He had the ability to learn foreign languages very easily: Who is Jose Mourinho?

The son of Portuguese goalkeeper Félix Mourinho, Jose Mourinho started his football career as a player. However, when he was not satisfied with his career, he decided to become a coach.

By Stephen McWright Published on 20 Aralık 2022 : 13:09.
He had the ability to learn foreign languages very easily: Who is Jose Mourinho?

José Mário dos Santos Félix Mourinho (born 26 January 1963; Setúbal) is a Portuguese coach and former football player. He coaches AS Roma, one of the Serie A teams.

Born on January 26, 1963, in Setubal, Portugal, Jose Mourinho is the son of Portuguese goalkeeper Jose Felix Mourinho. His mother, Maria Julia Mourinho, is a primary school teacher, and in his childhood, he constantly encouraged Jose Mourinho to be a successful and competitive child. He had an extremely popular childhood. One of the most important characteristics of Jose, who is not a very successful student in his classes, is his ability to learn languages. Years later, when he took over as Inter's manager, he said at his first press conference, "I will learn Italian in 3 weeks!" He will astonish all members of the press.

CAN'T PLAY FOOTBALL

Having dreamed of becoming a football player by following his father's path, Jose played in Belenenses, Sesimbra, and Rio Ave teams where his father was coaching. However, he never reached the level of professionalism because he did not have enough features to be a football player. Thereupon, Jose, who turned to coach, enrolled in the Sports Sciences academy of the Lisbon Technical University despite all his mother's objections and completed his 5-year education period and received a physical education diploma. He first worked as a coach at a school, and later as a coach in the youth team of Setubal, the team of his hometown.

BARCELONA REVENGE

The offer to Jose Mourinho that started the adventure that changed his life and perhaps brought him to today came in 1992. Bobby Robson, who took over Sporting Lisbon, recruited him as an assistant coach. With his talent and personality, he soon won the respect and love of Boby Robson. So much so that after Robson Sporting he went to Porto and then to Barcelona, and he took Jose Mourinho with him. Mourinho, who learned Catalan in a short time, worked as Robson's assistant and translator here. Years later, he would take his revenge on the Barcelona community, who referred to him as "He's just a translator", referring to this period, after eliminating them in the Champions League semi-finals with Inter, raising his index finger to the sky and saluting the fans at the Nou Camp.

PORTO

Mourinho also assisted Van Gaal in Barcelona after Robson. During this time, he won 2 championships and went to Benfica as an assistant to Jupp Henyckess. However, distraught over the selection of Jesualdo Fereira instead of him as the head coach, Mourinho went to Newcastle United just a week later as Boby Robson's assistant. The first team that Jose Mourinho coached alone was Leiria, which he coached in January 2001. After serving here for only 1 year, he became the head of Porto at halftime. Drawing a successful graphic in this period, Porto finished the league in 3rd place. A very ambitious exit came from Mourinho, who was debating whether he would continue in this period: "We are champions next year!"

Rolling up his sleeves for the next season, Mourinho parted ways with some players, asked for the transfer of some players, and recalled some players on loan. A great lesson awaited those who thought that Porto's chances of winning the championship were very low, as none of the players joining the team could be glamorous stars. At the end of the season, Porto had 86 points with 27 wins, 5 draws, and 2 losses, becoming the champion 11 points ahead of their closest rival Benfica. This was the highest point scored in a season in Porto's history. Moreover, Porto won not only the league but also the Portuguese cup and UEFA cup. Losing the UEFA Super Cup to Milan by bowing to Shevchenko's goal, Porto would now appear in the Champions League in the new season.

Porto started the Champions League perfectly. Mourinho's students, who overthrew all their opponents one by one, also managed to beat Manchester United in the final. Porto won the Champions League after the UEFA Cup. Now the giant clubs of Europe were after Jose Mourinho.

CHELSEA

He became head of Chelsea in June 2004. Before starting his career at Chelsea, Chelsea's Russian boss, Roman Abramovich, said, "Only money is involved in the club's business. Great success does not come with big money." He was making £4.2m in his first year at Chelsea and £5.2m in his second year. This was the highest amount paid to a coach. When asked about this issue at a press conference, he said, "Please don't ask questions about the money I get. I'm the European champion and I'm the best coach in the world, I'm a special person". He made Chelsea champions in 2005 by breaking a Premier League record with 95 points.

Chelsea did not lose the title to anyone the following season. However, Shevchenko, who came to Chelsea as the most expensive transfer in Premier League history, scored 4 goals in 14 games, and Mourinho began to sit him as a substitute. Abramovich wanted him to be played. This incident caused a rift between the two and Abramovic brought Israeli coach Avraham Grant over Mourinho as 'Football Director'. After a while, Mourinho had to leave Chelsea, where he won 6 trophies in 3 years.

INTER

He took over as Inter's manager in 2008. Mourinho won his first Serie A championship with Inter in 2009; one season later he won both Serie A, Italian Cup, and the Champions League. The name Real Madrid was on the agenda for Mourinho, who won the first Champions League in Inter's history. During this period, according to a survey conducted by the Spanish newspaper Marca among Real Madrid fans, 78% of Real Madrid fans did not want to see Jose Mourinho as the head of the team.

REAL MADRID

However, for Galacticos, who wanted to somehow end the Barcelona hegemony that has reigned in Spain in recent years, there was no choice but to put Jose Mourinho, the best coach in the world, in charge of the team. In his first year, Mourinho's team, who finished second in La Liga, managed to win the Copa del Rey, the Spanish cup. Mourinho, in his second year, transferred two more Turkish players. The two main players of the Turkish national team, playmaker Nuri Şahin (€10 million) and midfielder Hamit Altıntop, whose contract with Bayern Munich expired, transferred. Other signings were Portuguese Left-Back Fábio Coentrão (€36m), French defender Raphaël Varane (€10m), and Spanish midfielder José María Callejón (€5.5m). After the 2011-2012 season, Real Madrid extended its contract with Jose Mourinho until 2016. However, Mourinho resigned from his post on May 20, 2013.

CHELSEA 2nd TERM

Jose Mourinho, who coached Real Madrid for two seasons, signed a 4-year contract with Chelsea before the 2013-14 season. On June 3, 2013, Chelsea announced on their official website that they had signed a 4-year contract with Jose Mourinho.

Although he won the championship here in his second season, things did not go well in his third season and Chelsea management announced that they had parted ways with Mourinho before the first half of the league was completed.

MANU

He signed a 3-year contract with Manchester United on 27 May 2016. One of his first actions was to bring former player Zlatan Ibrahimović to the team. He won 1 FA Community Shield, 1 EFL Cup and 1 UEFA Europa League championship, but the team's situation was still not considered sufficient and he was fired by the management in 2018. Mourinho's troubles with many football players led by Paul Pogba also played an important role in his dismissal. Mourinho, who left Manchester United, was away from coaching for about 1.5 years.

Tottenham Hotspur

He signed with Tottenham Hotspur on 20 November 2019. He was dismissed from his post on April 19, 2021.

Rome

Starting from the 2021-22 season, he started to coach the Serie A team, Rome.