André Villas-Boas

André Villas-Boas

Villas-Boas in March 2011 as Porto manager
Personal information
Full name	Luís André de Pina Cabral e Villas-Boas[1]
Date of birth	(1977-10-17) 17 October 1977 (age 34)
Place of birth	Porto, Portugal
Height	1.82 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
Teams managed
Years	Team
1998–1999	British Virgin Islands
2009–2010	Académica
2010–2011	Porto
2011–2012	Chelsea

Luís André de Pina Cabral e Villas-Boas (born 17 October 1977) is a Portuguese football manager. He spent eight months as manager of Académica, one year as manager of Porto, and nine months as manager of Chelsea. He led Porto to an undefeated season in the league, winning four trophies and becoming the youngest manager ever to win a European title in the process.^[2][3] Unusually for a manager at the top level, he has no experience as a professional player.^[4]

Early life

Born in Porto, Norte,^[5] Villas-Boas was the second child and first son of Luís Filipe Manuel Henrique do Vale Peixoto de Sousa e Villas-Boas (born 29 February 1952) and Teresa Maria de Pina Cabral e Silva (born 11 February 1951).^[1] Villas-Boas at the age of 16 lived in the same apartment block as Sir Bobby Robson, who was then manager of Porto. Following a debate between the two, Robson appointed Villas-Boas to Porto's observation department.^[6] Villas-Boas has spoken fluent English since childhood, as his grandmother was from Stockport.^[7] Robson arranged for Villas-Boas to obtain the FA coaching qualification, the UEFA C coaching licence in Scotland and for him to study the training methods of Ipswich Town.^[7][8] He later obtained his B licence, A licence and UEFA Pro Licence under the tutelage of Jim Fleeting.^[8] Villas-Boas had a short stint as head coach of the British Virgin Islands national team at the age of 21,^[9][10] before he moved onto a career as an assistant coach at Porto under José Mourinho. As Mourinho moved clubs to Chelsea and Internazionale, Villas-Boas followed.^[10]

Managerial career

Académica

At the start of the 2009–10 season, Villas-Boas left Mourinho's team to pursue a career as a manager, and he soon found a job in the Primeira Liga with Académica de Coimbra, filling a vacancy created by Rogério Gonçalves' resignation in October 2009.^[10][11] At the time of his appointment, Académica were at the bottom of the league and still without any wins, but their luck started to change as he introduced a new style, leading them to a safe 11th place, ten points clear of the relegation zone. In addition to that, Académica also reached the 2009–10 Portuguese League Cup semi-finals, losing against Porto at the Estádio do Dragão to a late goal from Mariano González. His impact at Académica was immediate, not only because of solid results, but also because of the attractive football displayed by the team, which led to intense media speculation linking him with the vacant jobs at Sporting Clube de Portugal and Porto in the summer of 2010.^[10]

Porto

Villas-Boas signed a deal to become the new manager of Porto on 2 June 2010.^[10] Two months later, he won his first trophy as a manager when Porto defeated Benfica 2–0 to win the Portuguese Supercup.^[12] Villas-Boas went on to immense success with Porto, leading them to an undefeated season in the Primeira Liga - only the second time this had ever been achieved - and winning the title by more than 20 points, having conceded only 13 goals all season. Villas-Boas went on to follow up this success by leading Porto to win both the Portuguese Cup and the UEFA Europa League, thus completing a treble in his first season in charge. By doing so, Villas-Boas became the third-youngest coach ever to win the Primeira Liga (behind Mihály Siska in 1939 and Juca in 1962) and the youngest manager ever to win a European competition, at the age of 33 years and 213 days.^[13][3] On 21 June 2011, Villas-Boas tendered his resignation as Porto manager.^[14]

