 Ferreira withAl Sadd in 2017 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Manuel Jesualdo Ferreira | ||
| Date of birth | (1946-05-24)24 May 1946 (age 79) | ||
| Place of birth | Mirandela, Portugal | ||
| Managerial career | |||
| Years | Team | ||
| 1981–1982 | Rio Maior | ||
| 1982–1984 | Torreense | ||
| 1984 | Académica | ||
| 1985–1986 | Atlético | ||
| 1986 | Silves | ||
| 1986–1987 | Torreense | ||
| 1987–1989 | Benfica (assistant) | ||
| 1989 | Angola | ||
| 1989–1990 | Torreense | ||
| 1991 | Estrela da Amadora | ||
| 1990–1992 | Portugal (assistant) | ||
| 1992–1994 | Benfica (assistant) | ||
| 1994–1995 | Bordeaux (assistant) | ||
| 1995–1996 | FAR Rabat | ||
| 1996–2000 | Portugal U21 | ||
| 2000–2001 | Alverca | ||
| 2001–2002 | Benfica (assistant) | ||
| 2002 | Benfica | ||
| 2003–2006 | Braga | ||
| 2006 | Boavista | ||
| 2006–2010 | Porto | ||
| 2010 | Málaga | ||
| 2010–2012 | Panathinaikos | ||
| 2013 | Sporting CP | ||
| 2013–2014 | Braga | ||
| 2015 | Zamalek | ||
| 2015–2019 | Al Sadd | ||
| 2019–2020 | Santos | ||
| 2020–2021 | Boavista | ||
| 2022–2023 | Zamalek | ||
| 2023 | Zamalek | ||
Manuel Jesualdo Ferreira (born 24 May 1946) is a Portuguesefootball manager.
In a managerial career of over forty years, he was in charge of all of his country'sBig Three and had his greatest successes atPorto, where he became the first manager to win three consecutivePrimeira Liga titles and also lifted theTaça de Portugal twice. He won twoEgyptian Premier League titles and as manynational cups atZamalek, as well as aQatar Stars League title and three domestic cups atAl Sadd. Additionally, he managed Angola and teams in Morocco, Spain, Greece and Brazil.
Born inMirandela, Ferreira moved to Angola at early age but later returned to Portugal due to theAngolan War of Independence.[1] He then played as amidfielder forOvarense's youth setup, but retired at the age of 20 to obtain his coaching qualifications.[2] After studying inLisbon at the Superior Institute of Physical Education (he later would work there as a teacher), he joined thePortuguese Football Federation in late 1974 to work with the youth categories.[3]
In 1979, Ferreira joinedBenfica as a youth football coordinator.[2] In 1981 he started his career as a manager, taking overRio Maior of theSegunda Divisão, and later worked at fellow league teamTorreense for two seasons before being appointed manager ofPrimeira Liga sideAcadémica de Coimbra in 1984.
Ferreira was dismissed from Académica after matchday seven with the balance of one victory and six defeats, being replaced by Vítor Manuel who led the team to a final seventh-place position. He also coachedAtlético CP andSilves[4] before returning to Torreense in 1986; the following year, he rejoined Benfica as new managerToni's assistant.[2]
In 1989, after a short stint in charge of theAngola national team (where his first name was spelled asGesualdo),[5] Ferreira returned to Torreense for a third spell. He later worked atEstrela da Amadora while also being one ofArtur Jorge's assistants at thePortugal national team; the club, however, was relegated toLiga de Honra in the 1990–91 season. In 1992, after Toni was again appointed manager of Benfica, Ferreira joined his staff as his assistant.[2]
In 1994, Ferreira followed Toni to France, as the latter was appointed manager ofBordeaux.[2] Both went to separate ways in 1995, as Ferreira took over Moroccan sideFAR Rabat He led team to theMoroccan Throne Cup final, and subsequently worked asPortugal under-21 national team manager.
