João Eusébio Ferreira da Costa (born 6 March 1962), known as João Eusébio, is a Portuguese former football player and manager. As manager of Rio Ave from 2006 to 2009, he managed in two

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

seasons, with a promotion from the second tier in between. He spent most of his career at the second level, with seven clubs, and had a brief spell with

Chibuto Chibuto is a city located in the province of Gaza in Mozambique, about 200 km north of the capital, Maputo Maputo () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within ...

of Mozambique's

Moçambola Moçambola (or Campeonato Moçambicano de Futebol, Portuguese for Mozambican Football Championship) is the top division of Mozambican football. It is organized by the Liga Moçambicana de Futebol. History In 1976, shortly after the country's ...

in 2014.

Career

Playing and early managerial career

Born in

Vila do Conde Vila do Conde (, ; "the Count's Town") is a municipality in the Norte Region, Portugal, Norte Region of Portugal. The population in 2011 was 79,533, in an area of 149.03 km2. The urbanized area of Vila do Conde, which includes the parishes of ...

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

João Eusébio began his career at hometown club Rio Ave F.C. where he made three

appearances in the early 1980s, returning to the club in the lower leagues a decade later. After managing in the lower leagues with

GD Bragança Grupo Desportivo de Bragança ''(abbreviated as GD Bragança)'' is a Portuguese Association football, football club based in Bragança Municipality, Bragança in the district of Bragança. Background GD Bragança currently plays in the Terceira ...

and A.D. Esposende, João Eusébio returned to Rio Ave as academy manager.

Rio Ave

In March 2006,

António Sousa António Augusto Gomes de Sousa (; born 28 April 1957) is a Portuguese former football central midfielder and manager. During his career, he played among others for Porto and Sporting CP, amassing Primeira Liga totals of 483 matches and 83 goal ...

was sacked by Rio Ave after a 5–0 loss to S.C. Braga and João Eusébio was appointed in his place; his debut as a top-flight manager on 6 March was a 2–1 home win over

C.F. Os Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses (), commonly known as Os Belenenses or simply Belenenses, is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 19,856 ...

. His team ended the season with relegation, and he put himself forward to manage them in the second tier. In 2007–08, Rio Ave won promotion back to the top level as runners-up to C.D. Trofense. On 24 August, in the first game of the new season, his team held

S.L. Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904, as ''Sport Lisboa'', Benfica is one of the " ...

to a 1–1 draw at the

Estádio do Rio Ave FC Estádio do Rio Ave FC, also known as Estadio dos Arcos, is a multi-use stadium in Vila do Conde, Portugal. It is used mostly for football matches of Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship r ...

; he said that he had exploited a known vulnerability in the

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

side's pressing game. Having won twice and drawn four times in 13 games, with the club second from bottom, he was sacked on 5 January 2009 and replaced by the returning Carlos Brito.

Second-tier regular

On 17 February 2009, João Eusébio was hired at Gil Vicente F.C. in place of Manuel Ribeiro. At the end of the season, he moved to

S.C. Covilhã Sporting Clube da Covilhã, commonly known as just Sporting da Covilhã or Sp. Covilhã, is a Portuguese association football, football club from the city of Covilhã that plays in the third-tier Liga 3 (Portugal), Liga 3. The club was founded on ...

during their 86th anniversary in June, but left on 1 September after one win and two losses in the second tier, and disputes with club president José Mendes. After two years out of work, João Eusébio began 2011–12 in charge of G.D. Chaves before moving to Trofense in December, again replacing Sousa. His contract to the end of the season was not renewed after taking the club to 8th place. On 3 October 2012, João Eusébio was hired at S.C. Freamunde, last-placed in the second tier. Starting in the ninth round of fixtures, he led the team for 21 games, winning 4 and losing 12; he left by common agreement the following 25 February with the league position unaltered. João Eusébio agreed to a return to Chaves in 2013–14. He left on 15 October after a four-game winless run, having taken 13 points from 10 games.

Mozambique and return

In January 2014, 51-year-old João Eusébio moved abroad for the first time in his career, to

FC Chibuto Clube do Chibuto, or simply Chibuto, is a Mozambique multi sports club from Chibuto especially known for its football. Clube do Chibuto was founded on 29 September 1949. The team plays in Moçambola Moçambola (or Campeonato Moçambicano de F ...

of the

in Mozambique. Having not won either of his two games, he was sacked in April. João Eusébio returned to Portugal and became academy manager at

Varzim S.C. Varzim Sport Club () is a Portuguese football club based in Póvoa de Varzim. The club was founded on 25 December 1915, and has played at the Estádio do Varzim Sport Club since its foundation. The club plays in Liga 3, following relegation in ...

based in

Póvoa de Varzim Póvoa de Varzim () is a Portugal, Portuguese city in Norte Region, Portugal, Northern Portugal and sub-region of Greater Porto, from its city centre. It sits in a sandy coastal plain, a cuspate foreland, halfway between the Minho River, Minho ...

near his hometown. In early October 2016, first-team manager

Armando Evangelista Armando Evangelista Macedo Freitas (born 3 November 1973) is a Portuguese football manager and former player who played as a defensive midfielder. Career Vitória Guimarães In the summer of 2010, three seasons after finishing his professional ...

was sacked and João Eusébio replaced him on an interim basis for two weeks until the league mandated for the club to name a permanent manager. He lasted 12 months until his own dismissal, after fans showed their disapproval. In June 2019, João Eusébio went back to Bragança after 15 years away, being named general manager. A year later, he was hired as a coordinator at

Leixões S.C. Leixões Sport Club (), commonly known as Leixões, is a Portuguese sports club from Matosinhos. It is organised into several departments for many sports, such as athletics, boxing, football, futsal, handball, karate, swimming, volleyball, wat ...

. On 5 October 2020, he was named interim manager after the five-game spell of Tiago Fernandes. He returned to his previous role three months later, as José Mota returned to the club, now in 16th place.

References

{{Navboxes , title=Managerial positions , list1= {{Rio Ave F.C. managers {{Gil Vicente F.C. managers {{S.C. Covilhã managers {{Leixões S.C. managers 1962 births Living people Footballers from Vila do Conde Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Rio Ave F.C. players GD Bragança players Lusitânia F.C. players G.D. Ribeirão players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Portuguese football managers Rio Ave F.C. managers Gil Vicente F.C. managers S.C. Covilhã managers G.D. Chaves managers C.D. Trofense managers S.C. Freamunde managers Varzim S.C. managers Leixões S.C. managers Primeira Liga managers Liga Portugal 2 managers Portuguese expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Mozambique Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Mozambique