112 Facts About Jose Mourinho

Jose Mario dos Santos Mourinho Felix GOIH, is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Italian Serie A club Roma.

Once dubbed "The Special One" by the British media, Mourinho is one of the most decorated managers ever and is widely considered to be among the greatest managers of all time.

In 2008, Jose Mourinho joined Italian club Inter Milan, where he won Serie A twice, including a European treble of Serie A, the Coppa Italia and the UEFA Champions League in 2010, a first for an Italian club.

Jose Mourinho left Real Madrid in 2013 and rejoined Chelsea, where he won another league title and League Cup, but was dismissed in 2015 after a poor run of results.

Jose Mourinho's father played football professionally for Belenenses and Vitoria de Setubal, earning one cap for Portugal in the course of his career.

Related searches

Jose Mourinho's mother was a primary school teacher from an affluent background; her uncle funded the construction of the Vitoria de Setubal football stadium.

Jose Mourinho wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and joined the Belenenses youth team.

Jose Mourinho mostly spent the season playing for the reserve team, and he played for the first team in the second round of the Taca de Portugal against Vila Franca do Campo.

When his father returned to Rio Ave, Jose Mourinho did not go with him and continued to play in the lower levels of the Portuguese football league system, first with Sesimbra, and then for Comercio e Industria, where he finished his career.

Jose Mourinho decided that he lacked the requisite pace and power to become a professional and chose to focus on becoming a football coach instead.

Jose Mourinho's mother enrolled him in a business school, but Mourinho dropped out on his first day, deciding he would rather focus on sport, and chose to attend the Instituto Superior de Educacao Fisica, Technical University of Lisbon, to study sports science.

Jose Mourinho sought to redefine the role of coach in football by mixing coaching theory with motivational and psychological techniques.

Jose Mourinho began discussing tactics and coaching with Robson in his interpreting role.

When Porto appointed him as their head coach, Jose Mourinho moved with him, continuing to coach and interpret for players at the new club.

Robson and Jose Mourinho's styles complemented each other: the Englishman favoured an attacking style, while Jose Mourinho covered defensive options, and the Portuguese's love of planning and training combined with Robson's direct man-management.

Robson moved clubs the following season but this time Jose Mourinho did not follow as Barcelona were keen to retain him as assistant manager.

Jose Mourinho began working with Robson's successor, Louis van Gaal, and he learned much from the Dutchman's conscientious style.

Jose Mourinho let Mourinho develop his own independent coaching style and entrusted him with the coaching duties of Barcelona B Van Gaal let Mourinho take charge of the first team for certain trophies, like the Copa Catalunya, which Mourinho won in 2000.

Chance to become a top-tier manager arrived in September 2000 when Jose Mourinho moved up from his role as assistant manager at Benfica to replace manager Jupp Heynckes after the fourth week of the Primeira Liga.

The Benfica hierarchy wanted to appoint Jesualdo Ferreira as the new assistant coach, but Jose Mourinho refused and picked Carlos Mozer, a retired Benfica defender, as his right-hand man instead.

Such was Robson's desperation for Jose Mourinho to join him he offered to step down after two years in charge and hand over the reins to Jose Mourinho.

Jose Mourinho turned the offer down and said he knew Robson would never step down at the club he loved.

Jose Mourinho left the club on 5 December 2000 after just nine league games in charge.

Jose Mourinho found a new managerial post in July 2001 with Uniao de Leiria.

Jose Mourinho was then hand-picked by Porto to replace Octavio Machado on 23 January 2002.

Related searches

Jose Mourinho guided the team to third place that year after a strong 15-game run and gave the promise of "making Porto champions next year".

Jose Mourinho quickly identified several key players whom he saw as the backbone of what he believed would be a perfect Porto team: Vitor Baia, Ricardo Carvalho, Costinha, Deco, Dmitri Alenichev and Helder Postiga.

