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Every Portuguese Manager in Premier League History [Ranked]
Portuguese managers Jose Mourinho, Andre Villas-Boas and Nuno Espirito Santo

Key Takeaways

  • Six Portuguese managers have coached in the Premier League in the past two decades.
  • Ruben Amorim looks set to be the seventh Portugal-born boss the English top-flight has seen, with strong links to Manchester United.
  • Jose Mourinho is the most successful Portuguese manager in the league's history - and will be the benchmark Amorim looks to reach.

Just as the Premier League is one of the most diverse leagues in the world regarding its players' nationalities, it also possesses a history of managers from all across the globe. England is, understandably, where most of the division's bosses have hailed from, but excluding that, there have been gaffers from 26 different countries within the English top flight.

At the time of writing, six Portuguese managers have spent time in the Premier League over its 30-plus year history. All of these bosses have been appointed within the last two decades. This number may well jump to seven in the coming days or weeks if reports of Manchester United’s interest in Sporting manager Ruben Amorim come to fruition, with the Red Devils being in search of a new boss since their sacking of Erik ten Hag.

The potential appointment of Amorim is a move that, in theory, would please many Man United supporters. With Amorim's future in mind, just who are the Portuguese managers to have managed in the Premier League and how good, or bad, were they?

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Ranking Factors

Lists, as a concept, are subjective, with two lists on the same topic having different entries being plausible. With that, this list has been ranked based on:

  • Longevity - How long did the manager spend in the top flight of English football?
  • Success - The mark of every football manager. How successful was each boss with their club(s)?
  • Fan reception - Are these people fondly remembered by the fanbases of the clubs they managed?

Every Portuguese Manager in Premier League History

Rank

Manager

Clubs Managed

Time in the Premier League

Honours Won (With Premier League Teams)

1.

Jose Mourinho

Chelsea, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur

2004-2007, 2013-2015 (Chelsea) 2016-2018 (Man United) 2019-2021 (Spurs)

3x Premier League 1x FA Cup 4x Football League/EFL Cup 1x Europa League 4x PL Manager of the Month 3x PL Manager of the Season

2.

Nuno Espirito Santo

Wolverhampton Wanderers, Tottenham Hotspur, Nottingham Forest

2018-2021 (Wolves) 2021 (Spurs) 2023-present (Forest)

4x PL Manager of the Month

3.

Marco Silva

Hull City, Watford, Everton, Fulham

2017 (Hull) 2017-2018 (Watford) 2018-2019 (Everton) 2022-present (Fulham)

N/A

4.

Andre Villas-Boas

Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur

2011-2012 (Chelsea) 2012-2013 (Spurs)

2x PL Manager of the Month

5.

Bruno Lage

Wolverhampton Wanderers

2021-2022

6x PL Manager of the Month

6.

Carlos Carvalhal

Swansea City

2017-2018

N/A

6 Carlos Carvalhal

Swansea City

Carlos Carvalhal had a relatively mundane career as a player, but since entering management in 1998, he has held 23 different positions with 20 clubs. His first taste of English football came in the Championship when Sheffield Wednesday appointed him in 2015 after nearly three years away from the game.

Carvalhal spent about two-and-a-half years in South Yorkshire, departing the club on Christmas Eve 2017 and joining then-Premier League side Swansea City four days later. He replaced Paul Clement as boss of the Swans and guided them to a 2-1 win away at Watford in his opening game in charge.

Despite a strong start with the Welsh side that saw Carvalhal nominated for the January 2018 Premier League Manager of the Month award, he was not able to prevent a capitulation for the Swans towards the end of the season. They lost 2-1 to Stoke City, who had already been relegated, on the final day of the campaign, the fifth loss in a run of five straight defeats that saw Swansea finish 18th and drop to the Championship. Soon after their fate was sealed, Carvalhal departed the Liberty Stadium.

5 Bruno Lage

Wolverhampton Wanderers

bruno lage

After establishing himself with Benfica as a senior manager, Bruno Lage found himself lined up to replace compatriot Nuno Espirito Santo at Wolverhampton Wanderers, with Nuno having moved to Tottenham Hotspur. Lage had previous experience in English football, having worked as an assistant to Carlos Carvalhal between 2015 and 2018.

Wolves finished 10th in Lage’s first season, with the manager’s defensive set-up being a point of praise. They had the strongest defence of any team outside the top four, with Lage building nicely on the foundations established by his predecessor. On the flip side to this, however, Wolves’ attacking output was hardly astounding, with only the relegated teams scoring less that term.

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Though Lage wished for a more attacking style of play in his following season, with many departures and additions compared to the campaign prior, Wolves struggled. Their form had faltered towards the end of the 2021/22 season, and it did not improve in the early days of Lage’s second year in charge.

With the club placed 18th in early October 2021, Lage and his staff were sacked after a defeat to West Ham United, ultimately being succeeded by Julen Lopetegui that November.

