| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Carlos Manuel Brito Leal Queiroz | ||
| Date of birth | 1 March 1953 | ||
| Place of birth | Nampula, Mozambique | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper[1] | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Years | Team | ||
| 1974–1978 | Ferroviário de Nampula | ||
| Teams managed | |||
| Years | Team | ||
| 1989–1991 | Portugal U20 | ||
| 1991–1993 | Portugal | ||
| 1994–1996 | Sporting CP | ||
| 1996 | NY/NJ MetroStars | ||
| 1996–1997 | Nagoya Grampus Eight | ||
| 1998–1999 | United Arab Emirates | ||
| 2000–2002 | South Africa | ||
| 2002–2003 | Manchester United (assistant) | ||
| 2003–2004 | Real Madrid | ||
| 2004–2008 | Manchester United (assistant) | ||
| 2008–2010 | Portugal | ||
| 2011– | Iran | ||
Carlos Manuel Brito Leal Queiroz ComIH (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈkaɾluʃ kɐjˈɾɔʃ]; born 1 March 1953) is a Portuguese football manager. He is currently the manager of the Iran national football team. A former manager of Real Madrid, and Portugal national football team, he has also twice been Alex Ferguson's assistant manager at English club Manchester United.
Queiroz has won several awards as a coach in junior levels, and he has been fairly successful at senior and club levels, mainly as Alex Ferguson's assistant manager. He is credited with discovering the Portuguese "Golden Generation" in the early 1990s, which most prominently include Luís Figo and Rui Costa, who were both selected for the FIFA 100 celebrations. In 1998, he authored the Q-Report, which detailed plans to enhance football player development in the United States.
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Born in Nampula, in the Portuguese Overseas Province of Mozambique (now Mozambique), to Portuguese parents, Queiroz had a short professional career as a football player, playing in Mozambique before turning to management. He moved to Portugal following Portugal's Carnation Revolution on 25 April 1974, and Mozambique's declaration of independence in 1975,[2] and built up a reputation for working with youth players. After being awarded a degree in physical education by the Technical University of Lisbon, he coached the Portuguese under-20 side to two Football World Youth Championship wins, in the 1989 and 1991 tournaments. As head coach of the Portuguese under-20 youth team, Queiroz was credited with discovering the "Golden Generation" of Portuguese football, including Luís Figo, Rui Costa, Fernando Couto, João Pinto, Jorge Costa and Vítor Baía, who went on to become the six most-capped players ever for the senior Portugal national football team.
In 1984, Queiroz was appointed as assistant manager of Estoril-Praia. Following his success with the Portuguese national youth teams, Queiroz was appointed senior national coach in 1991. Following a record of 14 wins in 31 matches,[3] Queiroz failed to qualify Portugal for Euro 92 (losing the qualifying spot to Holland) and for the 1994 World Cup (knocked out by Italy and Switzerland). After coaching his last national team game (a 1–0 defeat in Italy that sealed the elimination of Portugal) Queiroz left somewhat acrimoniously, famously declaring "there is a need to sweep away the dirt in the Portuguese football Federation". He then went on to manage the Portuguese SuperLiga team Sporting in 1994, in a controversial replacement of Bobby Robson at the helm of a team which then topped the league.
At Sporting, Queiroz inherited a star-studded team boasting talents such as Luís Figo, Krasimir Balakov, Stan Valckx, Capucho, Paulo Sousa, Pacheco, Jorge Cadete and many others, considered by many to be one of the best squads of Sporting in recent years. In spite of very impressive performances, Queiroz lost the League Title in a famous 6–3 defeat at home to rivals Benfica. In this match, although João Pinto ran the game against Queiroz's side with a formidable performance (scoring a hat trick), most analysts considered Queiroz's half-time replacement of Paulo Torres, a left-back, for António Pacheco, an attacking midfielder (with the score at 3–23), as a very poor tactical move that completely unbalanced the team and led to the final scoreline. Although he stayed on for the 1994–95 and 1995–96 seasons, the lack of results (his only piece of silverware being a Portuguese Cup in 1995) despite heavy investment led to the board losing patience with Queiroz. He finally left in 1996.
He subsequently coached NY/NJ MetroStars in the United States and Japanese team Nagoya Grampus Eight. In between, he found time to author the "Q-Report" detailing plans to professionalise the development of football players in the United States. Queiroz returned to coaching national teams in 1999, when he took the job as coach of the United Arab Emirates, before becoming coach of South Africa in 2000. Under Queiroz, South Africa qualified for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, but Queiroz resigned before the finals after falling out with the South African Football Association.