Jose Mourinho recalled captain Jorge Costa after a six-month loan to Charlton Athletic.

Jose Mourinho won the Taca de Portugal, beating former club Leiria in the final, and the UEFA Cup final against Celtic, both in May 2003.

Jose Mourinho flamboyantly celebrated the goal by leaving his dugout, fists punching the air as he sprinted down the sideline near to his celebrating players – this dramatic celebration is regarded as the moment when Jose Mourinho announced himself to the game.

Jose Mourinho's Porto win over Ferguson's United was a preview of his move to the Premier League managing Chelsea, where the two men would enjoy a competitive but respectful relationship.

In 2005, after Chelsea clinched the Premier League title, Ferguson had his players form a guard of honour at Chelsea's next game at Old Trafford, a favour that Jose Mourinho returned in 2007 at Stamford Bridge after Ferguson's squad were confirmed league champions.

Liverpool offered their managerial position to Rafael Benitez and Jose Mourinho instead accepted a large offer from Roman Abramovich and pledged his immediate future to Chelsea.

On 2 June 2004, Jose Mourinho moved to Chelsea on a three-year contract, after a £1.

Jose Mourinho retained Steve Clarke, a long-serving former player at Chelsea, who had performed an assistant managerial-type role under previous managers at the club.

Under Jose Mourinho, Chelsea built on the potential developed in the previous season.

Towards the end of the match, Jose Mourinho was escorted from the touchline after putting his finger to his mouth in the direction of Liverpool fans, as a response to taunts directed towards him whilst Liverpool were leading, before the equalising goal.

Under Jose Mourinho, Chelsea secured their first top-flight domestic title in 50 years, setting a string of English football records in the process, including the most points ever achieved in the Premier League and the fewest goals conceded.

Jose Mourinho was awarded a second medal within minutes, which he threw into the crowd.

Jose Mourinho later cleared doubts regarding his future at Stamford Bridge, stating that there would only be two ways for him to leave Chelsea: if Chelsea did not offer him a new contract before the expiry of his current deal in June 2010, or if Chelsea were to sack him.

Jose Mourinho unexpectedly left Chelsea on 20 September 2007 "by mutual consent", although there had been a series of disagreements with owner Abramovich.

Jose Mourinho left as the most successful manager in Chelsea's history, having won six trophies for the club in three years.

On 2 June 2008, Jose Mourinho was appointed the successor of Roberto Mancini at Inter Milan on a three-year contract and brought along with him much of his backroom staff who had served him at both Chelsea and Porto.

Jose Mourinho chose Giuseppe Baresi, a former Inter player and ex-head coach of their youth academy, as his assistant.

Jose Mourinho spoke solely in Italian in his first press conference as Inter boss, claiming to have learnt it "in three weeks".

Related searches

Jose Mourinho stated that he only intended to make a few major signings in the summer.

On 28 July 2009, Jose Mourinho was reported to have shown interest in taking over at Manchester United when Alex Ferguson retired.

Jose Mourinho signed Argentine striker Diego Milito, who fell just one goal short of winning the top scorer award with Genoa, as well as Thiago Motta and Wesley Sneijder, to bolster the midfield.

Jose Mourinho achieved what was hailed as one of his career highlights after Inter managed to progress to the Champions League quarter-finals by defeating his former team Chelsea in both legs.

Jose Mourinho was involved in a brief scuffle with Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes while attempting to join in the Inter celebrations.

Jose Mourinho afterwards stated that "anti-Madridismo" had motivated the Barca fans, suggesting that they were obsessed with reaching the final and winning the tournament in their arch-rival's home ground.

Marca proclaimed that Jose Mourinho had passed the test to become the next head coach of Real Madrid, as their fans celebrated the elimination of Barcelona.

Day after having won the Champions League, Jose Mourinho said that he was "sad, as almost for sure it's my last game with Inter".

Jose Mourinho then added that "if you don't coach Real Madrid then you will always have a gap in your career".

