José Manuel Ferreira de Morais (born 27 July 1965) is a Portuguese professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and former player. He is the current manager of Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

club

Bodrum Bodrum () is a town and district of Muğla Province, Turkey. About 200 thousand people live in the district, which covers 650 km2 and includes the town. It is a port town at the entrance to the Gulf of Gökova. Known in ancient times as Hal ...

. Morais arrived at

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

in July 2009 to replace the departing

André Villas-Boas Luís André de Pina Cabral e Villas-Boas (; born 17 October 1977) is a Portuguese sports executive, and former professional Manager (association football), football manager, who is currently the List of FC Porto presidents, president of Port ...

, who took the head coaching position with Académica de Coimbra. Hired by fellow countryman

José Mourinho José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix (; born 26 January 1963) is a Portuguese professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player, who is currently the head coach of Süper Lig club Fenerba ...

, the two reportedly first met at Benfica in 2000. After head coach Mourinho terminated his contract with Inter, Morais followed Mourinho to

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

in June 2010. Similarly, he then followed Mourinho to Chelsea in June 2013 following the end of Mourinho's managerial spell with Real Madrid. He then managed in his own right in several countries, winning two

K League 1 The K League 1 () is a professional association football league in South Korea and the highest level of the South Korean football league system. The league is contested by twelve clubs. It is one of the most successful leagues in the Asian Foo ...

titles with Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in South Korea.

Playing career

Morais' playing career started at the União de Leiria in 1984. He stayed there for two seasons before moving to Dragões de Alferrarede in 1986, playing there for two years. His next stint at Atlético CP lasted only one year. In 1990, he went on loan to Praiense before finally retiring in

Penafiel Penafiel ( or ) is a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality and former bishopric (now a Latin Catholic titular see) in the Norte Region, Portugal, northern Portugal, Portuguese Porto District, district of Porto. Capital of the Tâmega Subregion ...

after the 1990–91 season.

Coaching career

Morais worked with the Benfica youth team among several football clubs in Portugal, Swedish club Assyriska, Tunisian club Espérance, as well as once holding the head coach position for the Yemen national team. On 27 April 2002, he became the coach of Westfalia Herne in the German fourth division. Between 20 January 2003 and 30 June, he was the head coach from two times German champion Dresdner SC in the German third league. On 13 July 2006, Morais joined Saudi Arabian club Al-Faisaly as manager. He left the club on 16 December 2006 following a 5–1 defeat to Al-Ittihad. On 6 June 2014, Morais was named as new manager of Saudi side Al-Shabab. He won

Saudi Super Cup The Saudi Super Cup () is the annual super cup tournament in Saudi Arabian football. Founded in 2013 as a two-team competition, the Super Cup has been contested by four teams since 2022: the winners and runners-up of the King's Cup and the Sa ...

title after defeating Al Nassr in

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

in his first match as Al-Shabab manager. For the 2014–15 season, Morais took a one-year sabbatical to become manager of Saudi Arabian team Al-Shabab before returning to Chelsea for the start of pre-season ahead of the

2015–16 Premier League The 2015–16 Premier League (known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the 24th season of the Premier League, the top English professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1992, and the ...

campaign. On 16 August 2018, Morais was appointed manager of

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( ) or UPL is a professional association football league in Ukraine and the highest level of the Ukrainian football league system. Originally known as the Vyshcha Liha ( , ) it was formed in 1991 during the 1992 in ...

club Karpaty Lviv. On 28 November 2018, Morais quit as manager of

and was appointed as manager of South Korean

side Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. He won the

in both of his first two seasons. In December 2020, he left Jeonbuk after his contract was terminated. In May 2021, Morais signed a contract until the end season with Saudi club Al Hilal. on 24 June 2022, Morais joined Persian Gulf Pro League side Sepahan on a new three-year deal. on February 8th 2025 he was appointed coach of

side Bodrum FK on a deal until June 30th 2025.

Managerial statistics

Honours

;Espérance Tunis *

Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 The Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1, formerly known as the Tunisian National Championship between 1956 and 1994, is the highest-level association football, football tournament in Tunisia and is organized by the Tunisian Football Federation and t ...

: 2009–10 ;Al-Shabab *

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

;Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors *

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

;Al Hilal *

Saudi Professional League The Saudi Pro League (SPL), also known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL) for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Saudi Arabia and the highest level of the Saudi football league system. The SPL is regarded as th ...

: 2020–21 ;Sepahan *

Hazfi Cup Hazfi Cup (, ) formerly known as Pahlavi Cup () is an Iranian knockout football competition held annually by the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran. The Iranian Football League, Iranian football league was not held during the 1980s, h ...

: 2023–24 Individual * K League 1 Manager of the Year:

References