Jose Mourinho rejected to lead Portugal

According to the A Bola newspaper on November 24, Mourinho has considered and thinks this is not the right time to leave his coaching job at club level. Therefore, the Portuguese coach wants to continue to lead Roma at least until the end of his contract, which is valid until the end of the 2023–24 season.

Mourinho is the brightest candidate to sit in the hot seat of the Portuguese team after Fernando Santos was sacked for his failure in the quarterfinals of the 2022 World Cup, losing to Morocco. The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) approached and discussed directly with Mourinho when he and his club, AS Roma, came to Portugal to train on December 16.

Mourinho is invited to lead the Portuguese team.

"The Special One" also received great support from the Portuguese public. According to a survey in A Bola newspaper, to the question "Is Jose Mourinho the ideal choice for the national team", 55.5% of participants answered "Yes", 24.6% answered "No" and 19.9% ​​choose another option that Santos’ replacement can be a domestic or foreign coach.

• Former England, Tottenham, and Barcelona Coach Terry Venables Passes Away at 80 Years Old
• Jurgen Klinsmann appointed as Head Coach of South Korea National Football Team

Tammy Abraham, a Roma striker, once admitted this information. "Mourinho is a great coach, and every team wants to have him. It's an honor that a big team like Portugal is interested in Mourinho," the England striker told La Gazzetta dello Sport, but believed his coach would continue to work and help the team in Rome.

Mourinho wants to continue his job at Roma.

According to Brazilian newspaper Globo, Mourinho's rejection of Portugal's national team is proof that top coaches will not work at the national team level for many years to come. This newspaper pointed out that the most appreciated Italian coach right now is Carlo Ancelotti, but his country's team is currently led by Roberto Mancini. In Portugal, Mourinho is the best and most famous manager, but Santos has been in charge of the national team for the past eight years. Similarly, at the 2022 World Cup, Spain and Germany are led by Luis Enrique and Hansi Flick, while Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp, the most highly regarded coaches in these two countries, are working in the English Premier League.

Many top coaches don't prefer working at the national team level.

Besides Mourinho, FPF also considered inviting Luis Enrique, who had just left Spain after the defeat in the 2022 World Cup, and Abel Ferreira, the current coach of Palmeiras, a Brazilian club. Other candidates include Sergio Conceicao (Porto), Paul Fonseca (Lille), Ruben Amorim (Sporting Lisbon), and Andre Villas-Boas, the former manager of Porto and Chelsea, who is "jobless" after leaving Marseille last summer.

Mourinho is also in the sights of the Brazilian Football Federation (CFB). After Brazil lost to Croatia in the quarterfinals of the 2022 World Cup, coach Tite resigned and ended his six years leading Brazil. According to ESPN, the CFB will soon contact agent Jorge Mendes to discuss the possibility of inviting Mourinho to take over Tite's position.

The Brazilian Football Federation also considers Mourinho a bright candidate to lead the Selecao.

In the summer of 2021, Mourinho begins to lead Roma on a three-year contract, until 2024. The Portuguese coach helped Roma quench their thirst in European competitions in the first year, winning the Conference League in 2022. This is the fifth European Cup of Mourinho's career as a coach, after the UEFA Cup (the predecessor of the Europa League) in 2003, the 2004 Champions League with FC Porto, the 2010 Champions League with Inter, and the 2017 Europa League with Man Utd. He was the first manager in UEFA history to win all three of the organization's existing European Cups, and he has three Cups tattooed on his shoulder to commemorate the feat.

Mourinho helped Roma win the UEFA Conference League in his first season in charge.

Mourinho has won 27 trophies during his coaching career. The World Football History and Statistics Organization once honored him as the best coach in 2004, 2005, 2010, 2012, and selected him as the best coach in the 2001-2020 period. However, the 59-year-old coach has never led a national team.