Place of birth Lisbon, Portugal 1966–1971 Benfica Name Fernando Santos | Current team Portugal (manager) Years Team Role Football manager | |
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Full name Fernando Manuel Costa Santos Date of birth (1954-10-10) 10 October 1954 (age 61) Teams coached Portugal national football team (Manager, since 2014) Manages Portugal national football team Similar People Giorgos Karagounis, Kostas Katsouranis, Dimitris Salpingidis, Paulo Bento, Vasilis Torosidis | ||
Fernando Manuel Fernandes da Costa Santos, (born 10 October 1954) is a retired Portuguese footballer who played as a defender, and the current manager of the Portugal national team.
Contents
- Playing career
- Estoril Porto
- Greece Sporting
- Benfica
- PAOK
- Greece national team
- Portugal national team
- Personal life
- Managerial statistics
- Manager
- Individual
- References
He amassed Primeira Liga totals of 161 games and two goals during eight seasons, almost always with Estoril. After retiring, he worked as a coach for several decades, starting out at his main club in 1988.
Santos managed Portugal's Big Three, winning five major titles with Porto. For the better part of the 2000s he worked in Greece, mainly with AEK Athens and PAOK.
In 2010, he was appointed at the helm of the Greek national team, coaching them in a World Cup and one European Championship. Subsequently, he led Portugal to victory in Euro 2016.
Playing career
Born in Lisbon, Santos finished his formation with S.L. Benfica, having joined its youth system at the age of 16. His senior debuts were made with G.D. Estoril Praia, which he went on to represent in all three major levels of Portuguese football.
Santos made his Primeira Liga debut on 7 September 1975, playing the full 90 minutes in a 2–0 home win against S.C. Farense. He finished his first season with a further 12 appearances, helping his team to the eighth position.
Santos scored his first goals in the top division in the 1978–79 campaign, only missing one league game in an eventual 11th-place finish. For 1979–80, he moved to fellow league team C.S. Marítimo, where he also first-choice; having returned to his previous club, he played with them a further eight years (five being spent in the Segunda Liga) before retiring at the age of 33.
Estoril / Porto
Santos started working as a manager immediately after retiring. He helped Estoril return to the top level in 1991 and, in the following ten years, only worked in that competition, being in charge of C.F. Estrela da Amadora and FC Porto.
Having signed for the latter side in the 1998 summer, Santos won the national championship and the Portuguese Supercup in his first season. He finished second in the following to Sporting Clube de Portugal, and led the team to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League.
Greece / Sporting
In 2001, Santos was appointed at AEK Athens F.C. in the Superleague Greece, winning the domestic cup and losing the league to Olympiacos F.C. on goal difference. Staying in the country, he then joined Panathinaikos FC, leaving by mutual consent after only four months.
Santos returned to his country for the 2003–04 campaign, replacing László Bölöni at the helm of Sporting. He was relieved of his duties on 2 June 2004, after his team was only able to rank third.
From 2004 to 2006, Santos managed former club AEK: he led them to consecutive top-three finishes during his tenure, being voted Manager of the Year in the former season.
Benfica
On 20 May 2006, Santos joined former youth club Benfica, being responsible for the signing of former AEK player Kostas Katsouranis the following month.
After a third place in his debut season, only two points behind champions Porto, Santos witnessed the departure of captain and top scorer Simão Sabrosa to Atlético Madrid during pre-season. On 20 August 2007, after a 1–1 away draw against Leixões SC, he was sacked and replaced with José Antonio Camacho.
PAOK
Santos returned to Greece and its Superleague in early September 2007, signing a three-year contract with PAOK FC. There, he joined forces with director of football – and former international – Theodoros Zagorakis, leading the team to the second position in 2009–10.
On 19 May 2010, despite a chance of competing again in the Champions League, Santos announced his decision of leaving the Thessaloniki-based side in a press conference.
Greece national team
On 1 July 2010, Santos was named the new coach of the Greek national team, succeeding longtime incumbent Otto Rehhagel on a two-year deal. He qualified the country to the UEFA Euro 2012 tournament, subsequently reaching the last-eight stage.
Santos was also in charge during the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, as Greece reached the knockout stage for the first time ever. Shortly before the start of the penalty shootout against Costa Rica, eventually lost 3–5, he was sent off by referee Ben Williams for apparent dissent. He watched the decision unfold on a television from inside the stadium, and the defeat marked the end of his tenure as his contract expired the very next day; he was initially banned for eight matches for the incident, reduced to six upon appeal.
Portugal national team
On 23 September 2014, Santos was chosen as the new manager of Portugal, after Paulo Bento being fired due to poor results. His first game in charge took place on 14 October in a 1–0 win in Denmark for the Euro 2016 qualifiers, and the side went on to reach the finals in France; during his suspension, it was Ilídio Vale that sat on the bench.
On 10 July 2016, after three group stage draws that enabled group stage qualification as third, Santos coached Portugal to its first-ever major international conquest, after a 1–0 extra time defeat of the hosts. The only win in 90 minutes occurred in the semi-finals, against Wales.
Personal life
Santos earned a degree in electrical and telecommunications engineering, awarded in 1977 by the Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa. As he was in charge when Porto won its fifth consecutive championship in 1999, he was nicknamed Engenheiro do Penta (Penta's engineer).