Chelsea

Chelsea confirmed the appointment of Villas-Boas as their new manager on a three-year contract with immediate effect on 22 June 2011.^[15][16] They indirectly paid Porto €15 million (£13.3 million) compensation via Villas-Boas to activate his release clause and free him from his contract with Porto.^[17] On 30 July 2011, during the pre-season, Villas-Boas won his first piece of silverware with Chelsea, the 2011 Barclays Asia Trophy. On 14 August, Villas-Boas's Premier League ended in a 0–0 at Stoke City, with Villas-Boas commenting on Stoke's strong defence at home. Villas-Boas then won his first competitive match as Chelsea manager, defeating West Bromwich Albion 2–1 on 20 August. He continued his season with a back-to-back home wins beating Norwich City 3–1. On 18 September 2011, Villas-Boas's Chelsea lost to Manchester United 3–1 at Old Trafford. It was Chelsea's first defeat of the season and Villas-Boas's first defeat in 39 league matches, a run stretching back to his spells as manager of Académica and Porto. On 29 October, Chelsea lost their second derby under Villas-Boas in a 5–3 defeat at home to Arsenal after falling to a 1–0 defeat to Queens Park Rangers. Then three weeks later, his Chelsea side lost a second successive home game in a 2–1 defeat to Liverpool. Days later, he once again lost to Liverpool in a 2–0 defeat in the League Cup quarter-final.

On 11 February 2012, pressure began to mount on Villas-Boas as Chelsea dropped out of the top four in the Premier League following a 2–0 league defeat against Everton. Villas-Boas responded by cancelling his squad's day off and called them in for an inquest, which provoked several senior players to question his tactics in front of owner Roman Abramovich.^[18] On 21 February 2012, during a UEFA Champions League match against Napoli, Villas-Boas left Frank Lampard, Michael Essien and Ashley Cole on the bench, prompting the club's technical director to ask for an explanation of the team selection on behalf of Abramovich.^[19] On 4 March 2012, following a 1–0 league defeat against West Bromwich Albion which left Chelsea three points adrift of Arsenal in the battle for fourth place in the Premier League, Villas-Boas was relieved of his managerial duties by Chelsea, with assistant manager Roberto di Matteo being appointed as caretaker manager on an interim basis until the end of the season. On the Chelsea website it read: "The board would like to record our gratitude for his work and express our disappointment that the relationship has ended so early."^[20]

Personal life

Villas-Boas has been married since 2004 to Joana Maria Noronha de Ornelas Teixeira, and has two daughters, Benedita (born August 2009) and Carolina (born October 2010).^[1][21] He speaks English fluently, having been taught by his paternal grandmother Margaret Kendall, whose mother moved to Portugal from Cheadle, Greater Manchester, England, to start a wine business.^[9][22] Her brother Douglas Kendall served as a wing commander for the RAF during the Second World War. Villas-Boas' paternal great-uncle José Rui Villas-Boas was the viscount of Guilhomil, a title initially bestowed on his father José Gerado Villas-Boas by King Carlos I in 1890.^[23][24] Villas-Boas' brother João Luís de Pina Cabral Villas-Boas is a Portuguese stage and television actor. He appeared as the character Criado in the lavish, costume drama Mistérios de Lisboa (Mysteries of Lisbon).^[25]

Honours

Managerial honours

Porto

• Primeira Liga (1): 2010–11
• Taça de Portugal (1): 2010–11
• Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (1): 2010
• UEFA Europa League (1): 2010–11

Awards and achievements

• CNID Breakthrough Coach (1): 2010
• CNID Best Coach (1): 2011
• Globos de Ouro Prémio Revelação (1): 2011

Records and trivia

• Youngest manager ever to win a European competition.
• Porto record for the most unbeaten matches.
• Most wins in Europe in one season by a Portuguese club.
• First manager to go unbeaten in one season in the Primeira Liga in the twenty-first century.

Managerial statistics

	Association football portal
	Biography portal

As of 3 March 2012.

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	Win %
Académica		14 October 2009	2 June 2010	&1000000000000003000000030	&1000000000000001100000011	&100000000000000090000009	&1000000000000001000000010	&1000000000000003667000036.67
Porto		2 June 2010	21 June 2011	&1000000000000005100000051	&1000000000000004500000045	&100000000000000040000004	&100000000000000020000002	&1000000000000008823999988.24
Chelsea		22 June 2011	4 March 2012	&1000000000000004000000040	&1000000000000001900000019	&1000000000000001100000011	&1000000000000001000000010	&1000000000000004750000047.50
Total				&10000000000000121000000121	&1000000000000007500000075	&1000000000000002400000024	&1000000000000002200000022	&1000000000000006197999961.98

References

External links

• Profile at The Guardian
• André Villas-Boas at Soccerbase