Typically, football coaches are players who have completed their careers after playing 10-15 years, received a coaching license and can offer their wards a wealth of experience. And it would seem that if a person has no gaming experience, what kind of a coach can he be?
This question can be answered briefly - Jose Mourinho. This is a phenomenal trainer who is one of the best specialists of our time, but who does not represent anything as a player.
Football career
In 1963, Jose Mourinho was born in the Portuguese city of Setubal, and from an early age began to get involved in football. He studied at the football academy, gained experience, after which he made his debut in the club “Rio Ave” as a central midfielder, where at the age of 19 he went straight to the capital of his native country, to the Lisbon club “Belenense”. There, Jose did not spend the most successful year, after which he went down and moved to Sesimbra. He spent two years in this small club, then two more years at “Comerciu and Industry”, but in the end, Jose realized very early that he was not created for playing on the field. At the age of 24, the Portuguese completed his playing career and thought that he could become a coach.
Transition period
Sometimes players end their careers and immediately become coaches, in some cases they even work in tandem with someone until they receive a coaching license. But this was not the case of Jose Mourinho, because he was still too young to immediately take up the coaching job. Patiently, the Portuguese studied coaching art, gained skill over three years - he even visited Scotland, met influential people and learned from them.
It is also worth noting that José made his first attempts in Benfica, where he was taken by young people to train, but it was also a kind of internship - the Portuguese launched real activities in 1990, when he was already 27 years old.
Jose as an assistant coach
Jose Mourinho even then did not immediately take up the work of the head coach, but chose to start small and gradually absorb knowledge like a sponge. Therefore, in 1990 he became an assistant coach in the small Portuguese club Estrela, where he spent only one year - in 1991 he moved to a bigger club, Ovarense, but he did not stay there long, performing exactly the same duties as in Estrell. After leaving the club, Mourinho devoted another year and a half to internships and training, after which in December 1993 he was appointed assistant head coach at Porto, one of the largest clubs in Portugal. There he assisted the great Yugoslav coach Tomislav Ivich, with whom, however, he worked for a very short time - only six months. But that was enough - Jose Mourinho was noticed by the football community, and in 1995 at the age of 32 he became an assistant coach at the great Spanish club Barcelona. He first assisted Johan Cruyff there, then Sir Bobby Robson, and then Louis van Gaul.
All this happened for five years, which became extremely important for the further development of the young coach as a specialist.
The first steps in the coaching field and the first success
The biography of Jose Mourinho has both ups and downs, and he felt his first fall in his own country. From “Barcelona” he returned to Portugal, ended up in the Lisbon “Benfica”, which has always been one of the top clubs in the country, but it turned out that José has too sharp tongue. The temperament of the young specialist showed up: he was sharp, emotional, straightforward, and although his football ideas looked impressive, the club management came to the decision that such a coach did not suit them. After working for only six months at Benfica, he was fired, and many of Jose Mourinho’s quotes, which are known to the entire football community, relate specifically to this period. For example, he compared the experienced specialist Gesualdo Ferreira, whom they tried to impose on him as an assistant, with a donkey who had been working tirelessly for more than thirty years, but could never turn into a horse. As a result, sharp tongue brought Jose in 2001 to the not-so-famous Unian Leiria club, where he also managed to work for only six months. But this time he was not fired for his temperament, on the contrary, he was noticed for his brilliant approach to coaching. And in the winter of 2002, the Portuguese became the head coach of “Porto”. It was here that his first incredible take-off happened - in the first season, Jose made the club the champion of Portugal and the owner of the Portuguese Cup.
But the miracles did not end there - the next season he developed his success by re-winning the title of champion of the country, winning the Portuguese Super Cup, and most importantly - the Champions League, the most prestigious club tournament. According to the results of this season, he was recognized as the best club coach in the world in 2004. Coach Jose Mourinho went down in history and became the most sought-after among the top clubs.
Relocation to England
Jose wanted to see many clubs as head coach, but Roman Abramovich, the Russian billionaire who had just acquired London Chelsea and reorganized it, lured the young coach to himself. Since 2004, Mourinho became a trainer of “senior citizens”, signing a profitable contract for 4 years, of which he worked for three. During this time, he led the team twice to the championship title in one of the most prestigious leagues in the world, won the League Cup twice, once the FA Cup, and also won the English Super Cup. Even in the first season, in 2005, Jose, at 42, was named the best coach of the year in the world for the second time.
But in 2007, he had a conflict with the leadership, because of which Mourinho was forced to leave the club and go to Italy.
Inter and second Champions Trophy
After a year break, Mourinho was appointed coach of Inter Milan and immediately surprised everyone again. As with Chelsea, he won two Italian championships with the Milan club in two years, won the Italian Cup and Super Cup, and also won his second Champions League. This incredible result stirred the football community, Mourinho began to be called one of the best, if not the best coach in the world, in 2010 he was awarded the title of the best coach for the third time, but decided not to stay at Inter, but to accept the offer they are dreaming of. all players and coaches - an offer from Real Madrid.
King of the Royal Club
The Portuguese phenomenon predicted incredible success in the “Real”, the training of Jose Mourinho should have been a ticket to the success of the Madrid club, and in fact, Jose achieved some success.
For three years in the “Real” he won the La Liga, having removed from the throne the incredible “Barcelona” of those years, won the
Spanish Cup and
Super Cup, and in 2012 was again named the best coach in the world. But in the Royal Club of the King, certain troubles awaited - the story with Benfica was repeated. Although Jose brought victories to his club, he constantly had conflicts with the leadership, fans did not like him, many believed that he would destroy Real Madrid. In the end, Mourinho decided not to continue this mess and leave.
Return to Misty Albion
In 2013, Carlo Ancelotti was appointed coach of Real Madrid , and Jose Mourinho received an offer from Roman Abramovich - the second in his career. Six years after leaving, the Portuguese returned to England, Jose Mourinho was again appointed head coach of the London “Chelsea”. All old grievances were forgotten, and Jose began to build a new team, to make permutations that did not immediately appeal to the fans. But thanks to these permutations, the coaching skills of Jose Mourinho, “Chelsea” in the current season has every chance of becoming the champion of England.
Moreover, the London club reached the semi-finals of the Champions League and has a real opportunity to win this tournament, while Jose will be the first coach to win the Champions League three times with three different clubs.
Football or family?
Let Jose Mourinho seem like a tough specialist who won’t go into his pocket for a word, even if he gives the impression of a man who completely gives himself to football, but in fact he is a family man. And not just married - he considers his family the main thing that he has in his life, and puts his wife and children in front of not only football, but everything else. In 1989, the year before Jose went to Amadora to become an assistant coach for Estrela, he married Matilda, who bore him two children named after her parents - the son was named Jose Mario Jr., and his daughter - Matilda. Matilda was born in 1996, and Jose Mario Jr. in 2000, the birth of both children was in the Barcelona period of Mourinho's career. And although he is cruel and harsh on the football field, he simply adores his family, since for him it is the real center of his life, Jose Mourinho and his wife Matilda live in perfect harmony with their children.