Paulo Sousa - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Paulo Manuel Carvalho de Sousa, CavIH (ˈpawlu ˈsowzɐ; born 30 August 1970) is a retired Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

footballer who played as a defensive midfielder, and a current manager

Coach (sport)

In sports, a coach is an individual involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople.-Staff:...

.

He was a member of the “Portuguese Golden Generation”. Starting his career at Benfica, he also represented Sporting in his country, in a five-year career, and appeared with the national team

Portugal national football team

The Portugal national football team represents Portugal in association football and is controlled by the Portuguese Football Federation, the governing body for football in Portugal. Portugal's home ground is Estádio Nacional in Oeiras, and their head coach is Paulo Bento...

in one World Cup

FIFA World Cup

The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...

and two European Championships

UEFA European Football Championship

The UEFA European Football Championship is the main football competition of the men's national football teams governed by UEFA . Held every four years since 1960, in the even-numbered year between World Cup tournaments, it was originally called the UEFA European Nations Cup, changing to the current...

, gaining more than 50 caps

Cap (sport)

In sports, a cap is a metaphorical term for a player's appearance on a select team, such as a national team. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of association football...

in 11 years.

From there onwards, Sousa namely played in Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

and in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, twice winning the UEFA Champions League

UEFA Champions League

The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...

, with and Borussia Dortmund

Borussia Dortmund

Ballspielverein Borussia Dortmund, commonly BVB, are a German sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. Dortmund are one of the most successful clubs in German football history. Borussia Dortmund play in the Bundesliga, the top league of German football...

, his later career being severely hindered by injuries.

In the late 2000s, he took up coaching, managing several clubs in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

and Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

Portugal

Born in Viseu

Viseu

Viseu is both a city and a municipality in the Dão-Lafões Subregion of Centro Region, Portugal. The municipality, with an area of 507.1 km², has a population of 99,593 , and the city proper has 47,250...

, Sousa started playing professionally for S.L. Benfica, being a starter from an early age, winning the national championship in 1991 and the domestic cup

Taça de Portugal

The Taça de Portugal is the main Portuguese national football knock-out competition. The tournament has been officially known as the Taça de Portugal Millennium since 2008, due to its sponsorship by Portuguese private bank Millennium BCP. It has occurred on a yearly basis since 1938 and is...

two seasons later.

Later that summer, Sousa signed, together with teammate António Pacheco

António Pacheco

António Manuel Pacheco Domingos , known as Pacheco, is a retired Portuguese footballer who played as a left winger.-External links:**...

, for Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

neighbours Sporting Clube de Portugal. After a single season where he partnered Luís Figo

Luís Figo

Luís Filipe Madeira Caeiro Figo, OIH, is a Portuguese former international footballer. He played as a midfielder for Sporting CP, FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Internazionale, during a career which spanned over a period of 20 years. He retired from football on 31 May 2009...

and Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

n Krassimir Balakov

Krassimir Balakov

Krasimir Genchev Balakov is a former Bulgarian footballer and a current manager of Croatian club Hajduk Split. He was a key member of the Bulgarian national team that finished fourth in the 1994 FIFA World Cup...

in midfield, as the Lions came out empty in silverware, he moved to Juventus FC

Juventus F.C.

Juventus Football Club S.p.A. , commonly referred to as Juventus and colloquially as Juve , are a professional Italian association football club based in Turin, Piedmont...

Abroad

Sousa played for the Turin

Turin

Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...

side for two seasons, leading it to the 1995–96 UEFA Champions League

UEFA Champions League

title. He also won the previous year's Serie A

Serie A

Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...

, adding that year the domestic cup and supercups

1995 Supercoppa Italiana

The 1995 Supercoppa Italiana was a match contested by Juventus, the Serie A 1994-95 winner, Parma, the Coppa Italia 1994-95 runner-up, since Juventus had won both trophies in the 1994-95 season....

, also finishing as runner-up in the UEFA Cup.

Sousa then moved to Germany

Germany

to play for Borussia Dortmund

Borussia Dortmund

, where he repeated the Champions League triumph the following season. The final was incidentally against his former side, Juventus. Although he appeared in that game

1997 UEFA Champions League Final

The 1997 UEFA Champions League Final was a football match won 3-1 by Borussia Dortmund of Germany against Juventus from Italy.-Venue, date and colours:The event took place at the Olympiastadion in Munich on 28 May 1997....

