Marco Silva at Benfica confirms a 21st-century trend | OneFootball

once again highlights an already well-established trend at Benfica when it comes to choosing coaches, reinforcing the preference for managers who were working abroad. The coach now joins a long list of names that the club’s hierarchy has recruited from outside Portuguese football.

In the 21st century, that approach has included names such as Fernando Santos, Jorge Jesus, Bruno Lage and José Mourinho, all of whom were hired while they were abroad or had no connection to the Portuguese league at the time of their arrival at the Luz. However, the results have been mixed and have not always lived up to expectations.

Benfica had, however, already recorded some similar experiences before, with appointments such as Graeme Souness, Jupp Heynckes, Giovanni Trapattoni, Ronald Koeman, Quique Flores or Roger Schmidt. Among them, only Trapattoni and Schmidt managed to become national champions, which underlines the inconsistent nature of this strategy over the years.

The exception to the rule has been rarer, with a few isolated cases of coaches recruited from within the Portuguese league, such as Manuel José (Marítimo), Jorge Jesus (Braga) and Rui Vitória from Vitória de Guimarães. Even so, the dominant trend remains looking outside, especially in the international market.

with spells at clubs such as Hull City, Watford, Everton or Fulham. At the moment, the coach is already looking to strengthen the Eagles’ squad.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.