André Villas-Boas

This name uses Portuguese naming customs. The first or maternal family name is Cabral and the second or paternal family name is Villas-Boas.
André Villas-Boas

Villas-Boas at a Porto press conference
Personal information
Full nameLuís André de Pina Cabral e Villas-Boas
Date of birth17 October 1977
Place of birthPorto, Portugal
Height1.82 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
Club information
Current team
Zenit Saint Petersburg (manager)
Teams managed
YearsTeam
2000–2001British Virgin Islands
2009–2010Académica
2010–2011Porto
2011–2012Chelsea
2012–2013Tottenham Hotspur
2014–Zenit Saint Petersburg

Luís André de Pina Cabral e Villas-Boas[1] (Portuguese pronunciation: [luˈiʃ ɐ̃ˈdɾɛ dɨ ˈpinɐ kɐˈbɾaɫ i ˈviɫɐʒ ˈboɐʃ]; born 17 October 1977), known as André Villas-Boas, is a Portuguese football manager, who is the current manager of Zenit Saint Petersburg. He spent eight months as manager of Académica, one year as manager of Porto, nine months as manager of Chelsea and a year-and-a-half as manager of Tottenham Hotspur. He led Porto to an undefeated 2010–11 season in the Primeira Liga, winning four trophies and becoming the youngest manager ever to win a European title in the process.[2][3] He is one of a growing group of managers who have never played at the top level.[4]

Early life and career

Born in Porto, Portugal,[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] He is also the great-grandson of Dom José Gerardo Coelho Vieira Pinto do Vale Peixoto de Vilas-Boas, 1st Vicount of Guilhomil.[6] Villas-Boas has spoken fluent English since childhood, as his grandmother was from Stockport.[7] At the age of 16, Villas-Boas found himself living 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.[8]

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][9] He later obtained his B licence, A licence and UEFA Pro Licence under the tutelage of Jim Fleeting.[9] Villas-Boas had a short stint as head coach of the British Virgin Islands national team at the age of 21,[10][11] before he moved on to a career as an assistant coach at Porto under José Mourinho. As Mourinho moved clubs to Chelsea and Internazionale, Villas-Boas followed.[11] Villas-Boas had his first job as British Virgin Islands head coach when only 21 years of age in 1998. In 1999, he resigned as manager.[12]

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.[11][13] 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 CP and FC Porto in the summer of 2010.[11]

Porto

Villas-Boas signed a deal to become the new manager of Porto on 2 June 2010.[11] Two months later, he won his first trophy as a manager when Porto defeated Benfica 2–0 to win the Portuguese Supercup.[14] 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.[3][15] On 21 June 2011, Villas-Boas tendered his resignation as Porto manager.[16]

Chelsea

Villas-Boas managing Chelsea against Birmingham in 2012.

Chelsea confirmed the appointment of André Villas-Boas as their new manager on a three-year contract with immediate effect on 22 June 2011.[17][18] They indirectly paid Porto a world record €15 million (£13.3 million) compensation via Villas-Boas to activate his release clause and free him from his contract with Porto.[19] On 30 July 2011, during the pre-season, Villas-Boas won his first piece of silverware with Chelsea, the 2011 Barclays Asia Trophy. Villas-Boas won all of his pre-season fixtures with Chelsea, with the team conceding only one goal in all six games. On 14 August, Villas-Boas's first Premier League match 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.[20] On 21 February 2012, during a Champions League match against Napoli Villas-Boas left Frank Lampard, Michael Essien and Ashley Cole on the bench. Chelsea lost 3–1 and the club's technical director asked for an explanation of the team selection on behalf of Abramovich.[21] 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."[22] ″

Tottenham Hotspur

Villas-Boas as coach of Tottenham Hotspur

On 3 July 2012, it was announced that Villas-Boas had been named Tottenham Hotspur head coach after successful talks with the club, replacing Harry Redknapp and signing a three-year deal with the North London football team.[23][24] Villas-Boas' first competitive game in charge of Tottenham came on 18 August 2012 in the opening day of the Premier League season, losing 2–1 to Newcastle United away from home.[25] His first competitive win came on 16 September 2012, a 3–1 victory away to Reading.[26]

On 29 September 2012, Villas-Boas became the first Tottenham manager to win at Old Trafford in 23 years, after his side beat Manchester United 2–3.[27] Villas-Boas took charge of his first North London derby against Arsenal on 17 November 2012 at the Emirates Stadium. Despite taking the lead early on, goalscorer Emmanuel Adebayor was sent off just eight minutes later, and Tottenham eventually lost 5–2.[28] Villas-Boas got his first piece of personal Tottenham silverware when he picked up the Manager of the month award for December. The team managed to pick up vital points in order to pursue their top four ambition. Promising big scorelines away from home such as against Fulham, Aston Villa and Sunderland along with home wins against Swansea and Reading, left Tottenham in third place going into the new year. One set back was a tough trip to Goodison Park, where Spurs were leading up until the 90th minute, before two late Everton goals in as many minutes, snatched victory away from the North London side.

