Reports suggest that Fernando Santos is set to leave his role as Portugal after they got dumped out of the World Cup by Morocco
According to several sources, Portugal coach Fernando Santos, who oversaw the country’s first-ever trophies, will leave his position immediately following Portugal’s exit from the 2022 World Cup.
Portugal failed to advance past the quarterfinals in Qatar, and Santos has paid the price for failing to guide his team past the last eight.
Reports from reliable sources
There have been no official announcements from the Portuguese FA, but trusted sources like Fabrizio Romano have confirmed that the coach will no longer be in charge of the national team.
The 68-year-old tactician has been in charge of Portugal since 2014, taking over from Paulo Bento, who was dumped out of the 2014 World Cup in the group stage.
Santos oversaw the most successful period in the Portuguese national team’s history, with the team winning the 2016 European Championships, the first trophy in Portugal’s history, and then following that up with the UEFA Nations League title in 2019.
Santos and the team have fallen on hard times in recent years, and he has been under pressure since the 2020 Euros, where Portugal exited in the round of 16, and the World Cup was supposed to be a return to good times with a talented Portugal team.
However, a controversy-filled quarterfinal exit was the last thing the team needed and it looks like Santos has not survived the failure.
Next in line for Portugal
All the signs point to current Roma coach Jose Mourinho being the next in line for the Portugal job, but the national team will have to be really convincing to convince Mourinho to leave his current Roma project in his second season.
Mourinho is the foremost Portuguese manager in the world and has previously expressed his interest in coaching the national team, but has also previously turned down an opportunity to coach them.
Pulse