, his Dortmund spell was plagued with injuries, which followed him the remainder of his career.

Sousa moved from Dortmund back to Italy to play for F.C. Internazionale Milano

F.C. Internazionale Milano

Football Club Internazionale Milano, often referred to as Internazionale or simply Inter, is a professional Italian football club based in Milan, Italy. Outside Italy, the club is often called Inter Milan. They are the reigning FIFA Club World champions and Coppa Italia holders.Inter have always...

, and eventually retired in the 2002 summer at the age of 31, after playing briefly for Parma FC

Parma F.C.

Parma Football Club , commonly referred to as just Parma, is an Italian professional football club based in Parma, Emilia–Romagna that will compete in Serie A for the 2011–12 season, having finished in twelfth position last season. Founded as Verdi Foot Ball Club in July 1913, the club changed its...

, Panathinaikos FC and RCD Espanyol

RCD Espanyol

Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona is a sports club based in Barcelona, Spain. It is best known for its football team. Espanyol currently play in the Estadi Cornellà-El Prat with seats for 40,500 spectators. It was inaugurated on 2 August 2009...

International career

A member of the Portugal squad that won the 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship, Sousa went on to earn 51 caps for the senior national team

Portugal national football team

, his international debut coming on 16 January 1991, in a 1–1 friendly against Spain

Spain national football team

The Spain national football team represents Spain in international association football and is controlled by the Royal Spanish Football Federation, the governing body for football in Spain. The current head coach is Vicente del Bosque...

.

He played for his country at UEFA Euro 1996 and 2000, and was a squad member at the 2002 FIFA World Cup

2002 FIFA World Cup

The 2002 FIFA World Cup was the 17th staging of the FIFA World Cup, held in South Korea and Japan from 31 May to 30 June. It was also the first World Cup held in Asia, and the last in which the golden goal rule was implemented. Brazil won the tournament for a record fifth time, beating Germany 2–0...

, but did not play a single match. His last appearance came shortly before the latter competition, a friendly 2–0 win over China.

Portuguese national team

Sousa began his coaching

Coach (sport)

In sports, a coach is an individual involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople.-Staff:...

career by joining the coaching staff of the Portuguese national team, taking the helm of the under-15s, and in the summer of 2008 was appointed assistant to first-team coach Carlos Queiroz

Carlos Queiroz

Carlos Manuel Brito Leal Queiroz ComIH is a Portuguese football manager. He is currently the manager of the Iran national football team. A former manager of Real Madrid, and Portugal national football team, he has also twice been Alex Ferguson's assistant manager at English club Manchester...

, his former coach at Sporting and the Portuguese youths.

Queens Park Rangers

On 19 November 2008, Sousa was appointed head coach of Championship

Football League Championship

The Football League Championship is the highest division of The Football League and second-highest division overall in the English football league system after the Premier League...

team Queens Park Rangers

Queens Park Rangers F.C.

Queens Park Rangers Football Club is an English professional football club, based in White City, Hammersmith and Fulham, west London. As the 2010-11 Football League Championship champions, they now play in the top tier of English football the Premier League, for the first time in 15 years...

. However, on 9 April 2009, he was sacked, as the club claimed he had divulged sensitive information without permission from the club hierarchy, namely Dexter Blackstock

Dexter Blackstock

Dexter Anthony Titus Blackstock is an English footballer who currently plays for Nottingham Forest in the Football League Championship. He plays as a centre-forward.-Southampton:...

's loan move to Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest F.C.

Nottingham Forest Football Club is an English Association Football club based in West Bridgford, Nottingham, that plays in the Football League Championship...

having been agreed without his knowledge.

Swansea City

Following Roberto Martínez

Roberto Martínez

Roberto Martínez Montoliú is a Spanish former professional footballer and is currently manager of Wigan Athletic.Martínez played as a midfielder and began his career at lower league Spanish side CF Balaguer. Two years later he went to English Division Three side Wigan Athletic...

's move to Wigan Athletic

Wigan Athletic F.C.

Wigan Athletic Football Club is an English Premier League Association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, having been promoted from the Championship in 2005. Wigan's current spell in the Premier League is the only top flight run in the club's history.They have played at the DW...

, Sousa was offered the role as Swansea City

Swansea City A.F.C.

