José Peseiro

Born in Coruche, Santarém District, Peseiro never played in higher than the Segunda Liga as a professional, starting out at Sport Lisboa e Cartaxo in 1979. In that competition, he represented Amora, Oriental, Samora Correia and Torreense for a total of five seasons. 34-year-old Peseiro retired at the end of the 1993–94 season in the fourth division, with local club União de Santarém.

Beginnings

Peseiro spent his first eight years as a manager in the third and fourth tiers of Portuguese football, starting out as a player-coach at his last team. In summer 1999, he was appointed at Nacional, which he helped get promoted to the Primeira Liga in just three seasons. In 2002–03, he led the team to a final eleventh position. In 2003–04, Peseiro assisted Carlos Queiroz at Real Madrid. At the end of the campaign, after the team lost a considerable advantage on the table to be finally surpassed by Valencia, Barcelona and Deportivo de La Coruña, the pair was sacked, and the latter returned to his assistant position in Manchester United.

Sporting CP

Peseiro signed with Sporting CP for 2004–05. After collecting three losses and two draws in his first nine games in charge, the side eventually finished in third place with 61 points, four behind champions Benfica; additionally, he coached the team to a runner-up run in the UEFA Cup after disposing of the likes of Feyenoord, Middlesbrough and Newcastle United. The final was played at the Estádio José Alvalade, and after a 1–0 lead at half-time the hosts eventually succumbed to CSKA Moscow 3–1. At the start of the 2005–06 season, the Lions were ousted from the UEFA Champions League by Udinese, and after being relegated to the UEFA Cup they were immediately knocked out by Halmstad 4–4 on aggregate after a 2–3 home loss. On 16 October 2005, following a 0–1 home defeat to Académica de Coimbra that saw…

Nacional

Segunda Divisão: 1999–00 AF Madeira Cup: 2001–02 Sporting CP

UEFA Cup runner-up: 2004–05 Braga

Taça da Liga: 2012–13 Al Ahly

Egyptian Premier League: 2015–16 Porto

Taça de Portugal runner-up: 2015–16 Nigeria

Africa Cup of Nations runner-up: 2023 Orders

Member of the Order of the Niger