Queiroz became a coach at English club Manchester United in June 2002. He began his work at the start of the 2002–03 season, working alongside Alex Ferguson, who had gone without an assistant manager since the departure of Steve McClaren in the summer of 2001. Following Queiroz's arrival, Manchester United succeeded in catching league leaders Arsenal and claim the Premier League title.
His work at Manchester United attracted the attention of Real Madrid, who wanted Queiroz as their manager to replace departing manager Vicente del Bosque in the summer of 2003. It was an opportunity to work with FIFA World Player of the Year award winners Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo and Luís Figo; an opportunity which Queiroz was unable to turn down. He was appointed on a two-year contract, only a week after the arrival of Manchester United player David Beckham. Although Real Madrid was playing some of their best football in recent years, many believe that Queiroz's failure at Madrid was down to pressure from the Real Madrid president. Some believe that he was forced to pick the star players, therefore having no input into tactical decisions. Famously, he did not want to sell Claude Makélélé, as he felt he was too important to the team. However, he was overruled. Another example of the clash between manager and president came when Queiroz informed Real Madrid officials that Pepe (now a Real Madrid player) was going to be one of the most vibrant players in his position (centre back) and was available for €2 million. However, Real Madrid rejected his request because, according to Queiroz, at the time, centre backs didn't sell shirts. However, just three years later, Real Madrid bought Pepe for €30 million.
Real Madrid got off to a good start of the 2003–04 season winning the Spanish Supercup against Mallorca with a 3–0 victory on 27 August 2003 for the second leg and at mid-season the team topped the La Liga table and was still in contention for the Spanish Cup and UEFA Champions League trophies. However, they went on to lose their final five matches and finished in 4th place, which gave Valencia the title. Real Madrid also disappointed in the Spanish Cup and UEFA Champions League tournaments, and only won the Spanish Supercup. Following 10 months at Real Madrid, Queiroz would join the long list of managerial failures at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, as he was sacked in May 2004.[4]
Reforming the old partnership with Alex Ferguson proved an attractive option to both sides. United had trailed 15 points behind Arsenal, and Ferguson was forced to bring in temporary help from Walter Smith during the tough end of season run-in. Subsequently, Queiroz returned to United as assistant manager on 1 July 2004, signing a three year deal.
Queiroz was heavily rumoured to be one of the main reasons for team captain Roy Keane's departure from Manchester United in November 2005. According to Keane, he did not like the way Queiroz was given so much responsibility as if he were manager of the club and Keane did not like the tactics that Queiroz employed. One of the main outbursts of Keane's now infamous MUTV interview was aimed directly at Queiroz. As nobody in the media has ever seen this tape it is difficult to gather what was said.
He was linked with managerial roles with Portuguese side Benfica[5] and the United States national team in 2006 but he remained with Manchester United to help them win the Premier League in 2007. Queiroz was often seen conducting interviews with BBC programmes, such as Match of the Day, as at the time Alex Ferguson refused to speak with the BBC after allegations by the BBC's Panorama programme that Ferguson's younger son Jason, and then Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp, had been involved in corruption regarding cuts in transfer fees. Queiroz has proven to be popular with viewers, although some of his post-match opinions on refereeing have been seen by some as unsavory. For example, in 2008 Queiroz was – unsuccessfully – charged with improper conduct by the Football Association after describing referee Martin Atkinson's performance in a match as "a disgrace".[6][7]
In late March 2008, it was reported that Benfica had, once again, approached Queiroz to become their manager and had made a formal request to Manchester United.[8] United were heavily involved in the 2007–08 Premier League title race, five points clear at the top, with just seven games remaining, and also were still competing in the Champions League – being in the quarter-finals at the time of the enquiry. Queiroz did not make any public response to the approach.
Following Benfica's approach, and amid rumors of an opening as the Portuguese National Coach, Alex Ferguson started to push for Queiroz to be his successor as manager at Old Trafford and discouraged any possible suitors from approaching him.[9] However, rumours over the summer of 2008 continued to link Queiroz with the Portugal national football team managers' role, following the departure of Luiz Felipe Scolari.[10] On 11 July 2008, Manchester United agreed to release Queiroz from his contract, and he was appointed manager for the Portuguese national team.
On 11 July 2008, it was announced that Queiroz was leaving Manchester United, having agreed to a four-year contract to become the head coach of the Portuguese national football team.[11][12][13][14]
Portugal struggled under his management during the qualification for the World Cup 2010. Despite kick starting their World Cup Qualification campaign with a comfortable 4–0 win against Malta in Ta Qali', Queiroz’s team failed to win any of their subsequent four matches.