4 Andre Villas-Boas

Chelsea

Andre Villas-Boas at Chelsea

Andre Villas-Boas is, at the time of writing, the 32nd President of Porto, having assumed the position in May earlier this year. Before this, however, he tried his hand at management, spending time with Academica and Porto between 2009 and 2011 to begin his career. He won a continental treble with Porto in his first and only season at the club, becoming the youngest-ever manager to win a European competition when his side lifted the Europa League.

He handed in his resignation at Porto in June 2011 and, the day after, was announced as Chelsea’s new boss for what was then a record compensation fee for a manager. Though expectations were high, things never quite clicked for Villas-Boas. His Chelsea side were eliminated from the League Cup in the quarter-finals and by early 2012, pressure had started to mount, such were the Blues' ambitions at the time. The club had dropped out of the top four and lost 3-1 to Napoli in the Champions League in a match that saw key players Frank Lampard, Michael Essien and Ashley Cole all on the bench.

After a 1-0 defeat to West Bromwich Albion in March, Villas-Boas was relieved of his duties. He was succeeded by his assistant manager, Roberto Di Matteo, on an interim basis, with the Italian going on to guide Chelsea to their first-ever Champions League triumph.

Tottenham Hotspur

Andre Villas-Boas managing Tottenham

Just four months after his departure from Chelsea, Villas-Boas found a new Premier League managerial role, moving across London to replace Harry Redknapp at Spurs. He enjoyed a promising start to life at White Hart Lane, even being named the Manager of the Month for December 2012.

Though Spurs had a fairly consistent campaign, they ultimately fell short of Champions League qualification, but did so by setting a record for the highest points tally for a team outside the top four with 72. Villas-Boas was in charge when Gareth Bale joined Real Madrid for a then-world record fee.

Spurs saw a mass influx of new players with the funds they received from Bale’s departure, but Villas-Boas was unable to make the new additions truly click. Though they won all six group games in the Europa League that term, Villas-Boas departed the club in December 2013 after some poor domestic results, such as 6-0 and 5-0 thrashing losses against Manchester City and Liverpool respectively.

3 Marco Silva

Hull City

Marco Silva applauds

Marco Silva entered management immediately after concluding his 15-year playing career, which he spent exclusively in Portugal. After stints as a manager with Estoril, Sporting and Olympiacos, Silva was appointed as the boss of Hull City, then a Premier League side, in January 2017 after the departure of Mike Phelan.

Silva was an unknown quantity at the time in England, but his City side displayed some promise in a handful of their performances in the remainder of the campaign. Regardless, he was unable to save Hull from their fate and, after the club’s relegation to the Championship, he handed in his resignation.

Watford

Just two days after he departed from Hull, Silva was announced as Walter Mazzarri’s successor at Watford. The good signs he had shown at Hull continued at Vicarage Road, with Watford losing just four of their opening 11 Premier League games. Such were his displays, that in November, it was widely reported that Everton were tracking the manager.

From this point, things turned sour for Watford. Their form worsened drastically which led to Silva being sacked in January 2018. At that point, they had won only one game in 11 and were five points above the relegation zone, with the club ultimately finishing 14th come the end of the campaign.

Everton

Fulham manager Marco Silva

Reports of Everton’s interest in Silva were not unfounded as four months after being sacked by Watford, he was hired on a three-year contract at Goodison Park. In his first season, Everton finished in the same position that they had under Sam Allardyce the year prior, but their goal difference was improved by a staggering figure of 22.

To begin the following term, although Silva oversaw a six-game winning streak at Goodison Park, a first in over two years, the Toffees' overall form was poor. After a 5-2 defeat in a December Merseyside derby, Silva was dismissed with Everton in 18th place.

Fulham

Antonios Lemonakis speaking to Marco Silva

Silva spent almost two years away from management before being hired by then-Championship side Fulham in July 2021 to replace the outgoing Scott Parker. In his first season at Craven Cottage, he stormed to the league title, with Fulham’s 106 goals being the highest number in the second tier since Manchester City scored 108 in the 2001/02 campaign.

Since earning promotion to the Premier League, Silva has spent two years solidifying Fulham as a top-flight side, finishing 10th and 13th in his two full seasons thus far. He has made himself a favourite with the fans, not only for his ability but for his loyalty. After his first Premier League season with the Cottagers, he turned down offers from both Al-Ahli and Al Hilal, despite reportedly being offered an eye-watering salary.

Marco Silva applauds
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2 Nuno Espirito Santo

Wolverhampton Wanderers

After stints as a manager in Portugal and Spain between 2014 and 2017, Espirito Santo was appointed as boss of Wolverhampton Wanderers, just over a week after being relieved of his duties as Porto manager. The Portuguese replaced Paul Lambert at a club trying to battle back to the Premier League after dropping to League One in the early 2010s.

Espirito Santo blitzed the Championship in his first and only season in the English second tier and his side continued their impressive form upon their return to the Premier League. In a team with the likes of Raul Jimenez, Diogo Jota and Ruben Neves, Wolves finished seventh. This was not only their highest finish in nearly four decades but saw them enter European competition for the first time since 1980, only exiting the Europa League in the quarter-finals.

