Who is Jorge Jesus, who has won 16 trophies in 13 different teams, has qualified for the Champions League 7 times so far, and has managed to skip the round in 5 of them?
Jorge Jesus was born on July 24, 1954, in Amadora, Portugal. The Portuguese, who played in teams such as Belenenses, Farense, and Benfica Castelo Branco in his football life, but could not achieve the success he wanted, managed to make a difference in his coaching career. Having worked in low-level teams in Portugal for a long time, Jesus made his name known to Europe with his performance in Braga, where he started his career in 2008.
Jorge Fernando Pinheiro de Jesus (born 24 July 1954) is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player, who is the manager of Saudi Pro League club Al Hilal. Jesus arrived at Istanbul on May 31, 2022, and toured the stadium on June 1, 2022. On June 2, Jesus was appointed as the manager of Fenerbahçe on a one-year deal. On 1 July 2023, Al-Hilal announced the reappointment of Jesus as their manager for the 2023–24 season. Jorge Jesus was originally reported to be a candidate for the vacant coaching position of Saudi Arabia prior to the appointment by Al-Hilal.
Braga, who managed to get out of the group in the UEFA Europa League (then the UEFA Cup) by completing Group E, which includes Milan, Wolfsburg, Portsmouth, and Heerenveen, in the 3rd place with 6 points, could not pass a tooth to PSG even though he overcame the Standard Liege obstacle.
Having made a name for himself in Europe with its low budget and finishing 5th in the league, the technical boss of the Red and Whites, Jesus, took over Benfica, one of the country's well-established teams, at the end of the season. The successful coach, who spent 6 years here and won 3 league championships, 5 Portuguese Cups, Portuguese Super Cup, showed success in playing the final for his team in the Europa League in the 2012/2013 season.
Jesus drew attention with his contributions to the players during the Benfica era; He brought many names such as Oblak, Matic, Witsel, Oblak, Bernardo Silva, David Luiz, Di Maria, Ramirez, Garay, Javi Garcia, Rodrigo, Salvio, Gaitan to European football. Benfica, on the other hand, filled its vault with heavy testimonials from these stars.
With 227 wins, 47 draws, and losses in 321 matches, Jesus, who made his mark among the legends of the club in the 6 years he spent, took a flash decision in 2015 and became the head of Benfica's arch-rival Sporting. At that time, the Portuguese press claimed that Benfica demanded a reduction in his salary due to his debts, but Jesus did not accept this and agreed to a high annual salary with Sporting.
While this decision of the Portuguese caused serious tensions between the two teams, Sporting announced Jesus on his Twitter page with a photo that read "Welcome home Jorge Jesus". Speaking after the signing ceremony, Jesus stated that he signed with the Başkent team and started a new period in his life.
Jesus, who spent 3 years in Sporting, won 2 trophies for the Green and Whites, even though he could not achieve victory in the league.
Finishing 2nd and 3rd place once in Sporting, Jesus won 1 Portuguese Cup and 1 Portuguese Super Cup to the Green and Whites. Unable to carry the success he experienced in the league at Benfica to Sporting, Jesus signed with Al Hilal, the Saudi Arabian team, after 3 years.
The Saudi Arabian team, which had a great period under the management of Jesus, got 15 wins, 4 draws, and 1 loss in 20 matches. The Portuguese, who achieved an average of 2.45 points in Al Hilal and won 1 Super Cup, took over the Brazilian team Flamengo with a radical decision.
Having achieved historical success in Flamengo, Jesus won 5 trophies in his short time with the Brazilian team.
The 67-year-old football man, who achieved great success here, brought Flamengo the Copa Libertadores, the Brazilian League Championship, the Brazilian Super Cup, the Guanabara Cup, and the Recopa Sudamericana. Jesus, who placed an embargo on cups in Brazil, where he worked between June 2019 and July 2020, returned to Benfica with a surprise decision in August 2020. The director, who could not reflect his success in his first term to his second term, remained in office for 1.5 seasons. (53 wins, 16 draws, and 14 losses)
The most important feature of the Portuguese is that he always works in teams where the pressure environment is high and that he can reach the trophies by coping with this pressure. Having a UEFA Pro License, Jesus achieved an average of 2.04 points by winning 516 wins in 834 matches during his coaching career.
He served as Fenerbahçe Technical Director in the 2022-2023 season. And finished the season second after Galatasaray. He won the Turkish Agriculture Cup at the beginning of Fenerbahce.