Fernando Santos (footballer, born 1954)

For other footballers and football managers, see Fernando Santos (disambiguation).

Fernando Santos

Personal information
Full name	Fernando Manuel Fernandes da Costa Santos
Date of birth	(1954-10-10) 10 October 1954
Place of birth	Lisbon, Portugal
Position(s)	Right-back
Youth career
1966–1971	Benfica
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1971–1973	Marítimo
1973–1975	Estoril
Managerial career
1987–1994	Estoril
1994–1998	Estrela da Amadora
1998–2001	Porto
2001–2002	AEK Athens
2002–2003	Panathinaikos
2003–2004	Sporting CP
2004–2006	AEK Athens
2006–2007	Benfica
2007–2010	PAOK
2010–2014	Greece
2014-	Portugal
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Fernando Manuel Fernandes da Costa Santos (born 10 October 1954) is a Portuguese football manager and former player.

On 4 February 2010, Santos was elected by the Greek Football League as the best coach of the decade, at a ceremony to celebrate the last 50 years of football in the country.

Playing career

Born in Lisbon, Santos started his career as a footballer in 1966, initially playing for Sport Lisboa e Benfica at the youth level, then Marítimo and Estoril Praia, where he ended his professional career in 1975 at just 21.

Coaching career

Santos earned a degree as an electrical and telecommunications engineer, awarded in 1977 by the Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa. After a career change as a technician, he returned to football in 1987, taking over at former club Estoril-Praia. Stayed for seven years, guiding them to two promotions and the Portuguese top flight. In Estoril, where he remained until 1994, the club climbed up two categories and reached Portugal's top football division.

In 1994, he took over Estrela da Amadora, and in 1998, he moved to FC Porto, winning the national championship and the Portuguese SuperCup in his first season. He was the last of the coaches to win in Porto's run of five consecutive championships, the longest ever in Portuguese club history. For that, he is known as "the engineer of the penta." Next season, Porto missed the sixth title in the last round to Sporting Clube de Portugal, but won the Portuguese Cup and Super Cup, also reaching the UEFA Champions League quarter–finals. According FIFA in 2000, he was ranked ninth best manager in the world.

In 2001, Santos took over AEK Athens, leading the club to the conquest of Greek football Cup, and losing the championship to Olympiacos due to goal average. His next step was Panathinaikos, then taking over the reins of hometown Sporting Clube de Portugal for 2003–04. The next season, he returned to AEK Athens and the team, based on young players, reached the Greek Cup semi-finals and finished third (only three points behind the first) in the league.

On 20 May 2006, it was announced that Santos would coach Benfica for the 2006–07 season. That season, Benfica finished third, missing the opportunity to be in the Champions League directly, giving just one point to the second place and two to the eventual winners Porto. In the following season, he spent the whole pre-season with Benfica, in which he would lose the services of team captain and top goalscorer Simão, who was transferred to Spanish team Atlético Madrid. Shortly after, Santos was sacked by Benfica's board on 20 August 2007, after a draw against Leixões in the first match of 2007–08. He was replaced by Spanish coach and former Benfica manager José Antonio Camacho. It was later stated on multiple occasions, by Benfica chairman Luís Filipe Vieira, that sacking Santos with such rash, was his biggest mistake during his tenure as president.

In September 2007, Santos returned to Greece, signing a three-year contract for PAOK in the city of Thessaloniki. There, joining forces with team chairman and captain of the Golden Euro 2004 Team, Thodoris Zagorakis, he contributed in the so-called "Three Year Plan" for the resurgence of PAOK. Santos is known for his allegoric parabola during his first season in Toumba which illustrated the team and supporters' mentality in 2007, summarized as: "Should we keep fooling ourselves, mistaking sardines for lobsters? I think it's time to change the plate". Effectively fulfilling his promise, he led PAOK to the 2nd position of the Greek Super-League in 2009–2010 after giving hell to all other competitors for the title. During a press conference on 19 May 2010 the PAOK F.C. coach announced his intention to leave the historical Greek club, despite his chance to lead the team in the 2010–2011 Champions' League Tournament.

On 1 July 2010, Santos was named the new coach of Greece by the Hellenic Football Federation for the next two years. After long negotiations with the Greek Football Federation, it was decided that Santos was the ideal replacement of Greece's former head coach Otto Rehhagel. Santos managed to lead the Greek team in the quarter finals of Euro 2012.

In June of 2014, Santos managed the Greek team to the 2014 World Cup round of 16 in Brazil. At that stage, Greece was eliminated when they lost to Costa Rica 3-5 on penalties on June 29. In the final minutes before the penalty kicks, Santos was sent off the field by referee Benjamin Williams, apparently for something he said to the referee. He watched his team be defeated on a television from inside the stadium, a loss that marked the end of his tenure coaching Greece, since his contract expired the very next day.

Personal life

Fernando Santos is a Lisboner, an electrical and telecommunications engineer by training, and a lifelong supporter of hometown's Benfica, Estoril and committed Catholic.

Managerial statistics

As of 29 June 2014

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Estoril		1987	1994	140	41	42	57	0	0	+0	029.29
Estrela da Amadora		1994	1998	136	39	47	50	0	0	+0	028.68
Porto		1998	2001	156	98	31	27	310	126	+184	062.82
AEK Athens		2001	2002	51	38	5	8	134	51	+83	074.51
Panathinaikos		2002	2003	4	1	0	3	0	0	+0	025.00
Sporting CP		2003	2004	36	22	5	9	66	38	+28	061.11
AEK Athens		2004	2006	60	38	15	7	0	0	+0	063.33
Benfica		20 May 2006	20 August 2007	48	28	11	9	84	40	+44	058.33
PAOK		4 September 2007	18 May 2010	95	48	21	26	0	0	+0	050.53
Greece		1 July 2010	1 July 2014	49	26	17	6	56	36	+20	053.06
Career totals				775	379	194	202	0	0	+0	048.90

Honours

Managerial

Porto

• Portuguese Liga (1): 1998–99
• Portuguese Cup (2): 1999–00, 2000–01
• Portuguese SuperCup (2): 1999, 2000

AEK Athens

• Greek Cup (1): 2002

Individual

• Super League Greece Manager of the Year (4): 2001–02, 2004–05, 2008–09, 2009–10
• Super League Greece Manager of the Decade (1): 2000–10

External links

• Coach profile at zerozero.pt