Former Chelsea And Tottenham Manager Elected President of Portuguese Giants

Former Chelsea And Tottenham Manager Elected President of Portuguese Giants

Isaac Darko
April 28, 2024 at 11:19 AM
  • Andre Villas-Boas has been elected president of Portuguese FC Porto
  • The 46-year-old coached EPL duo Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur
  • He won the Europa League with FC Porto 13 years ago

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Former Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur manager Andre Villas-Boas has been elected president of Portuguese football giants FC Porto, ending the 42-year reign of Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa.

Villas-Boas, 46, obtained 21,489 votes, to just 5,224 for his 86-year-old rival, who had won his previous 15 successive elections to head 'The Dragons'.

Andre Villas-Boas is the new president of FC Porto who he guided to the domestic double and the Europa League in 2011 as head coach
Andre Villas-Boas is the new president of FC Porto who he guided to the domestic double and the Europa League in 2011 as head coach. Photo by Patricia de Melo Moreira.
Source: AFP
"What a historic night... our club is alive and today proved its strength," said Villas-Boas, in a statement issued by Porto per Reuters.

Villas-Boas' coaching success

Villas-Boas enjoyed his most successful managerial spell at Porto.

Aged just 33, he guided them in the 2010/11 season to the domestic double -- crowned champions without losing a game -- the Portuguese Cup and the Europa League.

The victory in the Europa League -- beating Portuguese rivals Braga -- made him at 33 years and 213 days the youngest coach ever to win a European club trophy.

Villas-Boas' campaign message

Villas-Boas promised during his campaign to hire former Spanish international goalkeeper Andoni Zubizareta, who he came across while he was manager of Ligue 1 side Marseille, as sporting director.

He also pledged to install former Portuguese international defender Jorge Costa as head of the football department.

Pinto da Costa had on his part this week extended the contract of present head coach Sergio Conceicao.

Since Pinto da Costa was first elected in 1982, Porto have enjoyed unprecedented success trophy-wise -- winning 23 league titles and both the European Cup in 1987 and its successor the Champions League in 2004.

However, this season things have turned sour.

The club is plagued by financial problems off the pitch and the team has struggled on it, languishing in third place in the league table 18 points adrift of leaders Sporting, who they host later on Sunday.

For Villas-Boas it will be a new challenge, having retired from coaching, to focus on the presidential campaign, when his time at Marseille ended acrimoniously in 2021.

Authors
Isaac Darko photo
Isaac Darko
Isaac Darko is a La Liga, Ligue 1 and Bundesliga editor at Sports Brief with a Degree in Journalism and Communications from Ghana Institute of Journalism (2010)