Fernando Santos on Thursday quit as coach of Portugal following the team’s shock FIFA World Cup quarter-final loss to Morocco with colorful and controversial Jose Mourinho named as a leading candidate to take over.
The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) said in a statement that an agreement was reached with the 68-year-old Santos “to end the journey of great success that began in September 2014.”
The FPF added that it “will now launch the process to choose the next national coach.”
Photo: Reuters
Daily sports newspaper Record claimed that Mourinho was the federation’s No. 1 target to take over ahead of qualifying for UEFA Euro 2024.
They would even reportedly entertain a deal which would see Mourinho take charge of the national team on an interim basis to allow him to see out the season with his club side AS Roma in Italy.
Asked about the national team job by journalists on Thursday when he arrived in Portugal for a training camp with Roma, Mourinho made no comment.
Qualifying for Euro 2024 gets underway in March.
Mourinho, 59, has yet to coach at international level, but has an impressive record at some of Europe’s heavyweight clubs.
He has managed Porto, Chelsea twice, Inter, Real Madrid and Manchester United.
Mourinho won three English Premier League titles with Chelsea, two Serie A crowns at Inter and a La Liga triumph at Real Madrid.
He also coached Porto to a 2003-2004 UEFA Champions League victory and repeated the feat with Inter in 2009-2010.
In May, he led Roma to the UEFA Europa Conference League title.
Santos had been adamant that he would not be forced out of the Portugal job he had held for eight years despite last Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Morocco in Qatar.
However, he accepted that not everyone agreed with his decisions during the World Cup which included dropping Cristiano Ronaldo to the bench in the later matches.
“I’m leaving with the feeling of enormous gratitude,” he said in a video posted on the FPF’s Web site. “When you lead a group, you have to make some difficult decisions. It’s normal that not everyone is happy with the choices I made.”
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