Famous Portuguese People: José Mourinho
José Mourinho is one of the world's most famous soccer coaches. José Mário dos Santos Félix Mourinho was born in Setubal in 1963. Now the coach of Chelsea, Mourinho has previously coached Benfica, Leiria, Porto in the Portuguese first division, English Premier League club, Chelsea, Italian giants Inter Milan, and Spain's Real Madrid, before returning for a second spell at Chelsea. He then moved to Manchester United winning the Europa League and League at Old Trafford before departing in his third season. He is currently manager of Tottenham Hotspur.
The Special One
Self-titled "The Special One", Mourinho's father was a professional soccer player and coach in Portugal. The young José followed in his father's foot steps but did not make the grade as a player and instead turned his attentions to becoming a coach. Mourinho's big break came in 1992 when he was appointed as the translator for the English manager Bobby Robson, who was in charge of Sporting Lisbon. Mourinho followed Robson to Porto and then on to Barcelona in Spain.
Mourinho's first job as first team coach was a brief spell at Benfica in Lisbon before he left to manage Leiria, where he enjoyed success in his first season and left to take up the top job at Portuguese powerhouse Porto in 2002. The next season Porto were crowned Portuguese champions and again in 2004. Porto also won the UEFA Cup in 2003 and went on to win the Champions League Final against Monaco in May 2004.
Mourinho at Chelsea
Mourinho joined London club Chelsea later that year on an annual salary of over 4.2 GBP and went on to win the Premier League title in his first two seasons at the club, which had not won the league for 50 years.
Mourinho's assured tactical astuteness, inspired purchases in the transfer market and supreme man-management skills in the press office, dressing room and on the training field brought Chelsea unprecedented success and raised the club from previous under-achievers to present European powerhouse. Of course, the huge financial backing of Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich's money underwrote all the success the club achieved, but Mourinho was the man who converted the financial backing into silverware.
Mourinho soon became a media superstar in the English game and a favourite of the English popular press due to his often controversial comments, but a relatively poor start to the 2007 season and amid press reports of a bust-up with billionaire Russian chairman Roman Abramovich, Mourinho left the club by "mutual consent" in September 2007.
Inter
Mourinho begun a new challenge in Serie A with Milanese club Inter, replacing Roberto Mancini as coach and winning the Italian title in his first season and going on to lift the Champions League in 2010.
Real Madrid & Return to Chelsea
Mourinho then returned as coach back at Chelsea in the Premier League after a controversial spell at Real Madrid where he won one league title but alienated some of his players and the Spanish press. Mourinho described himself as "The Happy One" back in England and he went on to win the Premier League with Chelsea in the 2014-2015 season. A poor start to the following campaign saw Mourinho sacked once more.
Manchester United
However, Mourinho was appointed manager of Manchester United in the summer of 2016 as a new chapter began for one of the soccer world's greatest and most controversial coaches. In his first season at United, the club won the League Cup and the Europa League. Midway through his third season he was gone, sacked after a humiliating loss away to Liverpool. Mourinho then resurfaced as a respected pundit for RT and Sky before returning to football management in England with Spurs, almost exactly a year to the day he was sacked by Manchester United. Mourinho is still striving to win the Champions league with three different teams.
Roma, Fenerbahçe & Return to Real Madrid
Mourinho went on to manage Roma in Italy's Serie A after a brief and largely unsuccessful time with Spurs in the Premier League winning the 2022 Europa Conference League in 2022 and reaching the Europa League final in the following season. After his sacking in 2024 he then moved to Fenerbahçe in Turkey, then back to his native Portugal with Benfica in 2025 and in 2026 was reappointed coach of Real Madrid after a gap of 13 years.
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