Nelo Vingada

Early years

His first steps as a professional football manager were in Belenenses, and then in Académica de Coimbra in the 1982–83 season, when he was assistant manager for Mário Wilson at Académica. Sintrense and Vilafranquense were his following teams as a manager.

In the 1986–87 season, Vingada was appointed as an assistant manager for Portugal U-20 along with Carlos Queiroz. He was the assistant manager for the Portuguese squad in the World Youth Championships of 1989 in Riyadh and 1991 in Lisbon with Carlos Queiroz as head manager, both won by Portugal.

Portugal U-20

Vingada was appointed as a head manager for Portugal U-20 and his team participated in 1995 World Youth Championship. In this tournament, Portugal U-20 ended in the third place

The Portugal Olympic football team under his management participated in the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics and after a win over Tunisia (2–0) and 1–1 draws against Argentina and the United States, they ended in second place in Group A with the same points and goal difference as the first-placed Argentinians (but with lesser goals scored). Then in the quarter-finals, a win over France (2–1) after extra-time assured them a place in the semi-finals. Once again they played against Argentina, but this time the South Americans won 2–0. For the bronze medal match, they faced Brazil. Portugal was heavily defeated by 5–0.

Saudi Arabia

In the 1996–97 season, Vingada became the manager of the Saudi Arabian national team, winning the Asian Cup in 1996, and qualifying for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, before being sacked from his position prior to the World Cup. In the 1997–98 and 1998–99 seasons, Vingada worked as an assistant manager for Portuguese club Benfica, along with Graeme Souness as principal manager.

Return to Portugal

Between 1999 and 2003, Vingada was the manager of Marítimo, a Portuguese team from Madeira, and helped the team stay in the Portuguese Liga and qualify once to the Portuguese cup final. In 2003, new Portuguese Real Madrid manager Carlos Queiroz proposed Vingada as assistant manager on 27 June but Carlos Queiroz's proposition was not accepted.

Zamalek

In the 2003–04 season, Vingada became the manager of Egyptian club El Zamalek. He helped the team win the Egyptian premier league, the Saudi-Egyptian Super Cup, and the African Super Cup against Wydad Casablanca, all in one season. He was later dismissed from his position at the club due to disagreements from the club board with his controversial managing policies and his continuous conflicts with top players at the Egyptian club.

In the 2004–05 season, he became the manager of Académica de Coimbra.

Egypt and Jordan

In 2005, he became the head manager of the Egyptian national U-23 football team. The team failed to reach the Olympic Games which were being held in Beijing in 2008. Although the Egyptian Football Association wanted Vingada to continue managing the team, he resigned.

In summer 2007, Vingada signed for Moroccan club Wydad Casablanca. Only six weeks after he had assumed the new position, he resigned.

Vingada accepted the offer to manage Jordan national football team and signed a 16-month contract with the Jordan Football Association. Vingada later took on the mission to prepare the Jordanian team for the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification. After failing to pass the first round of the qualifiers, Vingada resigned.

Persepolis

On 9 February 2009, Vingada was officially appointed as head manager of Iranian football side Persepolis. On 17 June 2009, just after five days of signing with Al-Ahly he resigned due to family problems.

Vitoria S.C.

On 24 June 2009 he was named as head manager Vitoria S.C. in his homeland Portugal and on 7 October 2009 was sacked after four months due to poor results.

FC Seoul

He officially became a manager of FC Seoul of South Korea in January 2010. On 5 December 2010, after winning a game for 2–1, he became the Champion of South Korea, it was the first time in ten years for FC Seoul. Vingada won the K-League Cup, K-League with FC Seoul. His K-League record was 20 wins, 2 draws, 6 losses in the 2010 season. His winning percentage 71% is a record high in the K-League. On 13 December 2010 FC Seoul offered a oneyear contract extension but FC Seoul and Vingada did not agree on the salary conditions. So Vingada went back to Portugal.

Vingada became head manager of Chinese Super League side Dalian Shide on 28 August 2011.

Iran U-23

After assisting Carlos Queiroz and the Iran national football team during the qualifiers of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, he became the manager of the Iran Olympic team, signing a two-year contract until the 2016 Summer Olympics. At the 2014 Asian Games held in Incheon, South Korea, Iran was defeated 4–1 by Vietnam in their first match which was Iran's worst defeat in the tournament. They drew 1–1 with Kyrgyzstan in the next match, resulting in an early exit from the competition which was Iran's worst result in the Asian Games since its establishment. As a consequence Vingada was sacked as manager of Iran under-23 team on 9 November 2014.

North East United FC

In July 2016, it was announced that he will be the new head coach of the North East United FC, part of the Indian Super League.

Malaysia

On 15 May 2017, Nelo Vingada was officially announced as the new head coach of Malaysia national football team with a difficult task to revive Malaysian football. His first match was in the 2019 Asian Cup qualifiers against Lebanon, which ended in a 1–2 defeat. His second match was in the friendly match against Syria national football team, which ended in a 1-2 defeat at Hang Jebat Stadium Melaka.

Managerial statistics

Assistant Manager

Manager