Jose Mourinho
Some call him arrogant, others call him confident. Either way, Mourinho spews enough brash comments and has enough swagger to secure a spot in the spotlight. He doesn't just talk the talk, though; he's done his share of walking, managing FC Porto to the top of the Champions League in 2004 and, in a more profiled job, leading Chelsea to their first English Premiership title in 50 years, in 2005.
After inheriting what was supposed to be a listless club, Mourinho coached Porto to League, Cup and UEFA Championships in 2003, and then to an once-unfathomable Champions League title in 2004.
Jose Mourinho (José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix) was born on 26 January 1963 in Setubal, Portugal. His father, Felix Mourinho kept goal for Portugal.
Although Jose Mourinho desired to be a footballer, it became clear to him that he did not have sufficient talent and at 23, at the prompting of his mother, he signed up for business school. Mourinho attended for just one day, and, instead, joined a physical education college.
It proved an important decision, paving the way to his current post as manager and coach of Chelsea.
From 1990 to 1992 Jose Morinho was a fitness trainer at various clubs and assistant coach at Estrela Amadora. He then got what proved a big breakthrough when he was appointed Bobby Robson's translator at Sporting Lisbon. Robson's respect for Mourinho meant that Robson took Mourinho with him on his moves to Porto, where they won two league titles in three years; and Barcelona, where Mourinho took the role of assistant coach.
When Robson left Barcelona, Mourinho stayed on under Louis van Gaal. Mourinho has written that that while Robson taught him how to motivate players, it was Van Gaal that taught him the importance of preparation and organised defence.
In 2000 Mourinho became coach at Benfica but only stayed nine months before joining Uniao de Leiria, where he took them into the top five.
In January 2002 Jose Mourinho joined Porto where he enjoyed incredible success.
In their first season, 2002/2003, under Mourinho's leadership, Porto won the triple of domestic League and Cup and Uefa Cup titles. The following year he went one better: not just winning the Portuguese League but also the coveted Champions League.
Immediately after that, on 2 June 2004, Jose Mourinho joined Chelsea on a three-year contract, just two days after Claudio Ranieri's dismissal from Chelsea.
In an early press conference, it became clear that Mourinho was not an ordinary coach. He told the media:
"We have top players, and I'm sorry I'm a bit arrogant, we have a top manager.
"I am the European champion. I think I am special."
Mourinho's playing career consisted of a few generally unsuccessful spells at small clubs. His clear aptitude was his impressive managing and organisational ability and from an early age he prepared match reports and dossiers for his father's teams. He also has a degree in Physical Education, specialising in sports methodology and worked as a high school coach.
After low-key backroom jobs at Estrela da Amadora and his hometown club Vitória de Setúbal in the early 1990s, Mourinho soon earned the nickname Tradutor (translator), when he worked with Sir Bobby Robson as his translator (technically his interpreter) at both Sporting Lisbon and then F.C. Porto.
He then followed Robson to FC Barcelona in 1996 where he learned Catalan. When Robson left for PSV, Mourinho stayed at Barcalona and worked with Robson's replacement, Dutch coach Louis van Gaal. Mourinho's undoubted confidence and personality helped him get beyond his original role, as he began to participate actively in coaching sessions and management meetings. Eventually, Mourinho coached FC Barcelona B.
Sport Lisboa e Benfica and União de Leiria
In 2000 his chance of becoming a manager finally arrived when he was selected to replace Jupp Heynckes at Lisbon side Benfica after the fourth week of the Portuguese Liga. Mourinho picked Carlos Mozer, a retired but still highly respected Benfica defender, to be his assistant.
However, while the duo was popular, especially after a 3-0 win against fierce rivals Sporting, Benfica's election turned against club president João Vale e Azevedo, and the newly-elected Manuel Vilarinho already had another coach waiting on the wings, Toni - a legend for Benfica's fans. Although Vilarinho had no intention of firing him immediately, Mourinho decided to ask for an extension to his contract in the middle of the season. When the president refused, Mourinho quit Benfica (after just nine games in charge). Vilarinho later said in an interview that if Mourinho had won the championship, he would have extended his contract.
