The man Peseiro: NFF hires coach with poor management, trophy record

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on Wednesday announced Jose Peseiro as the new head coach of the Super Eagles.

Peseiro is a Portuguese national, born on 4 April 1960. His last coaching stint was Venezuela.

But his record in football management has been largely poor and dogged by sackings and no major trophies.

He had a stint managing in Africa, but one day after announcing the Portuguese as Egyptian club Ahly’s new head coach in 2015, hundreds of the Cairo giants’ fans gathered before the club’s headquarter in protest.

The protesters demanded that the team’s management board rescind the decision.

Following a trophy-less season, Ahly appointed the former Real Madrid assistant manager Peseiro, then 55, as the new boss.

Some Ahly fans expressed their disapproval of appointing the new coach due to his perceived soft-handed approach as well as his lack of titles.

As a national team manager, Peseiro failed to take Saudi Arabia to the 2010 World Cup finals.

His most notable achievement came in 2005 when he led Portuguese giants Sporting to the Europa League final before losing the title to CSKA Moscow.

His management record

Peseiro spent his first eight years as a manager in the third and fourth tiers of Portuguese football, starting out as a player-coach at his last team.

In summer 1999, he was appointed at C.D. Nacional, which he helped promote to the Primeira Liga in three seasons.

In 2002–03, he led the team to a final 11th position.

In 2003–04, Peseiro assisted Carlos Queiroz at Real Madrid.

At the end of the campaign, after the team lost a considerable advantage on the table to be finally surpassed by Valencia CF, FC Barcelona and Deportivo de La Coruña, the pair was sacked, and the latter returned to his assistant position in Manchester United.

Peseiro signed with Sporting CP for 2004–05.

After collecting three losses and two draws in his first nine games in charge, the side eventually finished in third place with 61 points, four behind champions S.L. Benfica.

He coached the team to a runner-up run in the UEFA Cup after disposing of the likes of Feyenoord, Middlesbrough and Newcastle United.

The final was played at the Estádio José Alvalade, and after a 1–0 lead at half-time the hosts eventually succumbed to PFC CSKA Moscow 3–1.

At the start of the 2005–06 season, the Lions were ousted from the UEFA Champions League by Udinese Calcio, and after being relegated to the UEFA Cup they were immediately knocked out by Halmstads BK 4–4 on aggregate after a 2–3 home loss.

On October 16, 2005, following a 0–1 home defeat to Académica de Coimbra that saw Sporting sink to the seventh position, Peseiro resigned.

In the 2007 off-season, Peseiro was named manager of Panathinaikos FC.

After failing to win the Super League Greece and also losing 0–4 to neighbouring Olympiacos F.C. in the domestic cup, he was forced to step down.

In June 2008, Peseiro signed a three-year contract with Romanian club FC Rapid București.

On October 2, 2008, after being eliminated from the UEFA Cup by VfL Wolfsburg, he was sacked only to be reinstated a few days later.

He eventually resigned on January 12, 2009, after failing to agree on a new deal.

Peseiro succeeded Nasser Al-Johar at the helm of the Saudi Arabian national team in 2009, during the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign.

His first game occurred on 28 March, and it ended with a 2–1 away win over Iran which was the former’s first ever victory in that country and the latter’s first loss in nearly 40 home games.

Eventually, the nation failed to reach the finals in South Africa, and on January 10, 2011 he was relieved of his duties after losing the first game in the AFC Asian Cup against Syria.

On June 3, 2012, Peseiro was appointed at S.C. Braga.

His first major signing was Portuguese international Rúben Micael, and he qualified the club to the group stage of the Champions League for the second time in its history, after ousting Udinese on penalties.

At the end of the campaign, in spite of winning the Taça da Liga and ranking fourth in the league, Braga and Peseiro reached an agreement to terminate the manager’s contract.

From November 11, 2013 to January 11, 2015, Peseiro worked with Al Wahda FC in the UAE Pro League.

On October 9, 2015, Al Ahly SC announced his signing; upon hearing the news, fans protested against the decision based on his weak résumé.

On January 18, 2016, after cutting ties with the Egyptian side, Peseiro replaced Julen Lopetegui at FC Porto.

Even though the third position the team occupied at the time of the Spaniard’s dismissal was still secured, he collected more losses than his predecessor, and also lost the final of the Taça de Portugal to former team Braga, on penalties.

On June 6, 2016, Peseiro signed a two-year deal with Braga.

On December 14, 2016, following consecutive home defeats that resulted in elimination from the Europa League and the Portuguese Cup, respectively at the hands of FC Shakhtar Donetsk (2–4) and S.C. Covilhã (1–2), he was fired.

Peseiro returned to the UAE in January 2017 with Sharjah FC, and was sacked nine months later after a poor start to the new season.

The following February, he went home to sign a contract at Vitória S.C. until June 2019, which he rescinded by mutual agreement a year early.

In July 2018, Peseiro returned to Sporting after 13 years away, assuming the reins at a club that had lost several key players following fan violence and whose previous manager Siniša Mihajlović lasted nine days in the job.

On November 1, 2018, following poor overall performances and a 1–2 home loss against G.D. Estoril Praia for the group stage of the Taça da Liga, he was relieved of his duties.

Peseiro returned to national team duties on February 4, 2020, being appointed by Venezuela after the resignation of Rafael Dudamel.

He made his debut on October 9, 2020 in a 3–0 loss away to Colombia in 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification.

At the 2021 Copa América in Brazil, Venezuela were eliminated from the group stage with two draws and two defeats.

He resigned in August, having not been paid for over a year amidst the South American country’s economic crisis.

Source: The Nation Newspaper