Fernando Santos, who was appointed the head coach of the Azerbaijan national team, has a rich football career.
As Idman.biz reports, the 70-year-old Portuguese has served this sport for many years as both a football player and head coach.
The specialist, who signed a contract with our team until the end of the EURO-2028 qualifying round, is more recognized as a coach. This is due to the success of his football career.
Benfica's student
Santos was born in Lisbon and is a student of Benfica Academy. However, the football player, who did not find a place in the capital club, spent his career in Estoril and Maritimo. Playing in these teams in 1973-87, he bounced back and forth between the two strongest leagues.
Championship of “Engenheiro do Penta”
Santos gave importance to education even when he was a football player. He also found time to get higher education in electrical engineering and telecommunication engineering. In 1999, when Porto won the title of champion for the 5th time in a row, the head coach was given the nickname "Engenheiro do Penta", i.e. penta engineer. This was the first success in Santos's career.
Road to the top
As soon as he finished his career as a football player, Santus started working as an assistant coach in GD Estoril and then took to the "helm" of the team. After working in CF Estrela, Santos, who was appointed head coach of his first big team "Porto" after 1998, won 5 titles with the Portuguese giant. After 1 championship, 2 cups and 2 Supercups in 1998-2001, his career as an international coach was started.
From the club to the national team
After Porto, the head coach turned to Greece and worked intermittently for 13 years in Ellada. During this period, Santos, who returned to his homeland twice, worked briefly in Sporting and Benfica, managed AEK, Panathinaikos, again AEK, and then PAOK in Greece. The only achievement in these years was the Greek Cup. This long Greek career resulted in an appointment to the national team. The head coach, who made his debut in the national team of this country in 2010, led the Greeks for 4 years. Working in Hellas for a long time also played a role in the polyglot specialist's knowledge of Portuguese, English and Greek languages.
After 13 years
of longing for success in the national team, the Portuguese national team got its wish after "stealing" the head coach of the Greek national team. Cristiano Ronaldo and his friends won the European champion and the Nations League. Of course, the success of the superstar footballer and the people around him is invaluable. Then the specialist, who had problems with Ronaldo, changed this team to the Polish national team. In total, Santus worked in three national teams for 13 years in a row.
Black stripe
Santos, who had disagreements with Ronaldo, could not get out of the "black stripe" after the failure of the WC-2022. The specialist who went to Poland from Portugal played 6 matches in this team. The head coach, who has only 8 months left in his position, started working at the club again in 2024. After 14 years working in the club, Santos failed in Besiktas. The Portuguese, who worked in Turkiye for about 3 months, was dismissed after 16 matches. The head coach, who was unemployed for two months, came to the Azerbaijan national team this time.
It should be noted that Santos was twice (2016, 2019) chosen as the best national team coach of the year by IFFHS.
Idman.biz