Swansea City Association Football Club are a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. One of the most successful clubs in Welsh football, it has won 10 Welsh Cups and led the English Football League First Division in December 1981, before finishing the season in 6th position...

manager on 18 June 2009. He verbally accepted the deal, signing a three-year contract, and was officially appointed on the 23rd.

During the league campaign, Sousa led Swansea to its highest league finish for 27 years (7th), just outside the play-offs. On 4 July 2010, he departed the club by mutual consent, set to take the vacant managerial post at Leicester City

Leicester City F.C.

Leicester City Football Club , also known as The Foxes, is an English professional football club based at the King Power Stadium in Leicester...

Leicester City

On 7 July 2010, Sousa became the new manager of Leicester City. Club owner Milan Mandarić

Milan Mandaric

Milan Mandarić is a Serbian-American business tycoon who has owned a string of successful businesses and football clubs including Portsmouth, Leicester City and Sheffield Wednesday. He currently is the chairman of Sheffield Wednesday...

stated that he was delighted to "acquire a manager of such great calibre", adding he was "the right man to take our club forward".

On 1 October, after less than three months in charge, Sousa was fired by Leicester, after a poor start to the season

2010–11 Football League

The Football League 2010–11, called the Npower Football League, was the 111th completed season of the Football League. It began in August 2010 and concluded in May 2011, with the promotion play-off finals....

, with the team having won only once in his first nine league games.

Videoton

On 15 May 2011, Sousa signed a three-year contract with newly-crowned

2010–11 Nemzeti Bajnokság I

The 2010–11 Nemzeti Bajnokság I, also known as NB I, is the 112th season of top-tier football in Hungary. The league is officially named Monicomp Liga for sponsorship reasons. The season began on 30 July 2010 and will end on 27 May 2011...

Hungarian

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

champions Videoton FC

Videoton FC

Videoton FC is a Hungarian professional football club based in Székesfehérvár, playing in the Hungarian League as of 2011. Videoton has won one Hungarian League title, one Hungarian Cup title, two Hungarian League Cup titles and one Hungarian Super Cup title...

. He made his official debut in the Champions League qualifying round

2011–12 UEFA Champions League

The 2011–12 UEFA Champions League is the 57th season of the European Cup, Europe's premier football tournament, and the 20th season in its current Champions League format. The final venue will be the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany...

against Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

's SK Sturm Graz

SK Sturm Graz

SK Sturm Graz is an Austrian association football club, based in Graz, Styria, playing in the Austrian Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1909 and the club colours are black and white....

, in a 0–2 away loss, followed by an insufficient 3–2 home win.

Club

|-
|1989/90||rowspan="4"|Benfica||rowspan="4"|Primeira Liga||2||0||||||||||||
|-
|1990/91||36||0||||||||||||
|-
|1991/92||24||1||||||||||||
|-
|1992/93||25||0||||||||||||
|-
|1993/94||Sporting||Primeira Liga||31||2||||||||||||

|-
|1994/95||rowspan="2"|Juventus

Juventus F.C.

Juventus Football Club S.p.A. , commonly referred to as Juventus and colloquially as Juve , are a professional Italian association football club based in Turin, Piedmont...

||rowspan="2"|Serie A

Serie A

||26||1||||||||||||
|-
|1995/96||28||0||||||||||||

|-
|1996/97||rowspan="2"|Borussia Dortmund

Borussia Dortmund

||rowspan="2"|Bundesliga

Fußball-Bundesliga

The Fußball-Bundesliga is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of Germany's football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is contested by 18 teams and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the 2. Bundesliga...

||11||1||||||||||||
|-
|1997/98||16||0||||||||||||

|-
|1997/98||rowspan="3"|Inter

F.C. Internazionale Milano

||rowspan="3"|Serie A

Serie A

||11||0||||||||||||
|-
|1998/99||10||0||||||||||||
|-
|1999/00||10||0||||||||||||
|-
|1999/00||Parma

Parma F.C.

||Serie A

Serie A

||8||0||||||||||||

|-
|2000/01||rowspan="2"|Panathinaikos||rowspan="2"|Alpha Ethniki||6||0||||||||||||
|-
|2001/02||4||0||||||||||||

|-
|2001/02||Espanyol

RCD Espanyol

||La Liga

La Liga

The Primera División of the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional , commonly known as La Liga or, for sponsorship reasons, Liga BBVA since 2008, is the top professional association football division of the Spanish football league system...