In February 2013, he guided Tottenham to the last 16 of the Europa League after a last minute goal from Mousa Dembélé, securing a 1–1 draw against Olympique Lyon at the Stade Gerland. Spurs won the tie 3–2 on aggregate, after a 2–1 win at home the previous week. Following a 3–2 away win at West Ham United, Tottenham's third win from three Premier League matches that month, Villas-Boas picked up his second piece of personal Tottenham silverware of the season as he was awarded the Manager of the Month award for February, along with Gareth Bale who picked up the Player of the Month award for February as well.[29]

On the final day of the Premier League season, Tottenham sat a point behind North London rivals Arsenal, knowing that in order to qualify for the 2013-14 UEFA Champions League, they would need a win and hope that Arsenal would either draw or lose. Tottenham managed to secure a late dramatic win against Sunderland thanks to a sensational strike by Gareth Bale, but their victory was marred by Arsenal's 1–0 win at Newcastle United. Even though Tottenham finished a point behind the Champions League playoff spot, they set a new club record by finishing with 72 points.[30] This was also the highest points tally ever achieved by any club in the Premier League to consequently not finish in the top four.[31]

In the close season, Villas Boas claimed he was approached by both Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid to fill their managerial vacancies [32] but insisted he rejected these offers to remain with Spurs for a second successive season; something which he had not previously done as a manager.[32] Following the sale of star player Gareth Bale for a world record fee of £85.3m,[33] Villas-Boas was active in the transfer market before the start of the 2013–14 Premier League season. Key acquisitions included defensive midfielder Étienne Capoue, midfielder Paulinho, striker Roberto Soldado, the versatile Nacer Chadli, ball playing defender Vlad Chiricheș, winger Erik Lamela, and playmaker Christian Eriksen. Other departures from the club included Tom Huddlestone, Clint Dempsey, Steven Caulker and Scott Parker.[34]

On 16 December 2013, Tottenham announced that Villas-Boas had left the club "by mutual consent".[35] The dismissal, with Spurs lying seventh in the Premier League and having won all six of their Europa League group games, followed a series of disappointing domestic league results that included a 6–0 defeat away to Manchester City and culminated in a 5–0 home defeat to Liverpool.[36] Villas-Boas left the club with the highest percentage of league wins of any manager in the club's Premier League era.[36]

Zenit Saint Petersburg

Villas-Boas coaching Zenit in 2014.

On 18 March 2014, he signed a two-year deal with Zenit Saint Petersburg, replacing Luciano Spalletti and took the reins the day after the Champions League round-of-16 second leg against Borussia Dortmund.[37]

In April 2014, he became the first coach in Russian Premier League history to win his first six matches in charge.[38] On 3 May, Zenit lost their first points under Villas-Boas in a 1–1 away draw with Lokomotiv Moscow. On 10 May, Zenit lost 2–4 at home to Dynamo Moscow and lost the league advantage to CSKA Moscow. In the final fixture of the Russian Premier League on 16 May, Zenit won 4–1 away to Kuban Krasnodar but it was not enough to win the title, as CSKA defeated Lokomotiv and were crowned champions one point ahead of Zenit. However, the St. Petersburg club clinched a place in the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League Third qualifying round.

In the 2014–15 season, Zenit qualified for the UEFA Champions League group stage by beating AEL Limassol in the third round qualification and Standard Liege in the play offs.

Personal life

In 2004, Villas-Boas married Joana Maria Noronha de Ornelas Teixeira, with whom he now has two daughters, Benedita (born August 2009) and Carolina (born October 2010).[1][39] He speaks English fluently, having been taught by his paternal grandmother Margaret Kendall, whose mother moved to Portugal from Cheadle, Cheshire, England, to start a wine business.[10][40] Her brother Douglas Kendall served as a wing commander for the RAF during the Second World War.

His 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.[41][42]

Villas-Boas' brother João Luís de Pina Cabral Villas-Boas is a Portuguese stage and television actor. He had a bit-part in the costume drama Mistérios de Lisboa (Mysteries of Lisbon).[43]

Honours

Managerial honours

Porto

Awards and achievements

Managerial statistics

As of match played on 8 March 2015
Team From To Record Ref
G W D L Win %
Académica 14 October 2009 2 June 2010 30 11 9 10 36.67 [44]
Porto 2 June 2010 21 June 2011 58 49 5 4 84.48 [45]
Chelsea 22 June 2011 4 March 2012 40 19 11 10 47.50 [46]
Tottenham Hotspur 3 July 2012 16 December 2013 80 44 20 16 55.00 [46]
Zenit Saint Petersburg 20 March 2014 Present 42 30 4 8 71.43
Total 250 153 49 48 61.20

