COACHES from Portugal

Top 4

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Portuguese Coaches of all time. This list of famous Portuguese Coaches is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. José Mourinho (b. 1963)

With an HPI of 72.12, José Mourinho is the most famous Portuguese Coach.  His biography has been translated into 82 different languages on wikipedia.

José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix GOIH (European Portuguese: [ʒuˈzɛ moˈɾiɲu] ; born 26 January 1963) is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who is currently the head coach of Süper Lig club Fenerbahçe. He is one of the most decorated managers and is widely considered to be among the greatest managers of all time. Mourinho has won league championships in four countries, is one of only six managers to have won the European Cup with two clubs, and is the only manager to have won all three current UEFA club competitions. After an uneventful career as a midfielder in the Portuguese leagues, Mourinho finished playing at age 24 and moved into coaching. He was first an interpreter for Bobby Robson at Sporting CP and FC Porto, before gaining success as an assistant at Barcelona under Robson and then his successor, Louis van Gaal. After brief stints as manager at Benfica and União de Leiria, Mourinho returned to Porto in 2002, winning two Primeira Liga titles, the Taça de Portugal, the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Champions League. That success earned him a move to England with Chelsea in 2004, where he famously remarked "I think I'm a special one" at his first press conference, which led to the British media dubbing him "The Special One". With Chelsea, Mourinho won two Premier League titles, an FA Cup and two League Cups in three seasons, before he departed in 2007 amid reports of disagreements with owner Roman Abramovich. In 2008, Mourinho joined Italian club Inter Milan. He led them to the Serie A title in his first season before winning a continental treble of Serie A, the Coppa Italia and the UEFA Champions League in 2010, a first in history for an Italian club. This made him one of five coaches to have won the European Cup with two clubs, and later that year saw him crowned the inaugural FIFA World Coach of the Year. Mourinho then moved to Real Madrid in Spain, where he won the La Liga title in 2011–12, breaking numerous domestic records including for most points, goals and wins in a season, and becoming the fifth coach to win league titles in four countries. Mourinho left Real Madrid in 2013 and rejoined Chelsea, where he won another league title and League Cup, but was dismissed in 2015 after a poor run of results. Mourinho was appointed at Manchester United in 2016 and Tottenham Hotspur in 2019, but his tenures at both clubs ended acrimoniously. Despite this, Mourinho won the UEFA Europa League and League Cup with Manchester United and led Tottenham to a League Cup final, but was fired less than a week before it. He was the manager of Roma between 2021 and 2024, where he won the inaugural UEFA Europa Conference League in his first season: it was the club's first European title and first trophy since 2008 and made Mourinho the first manager to win a major European competition with four clubs and the third manager to win all UEFA club competitions. He then joined Fenerbahçe. Mourinho was named Portuguese Coach of the Century by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) in 2015. Due to his tactical knowledge, charismatic and controversial personality, and a reputation for prioritising results over attractive football, he has drawn comparisons, by both admirers and critics, with Argentine manager Helenio Herrera.

2. André Villas-Boas (b. 1977)

With an HPI of 52.97, André Villas-Boas is the 2nd most famous Portuguese Coach.  His biography has been translated into 46 different languages.

Luís André de Pina Cabral e Villas-Boas (Portuguese pronunciation: [luˈiz ɐ̃ˈdɾɛ ðɨ ˈpinɐ kɐˈβɾal i ˈvilɐʒ ˈβoɐʃ]; born 17 October 1977) is a Portuguese sports executive, and former professional football manager, who is currently the president of Portuguese sports club Porto. He was among the growing number of top-level managers who never played football professionally, and one of the few managers to have never played beyond youth football. His managerial career highlights include an undefeated 2010–11 season in the Primeira Liga with Porto, winning four trophies and becoming the youngest manager to win a European title in the process; guiding Tottenham Hotspur to a then-record tally of 72 points in the Premier League during the 2012–13 season (the most points by a team finishing outside the top four at the time); and three trophies during his spell with Zenit Saint Petersburg, including the club's fifth Russian Premier League title. In January 2024, almost three years after his last managerial stint at Marseille, Villas-Boas announced his candidacy to the presidency of Porto. On 27 April 2024, he won the club elections with 80% of the votes, defeating incumbent president Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa, who had been in office for 42 years.

3. Nelo Vingada (b. 1953)

With an HPI of 48.90, Nelo Vingada is the 3rd most famous Portuguese Coach.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Eduardo Manuel "Nelo" Martinho Bragança de Vingada (born 30 March 1953) is a Portuguese football manager and former footballer.

4. Bruno Lage (b. 1976)

With an HPI of 45.16, Bruno Lage is the 4th most famous Portuguese Coach.  His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Bruno Miguel Silva do Nascimento (born 12 May 1976), known as Bruno Lage (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈbɾunu ˈlaʒɨ]), is a Portuguese football manager who currently manages Primeira Liga club Benfica. During his first tenure as coach of Benfica in Portugal, he won the 2018–19 league title and the 2019 Super Cup.