AS Roma coach Jose Mourinho has been strongly linked to become the new Portugal national team coach after Fernando Santos was sacked.
Santos, 68, was in charge of Portugal between 2014 and 2022 but was sacked after his side’s quarter-final exit against Morocco at the FIFA World Cup.
Santos has lifted the first two international trophies with A Selecao, namely the 2016 UEFA European Championship and the 2019 UEFA Europa League but criticism of his playing style had been existing for a long time.
During the World Cup he made the controversial call to bench his side’s all-time record goalscorer Cristiano Ronaldo – initially in the last 16 clash with Switzerland, which Portugal won 6-1.
But Ronaldo also started the 1-0 defeat against Morocco on the bench and was unable to turn his side’s fortunes around when he came on as a second-half substitute, leading to heavy criticism on Santos.
Overall Santos won 68 of his 109 games in charge, drawing 21 and losing 20. He had a points-per-game average of 2.06 and many in Portugal will remember for bringing silverware to A Selecao.
The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) said in a statement that it “will now launch the process to choose the next national coach”, with Jose Mourinho understood to be their favourite.
However, Mourinho is currently contracted to Roma and understood to be keen to continue his project in Italy, but he could work in a dual role as club and national team coach, according to reports.
Mourinho didn’t want to comment on the speculation when quizzed upon his arrival in Portugal for a training camp with Roma but had previously stated he would love to coach a national team.