Ferreira arrived atAlverca in2000–01, where he took the team to 12th place in thePrimeira Liga. With good results, Ferreira then left for Benfica for the2001–02 season; initially an assistant to Toni, he took over the club on 29 December 2001 after Toni was sacked.[6]
In November 2002, after a poor string of results, Ferreira was fired by Benfica presidentLuís Filipe Vieira after being knocked out of theTaça de Portugal at home to third division sideGondomar.[7] He was replaced by the Spanish managerJosé Antonio Camacho.
On 19 April 2003,Braga hired Ferreira to manage the team, then on the brink of relegation. He led Braga to a14th-place finish, only two points above relegation zone. In the2003–04,2004–05 and2005–06 seasons, Braga made fantastic league runs, and with players likeJoão Tomás andWender, they fought for the title in 2004–05. Braga reached fifth place (2003–04) and twice in fourth place (2004–05 and 2005–06).
In May 2006,Boavista signed Ferreira after his tenure with Braga ended,[8] but suddenlyPorto and its team president,Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa, offered him a contract following the unexpected departure of managerCo Adriaanse. Ferreira terminated his contract with Boavista[9] and joined Porto at theEstádio do Dragão on 18 August 2006, after theSupertaça Cândido de Oliveira final, only one week before the start of the2006–07 league.[10] There, Ferreira worked with such stars asRicardo Quaresma,Anderson,Pepe,Lucho González,Raul Meireles,Paulo Assunção,José Bosingwa andLisandro López.
Despite having little time to adjust to his new club or changing the team's tactical approach who, under Adriaanse, played in a very offensive 3–3–4 system, Ferreira still managed to win the league title in hisfirst year at the club, finishing only one point ahead ofSporting Clube de Portugal and two of Benfica. In theUEFA Champions League, Porto reached the first knockout round but were eliminated byChelsea, 2–3 on aggregate.
The2007–08 season saw a great run by a Porto team that won theleague championship with a 20-point margin over second-placed Sporting, despite later being deducted six points due to the bribery of referees in the 2003–04 season.[11] In Europe, Ferreira once again took Porto to the first knockout round of theChampions League after finishing first in a group that includedLiverpool, being eliminated by German sideSchalke 04 on penalties following a 1–1 aggregate draw.
The2008–09 season was another successful year for the club under Ferreira, with Porto reaching the fourth consecutive league title in a row, Jesualdo's third, making him the first Portuguese manager ever to win three consecutive Portuguese league championships. In addition, Porto also achieved a domesticdouble, beatingPaços de Ferreira 1–0 in the final of theTaça de Portugal thanks to a goal by Lisandro López. In theChampions League, Porto reached the quarter-finals, topping a group that includedArsenal, and beatingAtlético Madrid on away goals in the Round of 16, before being knocked out by then-title holdersManchester United 2–3 on aggregate. That season's performance rewarded Ferreira with a two-year contract extension.[12]
Despite previous success,2009–10 was not a solid season foros Dragões, with the team losing their first league title since 2005 to rivals Benfica, but also finishingthird in the league, which meant they failed to secure a Champions League spotfor the following season. Despite this, Porto won both theTaça de Portugal andSupertaça Cândido de Oliveira, in addition to recording a 3–1 home victory overfierce rivals Benfica at the end of the season. Nonetheless, Ferreira resigned on 26 May 2010.[13]
On 17 June 2010,Málaga of the SpanishLa Liga signed Ferreira on a three-year contract after he rescinded his deal at Porto.[14] After nine domestic league matches, with the team winless in six games and 18th in the table, he was sacked on 2 November.[15]
Ferreira was then hired by Greek clubPanathinaikos, signing a1+1⁄2-year contract on 20 November 2010.[16] Ferreira came in to replaceNikos Nioplias, who was sacked after disappointing results in theGreek Superleague and thegroup stage of Champions League.
