Not only football fans know who Jose Mourinho is. This coach became famous after he unexpectedly won the Champions League with the not-so-powerful Porto club. After that, he worked in a variety of top clubs - from Real Madrid to Chelsea London. But he is not the only Portuguese coach to talk about.
For example, Jose Couceiro is also a Portuguese national, and during his coaching career he managed to lead a fairly large number of clubs, albeit not as impressive as in the case of Mourinho. It is worth noting that the Russian fan, Couceir, may be closer for the reason that he once coached the Moscow Lokomotiv. But it was one of the few foreign clubs that he headed. What other teams led Jose Couceiro?
Player career
Many believe that only good players become the same good coaches, but in fact this is far from the truth. Moreover, often good players become disgusting coaches, and vice versa. The same Jose Mourinho, who ended his career early due to the fact that he could not achieve absolutely any results on the field, is a prime example. He realized that he knows the game much better if he is outside the field, and for years now he has been proving this to all football fans.
Jose Couceiro was also not an outstanding footballer - he began his career as a promising central defender in the Lisbon Sporting, but rather quickly disappointed the leadership and moved to Mortigio, a club that played in the second division of Portugal. Since then, Couceiro has changed at least five clubs, and all of them did not rise to the top division. As a result, at the age of thirty, Jose Couceiro completed his career as a player, playing at that time for Estrela.
The beginning of a career coach
Jose Couceiro, whose biography as a player at that time ended, did not immediately become a coach. In fact, as many as ten years have passed, and only in 2002 did the Portuguese head his first club, which was Alverka. However, his results were far from satisfactory, and in 2004 he was dismissed.
But the coach did not remain without work - another Portuguese club, Vitoria from Setubal, immediately signed a contract with him. It was there that he impressed the public the most by winning eight of the nineteen games.
Coaching talent did not go unnoticed, and even before the end of the season, one of the country's strongest clubs, “Porto”, invited a specialist to his place. The goal was to end the not-so-successful season, that is, to correct the mistakes of the predecessor. Couceiro coped with the task very well - his period at Porto is one of the best in his career. He led the Portuguese club to second place, but the contract with him was not renewed, and the coach was left without work.
However, not for long - in October he was already invited to Belenensis. Jose did not start the season: out of 26 matches, he won only 8, so he could not achieve much success with the club. But at the same time he received an invitation to the post of coach of the Portuguese youth team. There he spent the entire 2006/2007 season, preparing the team for the European Youth Championship. As a result, the Portuguese tied with the Belgians, defeated the Israelis and lost to the Dutch, and lost to the Italians in the fifth place match. After that, Jose took a break for one year, and then decided to change everything in his sports life.
Travel abroad
As you already understood, Jose Couceiro is the coach who spent most of his time in Portuguese clubs. But in 2008 he took a big step for himself - he headed the Lithuanian Kaunas. Having finished the season in second place, he impressed the locals and as a result became the head coach of the Lithuanian national team. In this position, he spent a year and a half, remembering the victories over the Romanians, Austrians and Serbs in the qualifying games for the 2010 World Cup. In parallel, he led the Turkish Gaziantepspor, but was able to win only ten victories in 41 matches.
Return to Portugal and Lokomotiv
In February 2011, Couceiro returned to Portugal, leading Sporting, where he began his career as a player. He spent only six months there, taking the team to third place. It was then that rumors had already circulated that Couceiro José might come to one of the Russian clubs, possibly to Lokomotiv.
As a result, the rumors were confirmed, and in the summer of 2011, Couceiro became the head coach of the Moscow club. And it was there that he showed his best side - the Russian period is considered the best in the career of a specialist, since he managed to win almost half of the matches - 20 of 41.
In the fall of 2013, he again went home, leading Vitoria, with which he began his coaching career. He spent a year there, after which he moved to Estoril, who coached in the 2014/2015 season. And in the summer of 2016, he came to Vitoria for the third time, with which he had already played 7 matches, having won so far only two of them.