Fernando Santos (Portuguese footballer)

Fernando Manuel Costa Santos ( born October 10, 1954 in Lisbon ), short Fernando Santos, is a Portuguese football manager and former player.

Playing career

Santos was active in the youth department of Benfica, but without making the leap into the professional team of the Portuguese giants. In 1971 he moved to Marítimo Funchal, two years later finally GD Estoril Praia, where he in 1975, at the age of 21, ended his active career.

Coaching career

After the active career, Santos coach decided to become. In 1987 he took over GD Estoril Praia as the first head coach position. There he was able to celebrate its first successes. With second place in the Liga de Honra in 1990/91 the team reached the summit in the first league. Then he positioned his team in the safe middle of the league and made ​​the league. In the following year he secured his team to remain in the Portuguese top league. For the season 1993/94 was done, then heavy and slumped into the relegation zone. At the end of the season Estoril dismounted. Santos left the club and signed up for episode season at CF Estrela Amadora. Under the new coach to Amadora developed from year to year from relegation team to a club that can hold its own in mid-table. With seventh place in 1997/98 Santos also managed the best placement Amadoras in the club's history. His performances aroused desires, so that the top side FC Porto in 1998 under contract took him where he replaced António Oliveira.

Right away we won the national championship. However, in the Cup the team retired early, and also in the UEFA Champions League 1998/99 was already in the preliminary round. In the next two years with Porto Santos missed as runner-up twice the league title, but could each celebrate winning the Taça de Portugal. 2001 then relieved him Octávio Machado. Santos moved it abroad and signed a contract with Greek side AEK Athens. He led the team to the final of the National Cup, won his team against Olympiakos Piraeus 2-1. In the league, it was enough for the runner-up title. His performance honored the Greeks with the award for the Super League coach of the year. Nevertheless, both parties separated again and Santos signed with league rival Panathinaikos Athens. Although steered the team to the league win, but these playful in the last two games.

In international competition was in the UEFA Cup quarter-final against Porto conclusion. In summer 2003, he moved the football coach in the home to Sporting Lisbon. Untitled he left the club again in the following year and went back to Greece to become head coach of AEK Athens again. With a revitalized team made ​​it to the semifinals of the Santos Cup and led the club to third place, three points behind champions Olympiakos Piraeus. Again he was elected coach of the year in the top Greek league. In the season 2005/ 06, it was then the vice - championship. Already in May 2006 it was announced that Santos would take over for the new season Benfica. Nearly one failed in the championship. Shortly after the start of the 2007/ 08 Santos was sacked by the club board of directors. From September 2007 to mid-2010, he coached the Greek club PAOK Thessaloniki.

When financially ailing club and athletic, he should start with the new club president Theodoros Zagorakis a rebuild. To assemble a competitive team in 2007 transfers were made in the summer. Santos then lured into the winter break his countryman and former national player Sérgio Conceição to PAOK. With the conclusion of the season the club finished ninth in the league. To inflate the squad and make it better, coaches and club Board agreed in the summer of 2008 to take players like Pablo Contreras, Zlatan Muslimović and Pablo García under contract. End of 2008 /09 was PAOK Although still eight points behind champions Olympiacos, but that was enough for second place. This was the best result since 1985. In the relegation play about the struggle for the international competitions Santos playful but then with his team the Champions League participation and only managed a place in the qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League 2009/10.

To have more quality in the squad, beat Santos and the association's leadership in the summer of 2009, again on the transfer market and secured the services of Bruno Cirillo, Vitolo, and Vasilios Koutsianikoulis. In the play-offs for the Europa League, the club was denied by the Dutch club SC Heerenveen. In the league it ran well again. Third place as of the end of the season benefit. In the qualifying games for the Champions League to Santos team was then against AEK Athens, Aris Thessaloniki and Olympiakos Piraeus and created a place in the qualifying round for the most important European competition. After the disappointing performance of Greece at the 2010 World Cup, the longtime German coach Otto Rehhagel admitted his place as coach. When his successor also Santos was called, the only recently resigned from his position as PAOK coach. 2009, the football coach was elected for the third time coach of the year in the Super League.

Soon after, he signed with the Greek Association a contract until 2012 and has since become coach of Greece. As so often before, Santos was to herald a break and lead the team back on track. The first international match under his leadership, on 11 August 2010 against Serbia turned Santos eight debutants before (eg: Giorgos Tzavelas ). Other long-term national team as Angelos Charisteas sorted from the Portuguese. The premiere match was won 1-0. Although there was no debutants in the starting XI, with Ioannis Papadopoulos, Stergos Marinos and Ioannis Maniatis came on three "new " during the game. For the first time in a competitive match, he oversaw the team on 3 September at the European Championship Qualifiers match against Georgia, which ended 1-1. In December 2010, the Greeks honored him for the fourth time as a Super League coach of the year. The rest of the European Championship qualifiers proved to be extremely positive. In group F, the Greeks remained unbeaten and qualified as group winners for the European Football Championship in 2012., Where the team of Fernando Santos survived the first round and failed in the quarter finals to Germany. The following qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup was successfully disputed. About the relegation matches against Romania, the Greeks managed to jump to the World Cup finals. In February 2014 Fernando Santos announced to resign from his post as coach of Greece after the World Cup in Brazil.

Τitel

Association

• 1999: Portuguese champions, Portuguese Super Cup winners
• 2000: Portuguese Cup winners, Portuguese Super Cup winners
• 2001: Portuguese Cup winners
• 2002: Greek Cup winner

Individually

• Award for the Super League Coach of the Year: 2002, 2005, 2009, 2010