||9||0||||||||||||
118||3||||||||||||
93||1||||||||||||
27||1||||||||||||
10||0||||||||||||
9||0||||||||||||
257||5||||||||||||
|}

International

|-
|1991||5||0
|-
|1992||0||0
|-
|1993||8||0
|-
|1994||5||0
|-
|1995||6||0
|-
|1996||5||0
|-
|1997||5||0
|-
|1998||2||0
|-
|1999||8||0
|-
|2000||5||0
|-
|2001||2||0
|-
|2002||1||0
|-
!Total||52||0
|}

Club

Benfica:

Portuguese League: 1990–91
Portuguese Cup
Taça de Portugal
The Taça de Portugal is the main Portuguese national football knock-out competition. The tournament has been officially known as the Taça de Portugal Millennium since 2008, due to its sponsorship by Portuguese private bank Millennium BCP. It has occurred on a yearly basis since 1938 and is...

: 1992–93

Juventus:

UEFA Champions League
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...

: 1995–96
Italian League
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...

: 1994–95
Italian Cup
Coppa Italia
The Coppa Italia is an Italian football annual cup competition. Its first edition was held in 1922, but the second champions were not crowned until 1936. Roma and Juventus lead the way with nine wins. Roma has contested more finals, 16, while Torino and Juventus follow with 13...

: 1994–95
Italian Supercup
Supercoppa Italiana
The Supercoppa Italiana is a pre-season football competition held the week before the season begins in Italy every year. It is contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season, as a curtain raiser to the new season. It is usually played at the home of the Serie A...

: 1995
1995 Supercoppa Italiana
The 1995 Supercoppa Italiana was a match contested by Juventus, the Serie A 1994-95 winner, Parma, the Coppa Italia 1994-95 runner-up, since Juventus had won both trophies in the 1994-95 season....

Borussia Dortmund

UEFA Champions League
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...

: 1996–97
Intercontinental Cup
Intercontinental Cup (football)
The European/South American Cup, commonly referred to as the World Club Championship, Intercontinental Cup or Toyota Cup, was a football competition endorsed by UEFA and CONMEBOL, contested between the winners of the European Cup and the South American Copa Libertadores...

: 1997
1997 Intercontinental Cup
The 1997 Intercontinental Cup was a football match played on 2 December 1997 between Borussia Dortmund, winners of the 1996-97 UEFA Champions League, and Cruzeiro, winners of the 1997 Copa Libertadores. The match was played at the neutral venue of the National Stadium in Tokyo in front of 46,953 fans...
German Supercup
DFB-Ligapokal
The DFB-Ligapokal, or German League Cup, was a German football competition that took place before the start of the Bundesliga season, featuring the top five teams of the previous Fußball-Bundesliga season and the winners of the DFB-Pokal in Germany...

: 1996

Country

FIFA U-20 World Cup
FIFA U-20 World Cup
The FIFA U-20 World Cup, until 2005 known as the FIFA World Youth Championship, is the world championship of football for male players under the age of 20 and is organized by Fédération Internationale de Football Association...

: 1989
UEFA European Football Championship
UEFA European Football Championship
The UEFA European Football Championship is the main football competition of the men's national football teams governed by UEFA . Held every four years since 1960, in the even-numbered year between World Cup tournaments, it was originally called the UEFA European Nations Cup, changing to the current...

: Third-place 2000

Managerial stats

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
Team	Nat	From	To	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W%
Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers F.C. Queens Park Rangers Football Club is an English professional football club, based in White City, Hammersmith and Fulham, west London. As the 2010-11 Football League Championship champions, they now play in the top tier of English football the Premier League, for the first time in 15 years...		19 November 2008	9 April 2009
Swansea City Swansea City A.F.C. Swansea City Association Football Club are a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. One of the most successful clubs in Welsh football, it has won 10 Welsh Cups and led the English Football League First Division in December 1981, before finishing the season in 6th position...		23 June 2009	4 July 2010
Leicester City Leicester City F.C. Leicester City Football Club , also known as The Foxes, is an English professional football club based at the King Power Stadium in Leicester...		7 July 2010	1 October 2010
Videoton Videoton FC Videoton FC is a Hungarian professional football club based in Székesfehérvár, playing in the Hungarian League as of 2011. Videoton has won one Hungarian League title, one Hungarian Cup title, two Hungarian League Cup titles and one Hungarian Super Cup title...		13 July 2011
Total

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.