José Mourinho

José Mourinho is the head coach of Real Madrid, born in Setúbal, Portugal, in January 1963. He never played at the top level; he came into coaching through the technical side, working as interpreter and then assistant to Bobby Robson and Louis van Gaal at Barcelona in the 1990s before taking his first senior jobs in Portugal.

His reputation was made at Porto, where he won the Champions League in 2004 with a squad no one expected to get past the group stage. Chelsea followed, with the Premier League in 2005 and 2006, and Inter, where he completed the treble of Serie A, Coppa Italia and Champions League in 2010. He then took the Real Madrid job for the first time, winning the 2012 league title with a record points total and breaking a run of Barcelona dominance, before leaving in 2013 by mutual consent.

He returned to Chelsea for another title in 2015, won the Europa League with Manchester United in 2017, coached Tottenham, and won the Conference League with Roma in 2022, his fifth European trophy with a fourth different club. A spell at Fenerbahçe followed.

Real Madrid appointed him for a second time in June 2026, replacing Álvaro Arbeloa, thirteen years after his first spell ended. His football is built on organisation, counter-attack and a very public relationship with referees, and the press conference is as much a part of his method as the training pitch.