Marco Silva at Benfica underlines long-running 21st-century trend in coach recruitment | OneFootball

Marco Silva’s arrival at Benfica highlights a long-standing 21st-century tendency to appoint coaches working abroad.

According to Glorioso 1904, Silva joins a sizeable list the club have recruited from outside Portuguese football. In this century the practice has included Fernando Santos, Jorge Jesus, Bruno Lage and José Mourinho, hired while outside the country or without ties to the league. Results have varied and not always met expectations.

The club had earlier tried foreign-based candidates such as Graeme Souness, Jupp Heynckes, Giovanni Trapattoni, Ronald Koeman, Quique Flores and Roger Schmidt. Among those, only Trapattoni and Schmidt won the league, underlining the mixed returns.

Hiring from within Portugal has been rarer, with isolated cases like Manuel José from Marítimo, Jorge Jesus from Braga and Rui Vitória from Vitória de Guimarães. The dominant pattern has remained external recruitment, mainly in international markets.

Silva now takes on the job after a career split between Portugal and England, including Hull City, Watford, Everton and Fulham. He is already looking to strengthen the squad.

Source: Glorioso 1904