The next season, 2001-02, Mourinho worked for unfashionable mid-tablers União de Leiria, where the club climbed as high as the fourth place.
F.C. Porto
He was then hand-picked in January 2002 by FCP to replace Octávio Machado as the manager of the badly-motivated and unhappy team, which was already out of contention for the league title and was on the verge of not qualifying for any European competition. Mourinho guided the team to third place that year after a strong 15-game run (WDL 11-2-2) and gave the promise of "making FCP champions next year".
He quickly identified several key players whom he saw as the backbone of what he believed would be a perfect FCP team: Baía, Ricardo Carvalho, Costinha, Deco, Dmitri Alenichev and Postiga. He recalled captain Jorge Costa after a six-month loan to Charlton Athletic (after a dispute with Machado). The signings from other clubs included Nuno Valente and Derlei from Leiria, Paulo Ferreira from Vitória Setúbal, Pedro Emanuel from Boavista FC, and Edgaras Jankauskas and Maniche who had been out of contract at Benfica, the latter after a season in the reserve.
During the pre-season, Mourinho put on the club website detailed reports on the team training. The reports were filled with formal vocabulary, as, for instance, he referred to a 20km jog as an extended aerobic exercise. While they attracted scorn for the pretentiousness, others praised the innovation and the scientific approach to the old-fashioned training methods practiced in Portugal. One of the key aspects in Mourinho-era FCP was the pressurising play, which started at the offensive line, dubbed "pressão alta" ("high pressure"). The physical and combative abilities of defenders and midfielders such as Derlei, Maniche and Deco allowed FCP to apply pressure from the offensive lines and forced the opponents either to concede the ball or try longer passes.
In 2003, Mourinho won his first Super Liga with a 27-5-2 WDL record, 11 points clear of Benfica, the team he quit two years earlier. The total of 86 points out of the possible maximum of 102 was a Portuguese record since the rule of three points per win was introduced, beating the previous record of 85 points set by FCP in their 1996/97 season. Mourinho also won the Portuguese Cup (against former club Leiria) and the UEFA Cup final against Celtic in Seville, both in May 2003.
The following season witnessed further successes, as while perhaps not playing as impressively, FCP scooped their 20th Super Liga title. The club pulled off a perfect home record, an eight-points advantage, and an unbeaten run that only ended against Gil Vicente FC. They secured the title five weeks before the end of the season, while heavily involved in the Champions League at the same time. FCP lost the Portuguese Cup final to Benfica in May 2004, but two weeks later Mourinho won the ultimate prize: the Champions League, with an emphatic 3-0 win over Monaco in the Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. The club had eliminated Manchester United, Olympique Lyonnais and Deportivo de La Coruña and saw only one defeat against Real Madrid in the group round.
Porto to Chelsea
Whilst still at FCP, Mourinho was linked with several top European clubs, including Liverpool and Chelsea. Many people, especially in Portugal, questioned the legality of alleged contract discussions with several clubs, but no wrongdoing was officially proved, and no charges were brought. Mourinho finally moved to Chelsea in June 2004.
In the press conference on joining the English side, Mourinho claimed to be "a special one", a prime example of his unreserved self-belief. He became one of the highest paid managers in football, as the salary for Chelsea was reported to be in the €300,000 range and was subsequently raised to an undisclosed amount.