Home form was poor, with a 3–2 defeat to Denmark followed by 0–0 draws against Albania and Sweden. Together with another goalless draw in Stockholm against Sweden, these results left Portugal with only 6 points out of a possible 15 and on the brink of missing a major international tournament for the first time since 1998. Building on an improving reliability in defence, Portugal defeated Albania in Tirana 2–1 with a late goal, tied 1–1 versus Denmark on 5 September, beat Hungary 1–0 and again 3–0 in the return match, and finally defeated Malta 4–0. These results, together with a defeat of Sweden to Denmark, enabled Portugal to finish the campaign second in the group with 19 points, one ahead of Sweden, and qualify for the UEFA play-off. They played Bosnia and Herzegovina in home and away legs. Portugal won 1–0 in Lisbon and followed up with a 1–0 victory in Zenica, Bosnia, and as a result they have advanced to the finals of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. At the World Cup, Portugal drew 0–0 with Ivory Coast but then beat North Korea 7–0, the heaviest victory in the World Cup since Germany's 8–0 defeat of Saudi Arabia in 2002. This rout virtually guaranteed Portugal passage to the second round and a second goalless draw with Brazil confirmed qualification. In the second round they lost to Spain 1–0 and were knocked out having failed to score in three of their four World Cup matches – in stark contrast to the deluge of goals scored against the North Koreans.
Queiroz was sacked by the Portuguese Football Federation on the 9 September 2010.[15] He was also suspended for six months by the Portuguese Anti-Doping Authority (Autoridade Antidopagem de Portugal) on 30 August.[16] On 23 March 2011, the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld the appeal of Queiroz.[17]
On 4 April 2011, Queiroz agreed to a three-and-a-half-year deal to coach the Iran national team until the end of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.[18] With his appointment, Iran national team started a new life with his name. Carlos Queiroz’s signing as Iran’s new head coach signals a new era. Queiroz’s resume includes managing the national teams of Portugal, South Africa and UAE. In between, he assisted Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United and led Real Madrid in a forgettable 2003-04 season. Queiroz arranged a camp in Austria for his new team in July 2011.[19] He invited Ali Karimi back to the team for this camp to help Iran begin their road to qualification for FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Queiroz has been stated saying that he wants to implement a mix of youthful players, as well as experienced players into the national team roster. His first match with Iran was against Madagascar national football team on 17 July 2011 which Iran won 1-0.[19] Iran under Queiroz began their 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign successfully, defeating Maldives 4–0 in the second round with two goals from Karim Ansarifard, one goal from Ali Karimi and another from Saeid Daghighi in the first leg in Azadi Stadium. Iran defeated Maldives 1–0 five days later with a goal coming from Mohammad Reza Khalatbari. Iran won 5–0 on aggregate and advanced to the Third Round. The next round saw Iran defeat Indonesia 3–0 , then, four days later, made a draw with Qatar 1-1 away. Iran also beat Bahrain 6-0 in Azadi Stadium on 11 October 2011, six days after Iran beat Palestine 7-0 in a Friendly match.[18] Iran's next match was against Bahrain on 11 November 2011, which they drew 1-1 with a goal from Mojtaba Jabbari. They then played with Indonesia, winning it 4-1 and was qualified to the next stage. The next match which is against Qatar on 29 February 2012, is a ceremonial match and will be determine the group's winner and runner-up.
| Team | Nation | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Played | W | D | L | GF | GA | +/- | Win % | ||||
| Portugal | 4 September 1991 | 17 November 1993 | 23 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 28 | 14 | +14 | 43.48 | |
| Sporting CP | 1 June 1994 | 1 June 1996 | 68 | 45 | 17 | 6 | 128 | 51 | +77 | 66.18 | |
| NY/NJ MetroStars | 18 July 1996 | 19 November 1996 | 24 | 12 | 0 | 12 | 32 | 34 | −2 | 50.00 | |
| Nagoya Grampus | 21 November 1996 | 7 May 1997 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 9 | −3 | 33.33 | |
| UAE | 19 January 1998 | 18 January 1999 | 16 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 28 | 26 | +2 | 50.00 | |
| South Africa | 7 October 2000 | 30 March 2002 | 24 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 24 | 19 | +5 | 41.67 | |
| Real Madrid | 25 June 2003 | 31 May 2004 | 38 | 21 | 7 | 10 | 72 | 54 | +18 | 55.26 | |
| Portugal | 11 July 2008 | 9 September 2010 | 27 | 15 | 9 | 3 | 49 | 18 | +31 | 55.56 | |
| Iran | 4 April 2011 | Present | 9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 28 | 3 | +25 | 77.78 | |
| Total | 235 | 130 | 53 | 52 | 395 | 228 | +167 | 55.32 | |||
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