Paulo Sousa

Paulo Manuel Carvalho Sousa ( born August 30, 1970 in Viseu ) is a former Portuguese football player and current coach. Since 2013 he is with the Israeli first division team Hapoel Tel Aviv under contract.

Playing career

Association

Benfica Lisbon

Paulo Sousa began his career in 1989 at Benfica. Previously, he already went through the youth departments of the Portuguese traditional club. With Benfica Sousa gained his first title. In the championship in 1991 winning the cup followed in 1993. In Lisbon he played early on with his long-time national team -mates such as Rui Costa, João Pinto and Paulo Futre together. In the season 1992/93 he was, as Benfica had already exhausted the Auswechselkontingent and the goalkeeper sent off, used as a goalkeeper. A penalty, could not resist Sousa, but he secured through good parades the 3-2 away victory against Boavista Porto.

Sousa played at a young age a controlled football. This style of play drew the attention of other clubs at him.

Sporting Lisbon

In the summer of 1993 he moved to city rivals Benfica to Sporting Lisbon. There he played with Luís Figo. A title with the Green-Whites he could not win. In the capital club Sousa played only one season. But even in this he always showed good performance and was an important pillar of the team.

Juventus

Having good and successful years in Portugal, he moved to Italy in 1994 to Juventus. In his first season with the Old Lady the championship was won. As with Benfica and Sporting, Sousa was also a guarantee for success. With the win the Coppa Italia (Italian Cup ) was won the double this year. In 1996, Juventus managed to reach the final of the UEFA Champions League. There they met with Ajax Amsterdam. After it had been after 90 minutes and extra time 1:1, the Italians won 4-2 on penalties. Sousa was already in the 57th minute replaced by Angelo Di Livio.

Borussia Dortmund

After two years in Turin Sousa signed with the former German champions Borussia Dortmund. He repeated the success of the Champions League triumph with the black and yellow. In the final of the biggest European competition his former employers Juventus in 1997 opponents of Dortmund. With the 3:1 Borussia prevailed. This time, Sousa full season on the field.

During his time in Dortmund he was plagued more and more injuries, especially on the patellar tendon, which threw him back again and again. In his first season, he completed eleven games in league play operation and in the second 16 By continuing problems, the association decided the defensive specialists to sell.

Inter Milan

For a fee of € 7.6 million Sousa moved to the winter break 1997/98 back to Italy. This time he signed with Inter Milan. The Nerazzurri he could not go on from his earlier achievements. After two years with Inter, he moved again during the winter break.

AC Parma

In January 2000, he signed on to the AC Parma. There Sousa tried again a new beginning, but he usually plays the role of the viewer and only played eight games.

Panathinaikos Athens

After only six months in Parma he was driven to Greece for Panathinaikos Athens. But even with the Trifilli he could not get beyond the reserve player.

Espanyol Barcelona

One last chance Sousa gave himself the Spanish side Espanyol Barcelona when he was in the winter break 2001/ 02 came from Athens. But this chapter was completed quickly and at the end of the season he made ​​his career end known.

National

As a member of the U-20 national team of Portugal in 1989, he won the Junior World Championship. By winning this World Cup, he and his former teammates as Vítor Baía and Luís Figo quickly made a name and the Portuguese Association hoped to successful times in the men's area. To a large title of this golden generation, it never came.

Paulo Sousa played 51 times for the Portuguese national football team. He made his debut on January 16, 1991 in a friendly match against Spain, which ended in a draw. In addition, Sousa played in the European Football Championship in 1996 and was in the squad at Euro 2000. During the 2002 World Cup, although he was nominated, but had no use. Shortly thereafter, he resigned at the age of 31 years. His last game he played in a friendly match against China.

See also:

  • Portuguese contingent of the 1996 European
  • Portuguese Euro 2000 squad
  • Portuguese squad of World Cup 2002

Coaching career

After his career end Sousa worked as a youth coach in Portuguese football. From July 2007 to November 2008, he held the post of assistant coach the Portuguese national team. From November 2008 to April 2009, he was coach of the English second division side Queens Park Rangers. From June 2009 to July 2010, he coached Swansea City. On 7 July 2010, he joined the league rivals Leicester City. After a very bad start in the Football League Championship 2010/11 Paulo Sousa but end of September 2010 has been dismissed from his new club. Since July 2011, he coached the Hungarian Champion title in season 2010/11, the Videoton FC from Székesfehérvár. His contract was dissolved at his request, at the beginning of 2013. For the 2013/14 season Sousa joined the succession of Óscar García as coach of Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Achievements

  • Junior World Champion: 1989
  • Portuguese champions Benfica Lisbon: 1991
  • Portuguese Cup winner Benfica: 1993
  • Italian champion Juventus Turin: 1994/95
  • Coppa Italia winner with Juventus: 1994/95
  • UEFA Champions League winner with Juventus: 1995/96
  • Italian Supercup final with Juventus: 1995
  • UEFA Champions League winner with Borussia Dortmund 1996/97
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