Chelsea
Mourinho went straight to work, recruiting his backroom staff from Porto, consisting of assistant manager Baltemar Brito, fitness coach Rui Faria, chief scout Andre Villas and goalkeeping coach Silvino Louro. He retained the services of Steve Clarke, a long-serving former player at Chelsea and who had also performed an assistant managerial-type job under previous managers at the club. In terms of spending, Mourinho carried on where his predecessor Claudio Ranieri left off, and spent in excess of £70m on stars such as Tiago Mendes (£10million) from Benfica, Didier Drogba (£24million) from Olympique Marseille, Mateja Kezman (£5.4million) from PSV Eindhoven and FC Porto pair Ricardo Carvalho (£19.8million) and Paulo Ferreira (£13.3million)
Under Mourinho, Chelsea built on the potential developed in the previous season. The two solid English players summed up the strength of the squad: defender John Terry, and midfielder Frank Lampard. By early December, they were at the top of the Premiership table and reached the knock-out stages of the Champions League. On 27 February 2005, Mourinho led Chelsea to the League Cup trophy in Cardiff, Wales, dramatically beating Liverpool 3-2 after extra time. Towards the end of the match, Mourinho was escorted from the touchline for allegedly inciting Liverpool fans following Chelsea's equaliser. On 30 April 2005, Chelsea secured the club's first top-flight domestic title in 50 years with a 2-0 victory against Bolton. However, he failed to achieve back-to-back Champions League successes when Chelsea were knocked out of the competition, by a controversial goal, three days later in the semi-finals by eventual winners Liverpool.
On 31 March 2005 Mourinho was handed a two-match suspension and a fine by UEFA for bringing the game into disrepute after he had criticised referee Anders Frisk following a Champions League tie against FC Barcelona. He argued that a member of his staff saw Frisk talking with Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard at half-time in breach of the rules and that the apparent bias of the referee prompted him to send Drogba off when Chelsea were leading 1-0.Frisk subsequently retired when he allegedly came under threats to his life after the match. As it was later revealed, Rijkaard had tried to converse with Frisk at half-time - the referee's own match report mentioned the incident - but that Frisk sent him away. The episode led the UEFA referee's chief, Volker Roth, to describe the manager as an "enemy of football," although UEFA distanced themselves from the comment.
On 2 June 2005, he was fined £200,000 for his part in the meeting with Arsenal full-back Ashley Cole in January 2005 in breach of the Premier League rules. In August 2005 his fine was reduced to £75,000 after a hearing. In late 2005, Mourinho labelled Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger a 'voyeur' after being irked at what he saw as the latter's apparent obsession with Chelsea. The episode eventually died down and the two have since made peace.
On April 29, 2006, after topping the table for nearly all season, Chelsea beat rivals Manchester United 3-0 to win their second consecutive Premiership title and Mourinho's fourth domestic title in a row. After the presentation of his championship medal, Mourinho went to the Matthew Harding end of Stamford Bridge and threw his medal and blazer into the crowd. He was awarded a second medal within minutes and he threw that into the crowd, too. He stated that because the medal was exactly the same as the one he had received a year earlier, he did not need another and wanted to reward the crowd for their support. The items were promptly listed on eBay
After a league match with Everton on December 17th, 2006, Mourinho branded Andrew Johnson "untrustworthy" following a challenge with Chelsea keeper Hilário. Everton issued a statement threatening legal action and calling on Mourinho to apologise,which he has since done.
On 13 January 2006, The Straits Times reported that Mourinho intended to leave Chelsea at the end of the 2006-7 season, due to disappointment with the team's performance and a power struggle with Frank Arnesen. Mourinho recently cleared all doubts regarding his future at Stamford Bridge, stating that there would only be two ways for him to leave Chelsea: if Chelsea do not offer him a new contract in June 2010, and if Chelsea sacks him.
On February 25, 2007, Mourinho won the League Cup with Chelsea for the second time in three seasons, beating Arsenal 2-1 at the Millennium Stadium.Personal life
In 1989, he married Matilde, whom he had known since childhood. They have two children: Matilde, who is 9 years old and José Jr., who is 6 years old.
Widely known for his strong personality, Mourinho features in advertisement campaigns in Europe for Samsung, American Express, and other corporations. In Portugal, where his official biography was a best-seller, he's a national celebrity, endorsing numerous products and campaigns.
José Mourinho has also been a part of social initiatives in many parts of the world, such as youth projects for Israeli and Palestinian children and children in his native country.