Miguel Angel Portugal Vicario (born 28 November 1955) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a

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 ...

, and is a current manager. He totalled 66 games and four goals in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

for four clubs including

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 ...

, for whom he played a part in their league and

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

in 1979–80. In a managerial career lasting a quarter of a century, Portugal had two spells at Racing Santander in the top flight. From the 2010s, he had brief stints abroad in Bolivia, Brazil, Algeria and India, winning a league title for Club Bolívar in 2013.

Playing career

Portugal was born in Quintanilla de las Viñas,

Province of Burgos The province of Burgos is a Provinces of Spain, province of northern Spain, in the northeastern part of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile-Leon, Castile and León. It is bordered by the provinces of Palencia (p ...

. During his career he played for Burgos CF, CD Mirandés,

, Cádiz CF, Rayo Vallecano,

CD Castellón Club Deportivo Castellón, S.A.D. is a professional List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Castellón de la Plana, in the Valencian Community. Founded on 20 July 1922, it currently plays in , holding home games at ''Nou E ...

, Real Burgos CF,

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid (), is a Spanish professional List of football clubs in Spain, football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León that will compete from the 2025–26 season in the . The club ...

and Córdoba CF. With the

powerhouse, Portugal remained four years (one loaned at Cádiz), winning the double in his first year but only amassing a combined 27 top division appearances during his spell.

Coaching career

Early career

Portugal started managing in the mid-90s, returning to Real Madrid to be in charge of its C and B-sides. In 1999, he started in the second division with CD Toledo, but was fired after only a couple of months. After some years out of football, Portugal coached former club Córdoba also in the second level, returning to Real Madrid Castilla in 2005–06 following the December promotion to the first team of Juan Ramón López Caro. On 6 July 2006 he succeeded López Caro once again, now at Racing de Santander, helping the Cantabrians to a final tenth place in the top flight. Portugal served as

technical director A technical director (TD) is usually a senior technical person within e.g. a software company, engineering firm, film studio, theatre company or television studio. They are responsible for overseeing and coordinating all of the technical aspect ...

of Real Madrid subsequently. In November 2008, he was set to take over at the club as coach following the sacking of Bernd Schuster, but president Ramón Calderón preferred Juande Ramos instead. On 19 November 2009, Portugal returned to Racing on a two-year deal following the dismissal of Juan Carlos Mandiá, as the side had only collected one point in five home matches. In early February 2011, even though the team was placed above the relegation zone in the top division – eventually managing to stay afloat – he was sacked by new club owner, Ahsan Ali Syed from India.

Abroad

In June 2012, Portugal moved abroad for the first time when he was appointed at Club Bolívar in Bolivia. In his debut season, the team from

La Paz La Paz, officially Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Aymara language, Aymara: Chuqi Yapu ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With 755,732 residents as of 2024, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities by populati ...

won the Clausura of the Bolivian Primera División; he was sacked at the turn of 2014, after the club lost the Apertura honour to rivals The Strongest on the final day of the campaign. Portugal remained in South America, signing days later for Clube Atlético Paranaense in Brazil on a year-long contract. He resigned on 19 May. On 21 October 2015, Portugal returned to Spain and its second division with

, inheriting a team from Gaizka Garitano that was in the relegation zone. He was dismissed the following 24 April after a run of one point from five games, though the side's position had improved. Portugal was hired by

CS Constantine Club Sportif Constantinois (), also known as CS Constantine or simply CSC for short, is an Algerian football club based in Constantine, Algeria. The club was founded in 1898, and its colours are green and black. Their home stadium, Chahid Hamla ...

of Algeria on a one-year deal in November 2016. He quit the following month, having made previous threats to leave his job. On 17 July 2017, Portugal moved to the fourth continent of his career when he was hired at Delhi Dynamos FC of the

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is a professional association football league in India and the highest level of the Indian football league system. Administered by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and its commercial partner Football Sport ...

. He finished eighth of ten teams – blaming this on a sporadic match schedule and low transfer budget– and the following 1 May he returned to Spain after being appointed manager of Granada CF. In August 2018, Portugal was announced as the head coach of

FC Pune City Football Club Pune City was an Indian professional Association football, football club based in Pune, Maharashtra, which last participated in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football league system, under licence from All Ind ...

for the upcoming season. He was sacked on 24 October, after one draw and two losses. On 20 December 2018, Portugal returned to Bolivia to take over at C.D. Jorge Wilstermann on a one-year deal. He left the following April by mutual consent, having suffered threats from some of the

Cochabamba Cochabamba (; ) is a city and municipality in central Bolivia in a valley in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital (political), capital of the Cochabamba Department and the list of cities in Bolivia, fourth largest city in Bolivia, with ...

-based club's supporters. Remaining in the Andean country, Portugal was appointed on a one-year contract at Royal Pari F.C. at the start of 2020. He resigned on 21 May that year, due to concerns over the resumption of the season around the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. On 3 August 2021, Portugal returned to Bolivia and Royal Pari, replacing sacked Christian Díaz. He was dismissed the following 28 February, after opening the new season with two wins and two draws.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Real Madrid *

: 1979–80 *

: 1979–80

Manager

Bolívar * Bolivian Primera División: 2012–13

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Portugal, Miguel Angel 1955 births Living people Footballers from the Province of Burgos Spanish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Burgos CF (1936) footballers CD Mirandés footballers Real Madrid CF players Cádiz CF players Rayo Vallecano players CD Castellón footballers Real Burgos CF footballers Real Valladolid players Córdoba CF players Spain men's under-23 international footballers Spain men's amateur international footballers Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers Real Madrid C managers Real Madrid Castilla managers CD Toledo managers Córdoba CF managers Racing de Santander managers Real Valladolid managers Granada CF managers Club Bolívar managers Royal Pari F.C. managers Club Deportivo Guabirá managers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A managers Club Athletico Paranaense managers CS Constantine managers FC Pune City managers Indian Super League managers Spanish expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Bolivia Expatriate football managers in Brazil Expatriate football managers in Algeria Expatriate football managers in India Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Bolivia Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Algeria Spanish expatriate sportspeople in India Real Madrid CF non-playing staff Odisha FC managers 20th-century Spanish sportsmen