 Rui Jorge in 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Rui Jorge de Sousa Dias Macedo de Oliveira[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1973-03-27)27 March 1973 (age 52)[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Left-back | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1982–1991 | Porto | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1991–1998 | Porto | 86 | (2) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1991–1992 | →Rio Ave (loan) | 32 | (2) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1998–2005 | Sporting CP | 191 | (5) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005–2006 | Belenenses | 15 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 324 | (9) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1993–1994 | Portugal U21 | 17 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1996 | Portugal U23 | 7 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1994–2004 | Portugal | 45 | (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Managerial career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2009 | Belenenses | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2010–2025 | Portugal U21 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2016 | Portugal U23 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rui Jorge de Sousa Dias Macedo de OliveiraOIH (born 27 March 1973), known asRui Jorge, is a Portuguese former professionalfootballer who played as aleft-back, currently amanager.
He spent 14 seasons in thePrimeira Liga in a 15-year senior career, mainly in representation ofPorto andSporting CP, playing 292 matches and scoring seven goals in the competition. At international level, he appeared forPortugal at the2002 World Cup and twoEuropean Championships.
After retiring from playing at age 33, Rui Jorge became a manager, starting with a short stint atBelenenses. He was appointed coach of thePortugal under-21 team in 2010, leaving his post in July 2025.
Rui Jorge was born inVila Nova de Gaia,Porto District. Having been brought up at localFC Porto, he made his professional debut withRio Ave F.C. in theSegunda Liga, returning to his first club in 1992 after one season. Never an undisputed starter with the former (only appearing in more than 20 games twice over a six-year spell), he did help thenorthern side to fivePrimeira Liga championships and twoTaça de Portugal trophies.[2]
In July 1998, Rui Jorge signed withSporting CP, where he would remain for the following seven years, being first choice during most of his stint and adding two more leagues to his trophy cabinet, withthe double being claimed in2002.[3] In the2005–06 campaign he played with anotherLisbon team,C.F. Os Belenenses, subsequently retiring from the game – aged 33, with more than 400 official appearances – and joining his final club's youth coaching staff.[4]
Rui Jorge played for thePortugal under-21 side which lost the1994 UEFA European Championship final toItaly (2–1)[5] and theOlympic team whofinished fourth at the1996 Summer Olympics in the United States.[6] He also had 45caps atfull level, two while at Porto and 43 when with Sporting,[7] and scored once in a 7–1 away win overAndorra on 1 September 2001.[8] His first game for the latter was a 0–0 draw withNorway on 20 April 1994 in afriendly, and he represented his country atUEFA Euro 2000, the2002 FIFA World Cup andEuro 2004.
Rui Jorge's participation at Euro 2004 on home soil was jeopardised when he tested positive in February that year forBudesonide, commercially known as Pulmicort. He said that the substance came from a medically recommended spray for hisrhinitis.[9] His suspension was lifted in May, with the fault placed on Sporting for not notifying authorities of his medical exemption;[10] at the tournament, he was one of four players – three from defence – dropped byLuiz Felipe Scolari after the opening 2–1 loss toGreece,[11] and did not return for the remainder of the competition, which Portugal lost inthe final to the same team.[12]
In May 2009, Rui Jorge was appointed Belenenses' head coach for the final two matches ofthe season, taking over fromJaime Pacheco after a 0–5 home loss againstS.C. Braga,[13] with the team eventually ranking second-bottom (being later reinstated). At the end of the campaign, he returned to the youth system.[14]
On 19 November 2010, Rui Jorge replacedOceano at the helm of the Portuguese under-21s.[15] He led them to the2015 European Championships in theCzech Republic after ten wins in as many matches in thequalifying phase,[16] and coached them to the second place in the finals following apenalty shootout defeat againstSweden.[17]
Rui Jorge coached the Portuguese at the2016 Olympic tournament in Brazil, where they lost 4–0 toGermany in the quarter-finals.[18][19] He was also in charge for the2017 edition of the under-21 continental tournament, which ended in group stage exit.[20] On 10 October 2017, six years after the last loss for that stage of the competition, he was on the bench as the team lost 3–1 inBosnia and Herzegovina for the2019 European Championship qualifiers.[21]
In November 2020, having already qualified for the2021 European Championship, Rui Jorge celebrated a decade in the job; at that point he was the most experienced under-21 manager in Europe, and had served longer than all but four senior managers in the world.[22] At the finals in Hungary and Slovenia the following June, his team finished as runners-up.[23]
Rui Jorge left his post on 16 July 2025, after quarter-final elimination in the2025 European Under-21 Championship at the hands of theNetherlands, who played 75 minutes with one player less.[24][25]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Europe | Other | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Rio Ave (loan) | 1991–92 | 32 | 2 | 3 | 0 | — | 35 | 2 | |||
| Porto | 1992–93 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
| 1993–94 | 24 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 41 | 2 | |
| 1994–95 | 15 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 24 | 0 | |
| 1995–96 | 22 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 31 | 2 | |
| 1996–97 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 0 | |
| 1997–98 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 0 | |
| Total | 86 | 2 | 18 | 1 | 26 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 136 | 4 | |
| Sporting CP | 1998–99 | 26 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 27 | 2 | |
| 1999–00 | 34 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 40 | 2 | ||
| 2000–01 | 31 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 43 | 0 | |
| 2001–02 | 30 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 0 | — | 39 | 0 | ||
| 2002–03 | 22 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 28 | 1 | |
| 2003–04 | 29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | 33 | 0 | ||
| 2004–05 | 19 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 0 | — | 33 | 0 | ||
| Total | 191 | 5 | 18 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 243 | 5 | |
| Belenenses | 2005–06 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 15 | 0 | |||
| Career total | 324 | 9 | 39 | 1 | 56 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 429 | 11 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 September 2001 | Camp d'Esports, Lleida, Spain |  Andorra | 1–5 | 1–7 | 2002 World Cup qualification[27] |
| Team | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | |||
| Belenenses | 12 May 2009[13] | 25 May 2009[14] | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 050.00 |
| Portugal U21 | 19 November 2010[15] | 16 July 2025 | 127 | 90 | 19 | 18 | 325 | 105 | +220 | 070.87 |
| Portugal U23 | 28 March 2016 | 13 August 2016 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 6 | +3 | 060.00 |
| Career totals | 134 | 94 | 20 | 20 | 336 | 114 | +222 | 070.15 | ||
Porto
Sporting CP
Portugal
Medal of Merit,Order of the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa (House of Braganza)
Portugal squads | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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