Benfica appointed Jose Mourinho as their coach on Thursday, with the Portuguese returning to work in his homeland, 21 years after leaving Porto for Chelsea.
The 62-year-old, who also coached Real Madrid and Manchester United among other clubs, was sacked by Turkish side Fenerbahce in August after Benfica beat them in the Champions League play-offs.
Mourinho has signed a contract “to run until the end of the 2026/27 season”, Benfica said in a statement, with an option for either party to end the deal at the end of the current campaign.
The two-time European champions sacked Bruno Lage after a shock defeat in their Champions League opener against Azerbaijani minnows Qarabag on Tuesday.
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Mourinho will soon face reunions against former sides Chelsea and Porto, in the Champions League on September 30 and in the Primeira Liga on October 5 respectively.
After starting out his coaching career as an assistant to Bobby Robson and then Louis van Gaal at Barcelona, Mourinho made the step up to head coach at Benfica in September 2000.
He quit after just 11 matches and then; after impressing at Uniao de Leiria, he joined the Eagles’ fierce rivals Porto and guided them to back-to-back league titles and the Champions League crown in 2004.
That set him on the path to a successful career coaching Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid before his fortunes dived after joining Manchester United in 2016.
More modest stints then followed at Tottenham, Roma and Fenerbahce.
José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix born 26 January 1963, is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player, who is currently the manager of Primeira Liga club Benfica. He is one of the most decorated managers and is widely considered to be among the greatest managers of all time. Mourinho has won league championships in four countries, is one of only six managers to have won the European Cup with two clubs and is the only manager to have won all three current UEFA club competitions.
After an uneventful career as a midfielder in the Portuguese leagues, Mourinho retired from playing aged 24 and moved into coaching. He was first an interpreter for Bobby Robson at Sporting CP and Porto, before gaining success as an assistant at Barcelona under Robson and his successor, Louis van Gaal. After briefing managerial stints at Benfica and União de Leiria, Mourinho returned to Porto in 2002, winning two Primeira Liga titles, the Taca de Portugal, the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Champions League. That success earned him a move to Chelsea in 2004, where he remarked, “I think I’m [the] special one” at his first press conference, leading to British media dubbing him “The Special One”. With Chelsea, Mourinho won two Premier League titles, an FA Cup, and two League Cups in three seasons, before departing in 2007 amid reports of disagreements with owner Roman Abramovich.
AFP