After his love with the team, Ferreira stayed as the head coach of Panathinaikos despite the financial problems and the break inside the team's operation. After failing to qualify for the2011–12 Champions League in the third qualifying round, he kept the spirit and beliefs and had Panathinaikos first in the first round of Superleague and second final to the playoffs. Ferreira was later offered a new 1+1-year contract, but he later resigned from his role on 14 November 2012.[17]
A month after Ferreira resigned from Panathinaikos, Sporting CP hired him for an administrative position where he would run all of Sporting's football teams.[18] On 7 January 2013, however, after Sporting had sacked its managerFranky Vercauteren after a long string of mediocre results, Ferreira was named his replacement.[19]Just months later, on 20 May,Leonardo Jardim was announced as the new manager of theLisbon club; consequently, Ferreira was immediately sacked.[20]
In May 2013, Ferreira was the choice of Braga club president António Salvador to manage the club and leading the reshuffling of the professional team after a disappointing season that ended with a non-qualification for the2013–14 Champions League.[21] Ferreira, having previously served as Salvador's first manager in his presidential term in 2003, became the first to coach the team on two different occasions under Salvador. On February, after a draw againstArouca at theEstádio Municipal de Braga, Ferreira left the club due to the string of bad results.[22]
In February 2015, Ferreira was appointed as head coach ofZamalek SC.[23] He led the club to their 12th Egyptian Premier League title, their first league title since 2004, and led the club to win a domestic double by beatingAl Ahly 2–0, in theEgypt Cup final. He could not, however, repeat this feat against Al Ahly again in theEgyptian Super Cup, as they lost 3–2 to their arch rival. Ferreira resigned from Zamalek on 21 November 2015.[24]
On 28 November 2015, Ferreira was named the head coach ofAl Sadd SC, on a six-month deal with the option of a further year.[25] Having won the2018–19Qatar Stars League with a game to play,[26] he left the team in May and was replaced byXavi.[27]
On 23 December 2019, Ferreira was named manager ofCampeonato Brasileiro Série A sideSantos FC, after signing a one-year contract.[28] The following 5 August, after being knocked out of the2020 Campeonato Paulista, he was sacked.[29]
On 14 December 2020, Ferreira signed up for his first job in Portugal for over six years, replacingVasco Seabra at Boavista until June 2022.[30] He helped the club avoid any relegation threat on the final day of the season and became the oldest manager in Primeira Liga, with the championship concluding just before he turned 75.[31][32] He agreed to end his contract a year early in June 2021, to allow the club to bring inJoão Pedro Sousa.[33][34]
In March 2022, Ferreira returned to Zamalek on an 18-month deal, replacingPatrice Carteron.[35] On 21 July, his team won the delayed2021 Egypt Cup Final 2–1 against rivals Al Ahly led by compatriotRicardo Soares,[36] and a month later the team won theleague title ahead ofPyramids FC.[37] On 24 January 2023, he was sacked from his position after a 2–1 defeat againstGhazl El Mahalla.[38] Eight days later, he returned as Zamalek manager.[39] On 22 March, he was sacked for the second time in the same season after a 2–0 defeat againstCR Belouizdad, which resulted in aCAF Champions League group stage exit.[40]
Ferreira and former Porto managerJosé Mourinho first crossed paths in the 1980s, when Mourinho was a student at the Lisbon Superior Institute for Physical Education and Ferreira was a teacher there. In 2000, when Mourinho was briefly the manager of Benfica, he refused to accept the appointment of Ferreira as his assistant, and in February 2005, Mourinho had a swipe at Ferreira in his weekly column for the Portuguese sports magazineRecord.
Comparing himself with Ferreira, Mourinho wrote,
"One is a coach with a 30-year career, the other with a three-year one. The one with 30 years has never won anything; the one with three years has won a lot. The one who has coached for 30 years has an enormous career; the one with three years has a small career. The one with a 30-year career will be forgotten when he ends it; the one with three could end it right now and he could never be erased from history. This could be the story of a donkey who worked for 30 years but never became a horse."[41]
Despite these claims by Mourinho, Ferreira went on to make history by becoming the first Portuguese coach to win three consecutive titles in Portugal, a feat that Mourinho never achieved (although Mourinho never managed the same club in Portugal for three full consecutive seasons).[42] Mourinho also was Ferreira's assistant in 1990–91, forEstrela da Amadora.
