the 2011-12 season but thing didn’t go well and he was replaced by Roberto Di Matteo in the midseason. The next year Andre Villas Boas joined Tottenham and accumulated 72 points in the league which was a club record, but still wasn’t enough for a top-four finish.  His latest trophies came with Zenit which were three domestic titles from 2014 to 2016. Despite his relatively short career as a manager, Andre Villas Boas has won enough to become one of the

best Portuguese managers of all time

.

Jorge Jesus

One of the highly experienced famous coaches from Portugal that won trophies in three different continents, Jorge Jesus ended his playing career as a midfielder in 1990 and immediately joined Amora as a head coach. In his early years, Jesus spent his time on lower division leagues and gained promotion with various clubs. His first major trophy was in 2008 with Braga. Jesus led the club to an UEFA Intertoto Cup title and wrote his name in the history as the only Portuguese manager to win the competition. Benfica was his next team which he coached for six years and won titles one after another.

Jesus gathered nine domestic silverwares at Benfica including three precious league titles. He also led his side to two consecutive Europa League finals but lost both of them which many believed that it was due to the infamous “Bela Guttmann curse”. After winning a Saudi Super Cup with Al Hilal in 2018, Jorge Jesus joined

in Brazil to make history. On his only season at the Brazilian side, Jorge Jesus won five trophies which was extraordinary. His masterpiece was winning the Copa Libertadores in 2019 by beating River Plate in the final. Being one of the few European coaches that won the biggest club tournament at the South American football, surely is more than enough to consider Jorge Jesus as one of the most successful and best Portuguese managers of all time.

Artur Jorge

As one of the icons of Portuguese football, Artur Jorge was a part of the Benfica’s golden generation back in 70s and his 105 goals for the club helped them to win four league titles. After his farewell to the green pitch as a player, Jorge went to East Germany to study football coaching methods. Three years later in 1980, he made his debut as a coach with Vitoria de Guimaraes. His early years as a coach convinced Porto to assign him as their head coach in 1984 and the rest as they say, is history. As a former

player, Artur Jorge spent his best days as a coach at the rivals’ club, Porto.

In his very first season at charge, Jorge won the Supercup and the league titles. Porto added two other league titles to their trophy cabinet under Artur Jorge but winning the European Cup in 1987 was what turned Artur Jorge to one of the club’s legends. Winning the club’s first ever European trophy earned him the King Artur nickname from Porto fans. Jorge also had a short spell at Paris Saint-Germain and won a double of league and Coupe de France. Porto has won the European Cup only on two occasions and one of them came with Artur Jorge, that says enough why he is one of the best Portuguese managers of all time.

Fernando Santos

While

ranking the 10 best Portuguese managers

, it is impossible to not mention the manager who won the nations only major trophy in its history. From his very first years as a coach, Fernando Santos showed that he has the potential to make a winner of every team that is trained by him. Gaining a promotion with Estoril and putting on a decent performance for a decade in Portuguese top tier, convinced Porto to appoint him as their coach in 1998 which led to a League championship and four other domestic trophies. Fernando Santos had some good seasons at the Greek football with AEK Athens and PAOK which led to him taking the Greece national team job in 2010.

With Santos, Greece managed to reach to the knockout stage of a World Cup for the first time ever. Months after that, Santos returned to his homeland to manage Portugal national team prior to the

. Fernando Santos is a pragmatic coach that has a different plan for every match. That style helped him to lead Portugal to its first ever major trophy by beating the hosts, France in the final of EURO 2016. Portugal also won the first edition of the UEFA Nations League with Fernando Santos in the 2018-19 season. Despite losing to Belgium in the round-of-16 in EURO 2020, Portugal is still a big threat in the upcoming World Cup in 2022 with Fernando Santos at the helm.

Jose Mourinho

As one of the best coaches in the history of the game, Jose Mourinho is by far the greatest Portuguese manager of all time. Jose had a short career as a player and hanged up his boots at the age of 24. Since then, he took one step at a time until in 2002 Porto offered him a job after his great run at the midtable side, União de Leiria. On his debut season, Mourinho

of the league title, the Taca de Portugal and the UEFA Cup. The next season was Mourinho’s breakthrough since he won the UEFA Champions League against all odds.

After that Jose Mourinho joined Chelsea in 2004 and became the “Special One”. Jose took the Premier League by storm and won the league title on his two first seasons. Jose Mourinho was winning trophies one after another and in 2010, he accomplished his second treble but this time with Inter Milan. Winning three domestic titles with Real Madrid including a record breaking La Liga, a Premier League title with Chelsea in 2015 and a Europa League title with Manchester United in 2017 were the highlights of his career. The Portuguese mastermind has won 25 trophies so far which makes him one of the most decorated managers in the history and without a doubt,

the best Portuguese managers of all time

.

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