All you need to know regarding the Portuguese Nuno Santo, the new coach of the Saudi Al-Ittihad Club.
The Saudi Al-Ittihad Club officially announced on Monday evening, July 4, 2022, the signing of Portuguese Nuno Santo to coach the team, replacing Romanian Cosmin Contra.
Al-Ittihad moved to sign Nuno Santo following Cosmin Contra failed to win the Saudi Professional League title last season, although the “Brigade” was the closest to winning the title during a long period of the season.
The federation announced the contract with Nuno Santo with a contract that extends until the summer of 2024, while reports indicate that he and his assistant staff will receive five million euros annually.
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But, who is Nuno Santo, the new coach of Al Ittihad? What are the highlights of his coaching career and his most important achievements? We will review all this and more with you in the next report from GOAL.
Who is Nuno Santo, the new Al Ittihad coach?
Nuno Espirito Santo was born on January 25, 1974, at the age of 48.
Santo started his football career as a goalkeeper at Vitoria Guimarães in 1992.
The highlight of Nuno Santo’s career was playing for Porto during the period between 2002 and 2004 under the leadership of Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho.
Nuno Santo did not play regularly with Porto during that period, with Portugal legend Vitor Baja as the starting goalkeeper.
What is the start date of the Saudi League 2022-23?
That period was the most successful in Nuno Santo’s career as a player, and saw him win two Portuguese League titles and a Portuguese Cup, but the most important coronation was getting the Champions League and the European Union Cup.
Nuno Santo left Porto in 2004 to the Russian club Dinamo Moscow, but returned to Porto in 2007 following a short trip with Portugal’s Aves, and retired from playing in 2010.
What clubs did Nuno Santo coach?
Nuno Santo began his coaching career immediately following retiring, and relied on Mourinho’s training ideas, as he confirmed earlier.
Nuno Santo started his coaching career with Rio Ave in 2012 and continued his coaching until 2014.
In his second season, he reached the final of the Portuguese Cup, and led the team for the first time in its history to the European League.
In the summer of 2014, Nuno Santo signed a one-season contract with Valencia, and in January 2015 he agreed to extend his contract until 2018.
Nuno Santo finished his first season with Valencia in fourth place, qualified for the Champions League, and won the coach of the month award three times.
But he decided to resign in November 2015, following a loss to Sevilla and a poor start to the season in La Liga and the Champions League.
In June 2016, Nuno Santo moved to coach Porto on a two-year contract, but was sacked in May 2017 following Porto failed to win the Portuguese League title.
Weeks following his dismissal from Porto coaching, Nuno Santo started the highlight of his coaching career, when he moved to lead the English club Wolverhampton.
Nuno Santo continued to coach Wolverhampton until the summer of 2021, when he led the team in the first season to ascend to the English Premier League.
Wolves produced a very distinguished performance under the leadership of Nuno Santo, until he decided to leave in May 2021 following his contract was terminated by mutual consent at the end of the 2020-21 season.
In June 2021, Nuno Santo took over Tottenham Hotspur on a two-year contract.
In August 2021, Tottenham, under the leadership of Nuno Santo, made the team’s best start in the Premier League by winning the first three games of the season, to win the Premier League Manager of the Month award.
But in November 2021, Nuno Santo was sacked, following a string of negative results, with the team losing five of their seven Premier League matches.
What are the most prominent achievements of Nuno Santo as a coach?
Nuno Santo has won only one title in his career as a coach, winning the English Premier League “Championship” in the 2017-18 season.
On the individual level, he has won the La Liga Coach of the Month three times, the Premier League Coach of the Month once, and the Premier League Coach of the Month four times.
The most prominent individual award he received was the English Coaches Association Award for Wolves’ performance in the 2017-18 season in the First Division.
