Luís Carlos Batalha Freire (born 3 November 1985) is a Portuguese professional

football manager ''Football Manager'' (also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008) is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

, currently manager of

Rio Ave Rio Ave Futebol Clube, commonly known as Rio Ave (), is a Football in Portugal, Portuguese professional Association football, football club based in Vila do Conde, that competes in the Primeira Liga. The club is named after the Ave River, which ...

. Beginning as a manager in amateur football in his 20s, he won six promotions in his first eight seasons, including as champions of the Campeonato de Portugal with

Mafra Mafra is a Czech media group that publishes printed and internet media, headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic. It is a subsidiary of Agrofert holding conglomerate owned by trust of Andrej Babiš, the former Prime Minister of the Czech Republic. ...

in 2018. In 2020, he reached the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

with

Nacional Nacional, the Portuguese and Spanish word for "national", may refer to: Airlines * Nacional Transportes Aéreos, a Brazilian airline defunct in 2002 * Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Brazilian airline defunct in 1961 Bank * Banco Nacional, a ...

, and did the same with

two years later as champions of

Liga Portugal 2 The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal 2 SABSEG for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier Prim ...

Managerial career

Early career

Freire was born in

Ericeira Ericeira () is a civil parish and seaside community on the western coast of Portugal (in Mafra municipality, about 45km northwest of Lisbon) considered the surfing capital of Europe for being the only European spot among the World Surfing Reserves ...

Lisbon District Lisbon District ( pt, Distrito de Lisboa, ) is a district located along the western coast of Portugal. The district capital is the city of Lisbon, which is also the national capital. From its creation until 1926, it included the area of the cur ...

. He played as a defender in the youth academy of

G.D.U. Ericeirense Grupo Desportivo União Ericeirense is a Portuguese association football club, founded in Ericeira, a small parish within Mafra, on 1 December 1921. The club plays in the second division of the Lisbon Football Association league, holding their ho ...

and

C.D. Mafra Clube Desportivo Mafra is a Portuguese football club, currently playing in the Liga Bwin. They are based in the town of Mafra and own Campo Doutor Mário Silveira stadium, but the games are played in Estádio Municipal de Mafra. Founded in 1965 ...

, but quit football when he began studying at the

University of Évora The University of Évora (''Universidade de Évora'') is a public university in Évora, Portugal. It is the second oldest university in the country, established in 1559 by the cardinal Henry, and receiving University status in April of the same ...

in 2005. While studying, Freire started training local athletes at Juventude. To gain visibility, he started scouting at Mafra,

Tondela Tondela () is a municipality in the central Portuguese subregion of Dão-Lafões. The population in 2011 was 28,946, in an area of 371.22 km². History Local writer and intellectual Amadeu Ferraz de Carvalho (1876–1951) wrote of the munic ...

, and then

Oriental The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the ...

, taking on assistant duties as well. Freire returned to university to study his

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

and started training his local side Ericeirense, as well as teaching on the side. When he received an offer to scout at

S.C. Covilhã Sporting Clube da Covilhã, commonly known as just Sporting da Covilhã, is Portuguese association football, football club from the city of Covilhã that plays in the second-tier Liga Portugal 2. The club was founded in 1923. Their nickname is the ...

, Ericeirense offered him a managerial position for the first time in his career. He managed to achieve promotion, and joined

C.A. Pêro Pinheiro Clube Atlético Pero Pinheiro is a Portugal, Portuguese sports club from Pero Pinheiro, Sintra. The men's football team plays in the Liga 3 (Portugal), Liga 3, the third tier of Portuguese football. History Pero Pinheiro also had a stint on the ...

where he was promoted again. Freire's record of four promotions in his first five seasons of senior management earned him the nicknames of "The Poor Man's

Vítor Oliveira Vítor Oliveira may refer to: * Vítor Oliveira (footballer, born 1953) Vítor Manuel Oliveira (17 November 195328 November 2020) was a Portuguese Association football, football midfielder and Manager (association football), manager. In a man ...

" (after a specialist in promotion to

) and "The Mourinho of Promotions". In 2017, he managed for the first time in the third-tier Campeonato de Portugal, winning promotion as champions with a 2–1 final win over

S.C. Farense Sporting Clube Farense, simply known as Farense, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Faro in the district of the same name and the region of Algarve. Founded in 1910, the club will play the 2021–22 season in the Liga Portugal ...

on 10 June 2018.

Estoril

The day after getting Mafra into

LigaPro The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal 2 SABSEG for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier Prim ...

, Freire left for

G.D. Estoril Praia Grupo Desportivo Estoril Praia (), commonly known as Estoril, is a Portuguese sports club from Estoril, Cascais, Lisbon. Founded on 17 May 1939, its football team currently plays in Primeira Liga and hold home games at the Estádio António Coimb ...

of that league, with the aim of reaching the top flight. On 29 July 2018, in his first match in professional football, his side beat Farense 2–0 away to reach the group stage of the

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual football club competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the Primeira Liga and LigaPro, the top two tier ...

; on his league debut on 11 August the team won 4–0 at home to

FC Porto B Futebol Clube do Porto B, commonly known as Porto B, is a Portuguese professional football team, which serves as the reserve side of FC Porto. They compete in the Liga Portugal 2, the second division of Portuguese football, and play their home ...

. He left on 21 January 2019 after a run of three losses and a draw.

Nacional

On 27 May 2019, Freire signed a one-year deal with

C.D. Nacional Clube Desportivo Nacional, commonly known as Nacional and sometimes Nacional da Madeira (), is a Portuguese football club based in Funchal, on the island of Madeira. Founded on 8 December 1910, it currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, Portug ...

, recently relegated to the second tier. The team were in first place when the season was abandoned prematurely due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, meaning Freire had a record of 6 promotions in his first 8 seasons as a manager. In

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, 34-year-old Freire was the youngest manager in that season of the Primeira Liga. Freire made his top-flight debut on 20 September in a 3–3 home draw with

Boavista FC Boavista Futebol Clube, commonly known as Boavista (), is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Porto. Founded on 1 August 1903 by British entrepreneurs and Portuguese textile workers (thus the "FC" being appended – the British way as oppos ...

. He left the club on 21 March 2021 after six consecutive defeats left them one point above the relegation zone.

Rio Ave

Freire returned to work on 29 June 2021, signing for newly relegated

Rio Ave F.C. Rio Ave Futebol Clube, commonly known as Rio Ave (), is a Portuguese professional football club based in Vila do Conde, that competes in the Primeira Liga. The club is named after the Ave River, which flows through the town and into the Atlanti ...

on a one-year deal. In his first season, he helped them bounce back as champions.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Mafra * Campeonato de Portugal: 2017–18 Rio Ave *

: 2021–22

References

External links

*
ZeroZero Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Freire, Luis 1985 births Living people People from Mafra, Portugal Portuguese football managers Portuguese footballers Primeira Liga managers Liga Portugal 2 managers G.D. Estoril Praia managers C.D. Nacional managers Rio Ave F.C. managers Association football defenders Sportspeople from Lisbon District