After two straight seventh-placed finishes, Wolves struggled more in their third campaign back in the top flight, in no small part due to Jimenez suffering a season-ending injury in November 2020. At the term’s conclusion, it was announced that Espirito Santo had left Molineux by mutual consent.

Tottenham Hotspur

A month after his Wolves departure, he was announced as the new boss of Tottenham Hotspur. His Spurs side enjoyed a flying start to the season, winning their first three matches on a run that saw Espirito Santo win the Premier League Manager of the Month award.

From that point, however, for whatever reason, everything started to go wrong. By late October, the pressure was high, and Espirito Santo was ultimately sacked on 1st November, with Spurs ninth in the table after five losses in seven games. His replacement, Antonio Conte, was announced the following day.

Nottingham Forest

Espirito Santo returned to English football after an absence of over two years, which included a 16-month stint as manager of Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia. After the dismissal of much-loved manager Steve Cooper, Espirito Santo was announced as his successor in December 2023.

Forest were in a relegation battle before the managerial change, but the Portuguese was successful in keeping the club in the Premier League. In his first season with the club, he oversaw Forest’s first win over Manchester United in the Premier League in almost 30 years and ensured their survival with a 2-1 win over Burnley on the final day.

At the time of writing, Forest have played nine games of the 2024/25 Premier League season under Espirito Santo. They have lost just one of those games, drawing four and winning four as part of an impressive start to the campaign, including a 1-0 win over Liverpool, at Anfield no less, something Forest had not done since 1969.

1 Jose Mourinho

Chelsea (First Stint)

Jose Mourinho’s first experience in management came at the turn of the millennium when he was hired as Benfica boss. Though his stint there was short, he went on to spend four years managing in Portugal, becoming Porto manager in 2002 and winning the Champions League two years later. By that point, his global profile had been greatly enhanced, which led to an offer from Chelsea that Mourinho soon accepted.

“The Special One,” as he would become known after he coined that nickname in a press conference, made a quick start to life with the Blues, winning a double of the Premier League and League Cup in his maiden season at Stamford Bridge, deploying a 4-3-3 formation that offered his side dominance in midfield against most other Premier League sides.

Mourinho went on to win a second successive Premier League title the following campaign, but rumours of discontent started to grow from that point. Despite that, Mourinho still successfully led Chelsea to a domestic Cup double in the 2006/07 term, but things evidently did not improve.

Mourinho helped Chelsea set a record of 64 consecutive home league games without defeat early in the following season. However, he unexpectedly departed by mutual consent in September 2007 and was succeeded by Avram Grant, who had earlier been appointed as Chelsea’s director of football despite Mourinho’s objections.

Chelsea (Second Stint)

Following his departure from Chelsea, Mourinho went on to manage in Italy and Spain with Inter Milan and Real Madrid respectively. The Portuguese’s standards never slipped in this time. He won a continental treble with Inter in 2010, a first for an Italian club, and won a La Liga title and Copa del Rey during his three seasons in the Spanish capital.

After losing the Copa del Rey final in 2013, at the end of a season that Mourinho himself called the worst of his career, it was announced that he would leave Madrid. Just over two weeks later, Chelsea announced his appointment, confirming his return to London.

Just as he did in his first stint with the club, Mourinho’s Chelsea started strong, reaching the Champions League semi-finals and finishing 3rd in the league despite the eventual sale of Juan Mata, who had been a significant player for the club in the years before his return. It was only in this campaign that Mourinho was beaten at Stamford Bridge for the first time.

The following term saw Mourinho win his third Premier League title while also lifting the League Cup. August 2015 saw the charismatic gaffer sign a new contract with the Blues but just four months later, after nine losses in 16 league games, it was announced that Mourinho had left by mutual consent.

Manchester United

After around six months away from the game, Mourinho signed a three-year deal to become the new Manchester United manager in May 2016. Though he did not take them to Premier League glory in his first season as he did with Chelsea, he did successfully win the EFL Cup and the Europa League, becoming the first United boss to win a major trophy in his debut campaign.

The following term saw Mourinho take Manchester United to second in the Premier League and an FA Cup final, though he was unable to win either. To start the 2018/19 season, the Red Devils lost two of their first three matches, a first for the club. He was sacked in December after just seven wins from 17 league games.

Tottenham Hotspur

Almost a year after his sacking from Manchester United, Mourinho was announced as the replacement for Mauricio Pochettino at Spurs. He helped guide the team to sixth in the Premier League by the end of his first season and enjoyed a strong start to the next campaign.

Ultimately, Mourinho guided Spurs to the EFL Cup final in the 2020/21 term, but would not go on to manage the game. After 17 months, he was sacked in April 2021, just days before Spurs played City in the final, marking the first time in Mourinho’s career that he had left a club without winning them a trophy.

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