Another Porto coach,José Couceiro, worked with Ferreira many times. Firstly, Ferreira was a coach inAtlético Clube de Portugal, and Couceiro was a player there. Couceiro moved toTorreense, with Ferreira as coach. And finally, in 1991–92, Couceiro joined Estrela da Amadora, again with Ferreira as coach.
| Team | Nat. | From | To | Record | Ref | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | |||||
| Rio Maior |  | June 1981 | June 1982 | 32 | 12 | 9 | 11 | 30 | 30 | +0 | 037.50 | [43][44] |
| Torreense | | June 1982 | June 1984 | 70 | 30 | 17 | 23 | 76 | 75 | +1 | 042.86 | [43][45] |
| Académica de Coimbra | | June 1984 | 22 October 1984 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 7 | 16 | −9 | 014.29 | [43][46] |
| Atlético CP | | September 1985 | 13 January 1986 | 15 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 13 | 18 | −5 | 026.67 | [43][47] |
| Silves | | February 1986 | June 1986 | 11 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 2 | +7 | 018.18 | [43][47][48] |
| Torreense | | June 1986 | June 1987 | 35 | 13 | 13 | 9 | 47 | 39 | +8 | 037.14 | [43][49] |
| Angola |  | January 1989 | September 1989 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 13 | −6 | 012.50 | [5] |
| Torreense | | December 1989 | June 1990 | 24 | 13 | 8 | 3 | 42 | 11 | +31 | 054.17 | [43][50] |
| Estrela Amadora | | 4 February 1991 | 11 November 1991 | 27 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 28 | 34 | −6 | 029.63 | [43][51] |
| FAR Rabat |  | July 1995 | June 1996 | 30 | 11 | 12 | 7 | 24 | 26 | −2 | 036.67 | [43] |
| Portugal U21 | | June 1996 | July 2000 | 33 | 19 | 5 | 9 | 64 | 36 | +28 | 057.58 | [52] |
| Alverca | | July 2000 | 29 June 2001 | 37 | 13 | 8 | 16 | 50 | 57 | −7 | 035.14 | [43][53] |
| Benfica | | 29 December 2001 | 24 November 2002 | 30 | 16 | 7 | 7 | 65 | 32 | +33 | 053.33 | [43][54] |
| Braga | | 19 April 2003 | 8 May 2006 | 122 | 56 | 33 | 33 | 153 | 114 | +39 | 045.90 | [43][55] |
| Boavista | | 9 May 2006 | 15 August 2006 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +0 | !— | |
| Porto | | 18 August 2006 | 26 May 2010 | 186 | 125 | 30 | 31 | 354 | 138 | +216 | 067.20 | [43][56] |
| Málaga |  | 17 June 2010 | 2 November 2010 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 14 | 21 | −7 | 020.00 | [57] |
| Panathinaikos |  | 20 November 2010 | 14 November 2012 | 90 | 48 | 19 | 23 | 126 | 86 | +40 | 053.33 | [58] |
| Sporting CP | | 7 January 2013 | 20 May 2013 | 18 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 26 | 20 | +6 | 055.56 | [43][59] |
| Braga | | 31 May 2013 | 24 February 2014 | 30 | 16 | 3 | 11 | 51 | 32 | +19 | 053.33 | [43][60] |
| Zamalek |  | 2 February 2015 | 21 November 2015 | 36 | 26 | 6 | 4 | 67 | 22 | +45 | 072.22 | [61] |
| Al Sadd |  | 28 November 2015 | 20 May 2019 | 129 | 80 | 26 | 23 | 356 | 164 | +192 | 062.02 | [62] |
| Santos |  | 23 December 2019 | 5 August 2020 | 15 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 17 | 16 | +1 | 040.00 | [63] |
| Boavista | | 13 December 2020 | 30 June 2021 | 25 | 7 | 7 | 11 | 28 | 35 | −7 | 028.00 | |
| Zamalek | | 5 March 2022 | 24 January 2023 | 52 | 31 | 13 | 8 | 81 | 37 | +44 | 059.62 | |
| 1 February 2023 | 22 March 2023 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 12 | −6 | 022.22 | |||
| Career total | 1,081 | 552 | 246 | 283 | 1,741 | 1,086 | +655 | 051.06 | — | |||
Porto
Zamalek
Al Sadd