On 28 May 2010, it was confirmed that Jose Mourinho would take over from Manuel Pellegrini at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.

On 31 May 2010, Jose Mourinho was unveiled as the new manager of Real Madrid after signing a four-year contract, and became the 11th manager at the club in the previous seven years.

Jose Mourinho was appointed sporting manager as well as first-team coach, and he was referred to as a Galactico.

On 29 November 2010, Jose Mourinho's Madrid were defeated in his first Clasico encounter against Barcelona.

Jose Mourinho was banned for two Champions League matches, the second of which is suspended for three years.

At the Bernabeu, Real's Pepe was dismissed in the 61st minute and Jose Mourinho was sent to the stands for protesting; afterward, Barca's Lionel Messi scored two late goals to take control of the tie.

On 22 May 2012, Jose Mourinho signed a new four-year contract to remain as Real Madrid manager through to 2016.

Jose Mourinho became the only coach who has won the national super cups in four European countries.

Jose Mourinho was criticised for controversial incidents, including poking Tito Vilanova in the eye during a brawl, continual complaints about refereeing bias, clashes with journalists and Real officials, and frequent hints that Barca received favourable treatment from UEFA.

Three days later, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez announced Jose Mourinho would leave the club at the end of the season by "mutual agreement", a year after signing a contract extension to 2016.

Jose Mourinho consistently played down Chelsea's title chances throughout the season and referred to it as a transitional season, slowly moulding his squad and most significantly dropping Chelsea's player of the year of the two previous seasons, Juan Mata.

Related searches

Jose Mourinho was named as Premier League Manager of the Season, with Chelsea losing just three matches all season.

On 7 August 2015, Jose Mourinho signed a new four-year contract with Chelsea that would have kept him at Stamford Bridge until 2019.

On 27 May 2016, Jose Mourinho signed a three-year contract with Manchester United, with an option to stay at the club until at least 2020.

On 23 October 2016, Jose Mourinho made his first visit back to Chelsea with Manchester United since leaving in December 2015.

Jose Mourinho strengthened his side further in the summer of 2017, with the signings of Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku, defender Victor Lindelof and midfielder Nemanja Matic.

Jose Mourinho was criticised for Manchester United's Champions League exit to Sevilla at the last-sixteen stage, which resulted in a surprise twelve minute rant from Jose Mourinho defending his United career.

An incensed Jose Mourinho leapt up and attempted to chase Ianni down the tunnel, with security intervening.

At full-time, Jose Mourinho walked over to United fans and applauded, and on his way back to the tunnel he held up three fingers towards Chelsea fans, reminding them he won three Premier League titles for the club.

On 20 November 2019, Jose Mourinho was appointed as the manager of Tottenham Hotspur on a four-year contract, replacing the sacked Mauricio Pochettino.

However, Jose Mourinho finished his first season with Tottenham Hotspur at sixth position in the Premier League.

On 19 April 2021, Jose Mourinho was sacked by Tottenham Hotspur after 17 months in charge of the club, days before the EFL Cup Final against Manchester City.

Jose Mourinho was replaced by former Tottenham Hotspur player Ryan Mason as interim manager.

Ten days later against Milan, Jose Mourinho suffered his first home defeat in league games in Italy, before this match he was unbeaten in 43 matches in a row.

On 24 May, Jose Mourinho won his first title with the Giallorossi by defeating Feyenoord in the 2022 UEFA Europa Conference League Final.

Jose Mourinho was at the greatest coaching seminar the world has seen [at Barcelona in the mid-90s], when the game as we know it was shaped, but he did not draw the same lessons everybody else did.

Jose Mourinho was the outsider, the outcast who now revels in his role as the dark lord.

Jose Mourinho has been noted for his tactical prowess, game management, and adaptability to different situations.

