Six days after “European Brazil” was eliminated from the 2022 World Cup in the quarterfinals, the Portuguese Football Federation (PFF) formally sacked coach Fernando Santos.
Coach Fernando Santos officially fired
Even though both parties are still under contract until 2024, the Portuguese Football Federation (PFF) has declared that they would be terminating coach Santos.
A film expressing the Portuguese team’s appreciation for coach Santos was just released on the team’s official website with the caption: “A Historic Heritage. Thank you coach for everything”.
During his 8 years as head coach of the Portuguese national team, Santos helped the team win the Euro 2016 and Nations League for the first time in 2019. Besides, he became the coach with the most matches and won the most matches in the team’s history. Portugal. In the 109 matches Santos held, Portugal won 67, drew 23 and lost only 19 matches.
However, the unexpected 0-1 defeat at the hands of Morocco in the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup, the tournament in which Portugal is considered a championship candidate, made Santos unable to stay in the position for longer, even though he still has a contract until 2024. Santos is the eighth coach to lose his job after the World Cup.
After Portugal were eliminated, A Bola opened a survey about the reasons for the defeat against Morocco. 51.9% of fans believe that the fault belongs to coach Fernando Santos.
PFF is currently looking for a new coach to lead Portugal
Journalist Fabrizio Romano revealed that the PFF is currently looking for a new coach to lead Portugal ahead of the EURO 2024 qualifying campaign.
According to the Portuguese newspaper Record, Fernando Gomes, president of the PFF, contacted coach Jose Mourinho to leave AS Roma to lead Portugal.. The “special person” once led Cristiano Ronaldo during the time the two worked together at Real Madrid.
Whether Mourinho is ready to leave AS Roma to take the position of Portugal coach is still a question mark. Besides, another Portuguese coach, Paulo Fonseca, who currently leads Lille in France, is also a top candidate targeted by the PFF.