The counter-attacking system pioneered by Jose Mourinho continued, with its variations, to be used to further success at Madrid by his successors Carlo Ancelotti and Zinedine Zidane.

Jose Mourinho is praised for his quick reactions to a game's events.

Jose Mourinho quickly introduced Luka Modric and moved Sami Khedira to the right flank, where Manchester United had a numerical disadvantage due to Nani's red card.

Related searches

Jose Mourinho used his left winger Eto'o as a makeshift left-sided attacking wing-back.

Jose Mourinho is renowned for always being well-informed about his next opponent and tactically outwitting other managers in games.

Jose Mourinho set up Benny McCarthy's equaliser in the first half, then with United focussed on defending the left, Porto switched to the other side, where McCarthy was able to beat Gary Neville and Wes Brown to score the winner.

Jose Mourinho is acknowledged for his attention to detail, organisational planning and in-game communication.

Jose Mourinho is widely regarded by several players and coaches to be one of the best managers of his generation and one of the greatest ever managers.

Jose Mourinho knew how to combine these two things, he was perfect.

Jose Mourinho only cares about the result and doesn't care much for good football.

Jose Mourinho said that this biased the referee and caused him to send off Chelsea striker Didier Drogba in the second half.

On 2 June 2005, Jose Mourinho was fined £200,000 for his part in the meeting with then Arsenal full-back Ashley Cole in January of that year.

An annoyed Jose Mourinho replied to Sconcerti asking for honest comparisons and emphasising that he was doing better than Mancini.

Jose Mourinho sparked controversy in the summer with his argument with Italy national team coach Marcello Lippi.

Jose Mourinho responded by saying that Cannavaro was acting like " a coach, a sporting director or a president".

Furthermore, the Federal Prosecutor referred Jose Mourinho "for having said, towards the sports journalist Andrea Ramazzotti, offensive remarks as well as for having grabbed his forearms".

On 17 August 2011, in the final of the 2011 Supercopa de Espana, Jose Mourinho was seen gouging the eye of Barcelona's assistant coach Tito Vilanova during a brawl at the end of the game.

Angry about the referee's decisions, Jose Mourinho confronted him after the match to discuss the match incidents.

Jose Mourinho was given a two-match touchline ban by the Italian FA and fined 20,000 Euros following the incident.

Jose Mourinho signed up to cover the 2018 FIFA World Cup as an analyst on RT.

In collaboration with DAZN, in 2019 Jose Mourinho appeared in The Making Of series, a 3 part documentary which relives the significant games that helped define football's greatest modern icons.

Jose Mourinho was involved in the 2020 Amazon Prime sports docuseries All or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur during his spell managing the club.

Jose Mourinho met his wife Matilde "Tami" Faria, born in Angola, when they were teenagers in Setubal, Portugal, and the couple married in 1989.

Related searches

Jose Mourinho has been a part of social initiatives and charity work, helping with a youth project, bringing Israeli and Palestinian children together through football and donating his "lucky" jacket to Tsunami Relief, earning £22,000 for the charity.

Widely known for his strong personality, refined dress sense and quirky comments at press conferences, Jose Mourinho has experienced fame outside of football circles, featuring in European advertisement campaigns for Samsung, American Express, Braun, Jaguar and Adidas, amongst others.

An unofficial biography of Jose Mourinho, titled O Vencedor – De Setubal a Stamford Bridge, was a best seller in Portugal.

However, Jose Mourinho did not authorise the biography and attempted, unsuccessfully, to prevent the book from being published.

Jose Mourinho was part of an unusual event in May 2007 when he was arrested for preventing animal welfare officials from putting his dog into quarantine.

Jose Mourinho was chosen to voice Pope Francis in a Vatican-approved Portuguese animated film marking the 2017 centenary of the apparition of Our Lady of Fatima.

On 23 March 2009, Jose Mourinho was awarded a doctorate honoris causa degree by the Technical University of Lisbon for his accomplishments in football.