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 – D. Luís André de Pina Cabral e Vilas-Boas. Geneall.net. Retrieved on 2011-11-20.
  2. ↑ "Villas-Boas can be Special". The Sun. 18 May 2011. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 22 June 2011.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Prolific Falcao leads Porto to glory". ESPN Soccernet. 18 May 2011. Archived from the original on 22 May 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  4. ↑ Gabriele Marcotti (5 October 2010). "Meet Portugal's Boy Genius". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 21 November 2010. Retrieved 18 December 2010.
  5. ↑ footballzz.co.uk – Manager profile "André Villas-Boas". ZeroZeroFootball. Retrieved 18 December 2010.
  6. ↑ "Visconde de Guilhomil".
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Domeneghetti, Roger (17 April 2011). "Porto boss Andrea Villas-Boas says Sir Bobby Robson was his inspiration". Sunday Sun. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  8. ↑ "Novice delighting in the Dragao dugout". FIFA. 23 September 2010. Retrieved 22 June 2011.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Pattullo, Alan (23 June 2011). "Another feather in development director Fleeting's cap as Largs coaching class proves its value again". The Scotsman. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Crucial role of boy scout who is Mourinho's 'eyes and ears'". The Independent (London). 11 July 2004. Archived from the original on 12 November 2010. Retrieved 7 October 2010.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 "Villas-Boas accepts Porto chance". UEFA. 3 June 2010. Retrieved 7 October 2010.
  12. ↑ Virgin Islands recall their days in the sun under former coach. The Independent.
  13. ↑ "Academica appoint Andre Villas-Boas as head coach". PortuGOAL.net. 14 October 2009. Retrieved 18 December 2010.
  14. ↑ "His first trophy in Porto, Porto 2–0 Benfica". Whoscored.com.
  15. ↑ "Champions of Liga Sagres,2010–11, Benfica 1–2 Porto". Whoscored.com.
  16. ↑ "Villas-Boas resigns from Porto". ESPN Soccernet. 21 June 2011. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  17. ↑ Doyle, Paul (22 June 2011). "Chelsea appoint former Porto coach André Villas-Boas on three-year deal". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 22 June 2011.
  18. ↑ "Villas-Boas appointed". Chelsea F.C. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  19. ↑ "Chelsea close on Villas-Boas". Sky Sports. Retrieved 22 June 2011.
  20. ↑ "Five matches that led to Villas-Boas's dismissal". AFP News. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  21. ↑ Fifield, Dominic (4 March 2012). "Five moments when André Villas-Boas's luck turned against him". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  22. ↑ "Chelsea and AVB part company". Chelsea F.C. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  23. ↑ "André Villas-Boas starts life at Spurs by targeting João Moutinho". The Guardian (London). 4 July 2012. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
  24. ↑ "Andre Villas-Boas: Tottenham name Portuguese as new manager". BBC Sport. 4 July 2012. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
  25. ↑ "Newcastle 2-1 Tottenham". BBC Sport. 18 August 2012.
  26. ↑ "Reading 1-3 Tottenham". BBC Sport. 16 September 2012.
  27. ↑ "Andre Villas-Boas savours historic Tottenham win". The Guardian (London). 29 September 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2012.
  28. ↑ "Arsenal 5-2 Tottenham". BBC Sport. 17 November 2012.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 "Gareth Bale & Andre Villas-Boas earn player and manager awards.". bbc.co.uk. BBC Sport. 1 March 2013. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
  30. ↑ Hynter, David (19 May 2013). "Tottenham miss out on top-four spot despite Gareth Bale's screamer". Guardian. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  31. ↑ "TOTTENHAM SEASON PREVIEW: Villas-Boas has to finish in the top four - with or without Bale". Daily Mail. 15 August 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 Winter, Henry (2013-08-16). "Spurs manager Andre Villas-Boas rejected interest from PSG and Real Madrid for continuity at White Hart Lane". Telegraph. Retrieved 2013-12-16.
  33. ↑ Gary Lineker (2013-09-01). "Gareth Bale joins Real Madrid from Spurs in £85m world record deal". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-12-16.
  34. ↑ "Tottenham Hotspur completed transfers: Christian Eriksen, Roberto Soldado and Erik Lamela given task of replacing Gareth Bale". The Independent. 2013-09-03. Retrieved 2013-12-16.
  35. ↑ "Club agrees departure of Andre Villas-Boas". Tottenham Hotspur F.C. 16 December 2013.
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 "Tottenham sack manager Andre Villas-Boas". BBC Sport. 16 December 2013. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  37. ↑ "Andre Villas-Boas agrees deal to manage Zenit St Petersburg". BBC Sport. 18 March 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  38. ↑ "Villas-Boas sets new Russian coaching record". Футбольный клуб Зенит. 26 April 2014. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  39. ↑ "Andre Villas-Boas Profile". ESPN Soccernet. 21 June 2011. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  40. ↑ "10 things you need to know about prospective new Chelsea manager". Daily Mirror. 20 June 2011. Archived from the original on 4 October 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
  41. ↑ PHOTO: Wife Of New Chelsea Boss | General Sports | Peacefmonline.com. Sports.peacefmonline.com (23 June 2011). Retrieved on 2014-06-27.
  42. ↑ Andre Villas-Boas set for Chelsea as Porto confirm release clause has been paid | Mail Online. Daily Mail. (22 June 2011). Retrieved on 2011-11-20.
  43. ↑ Garry Jenkins. Is it true that Andre Villas Boas' brother is a famous actor? Socqer. com, 28 June 2011. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
  44. ↑ "Associação Académica de Coimbra OAF". Soccerway. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
  45. ↑ "FC Porto". Soccerway. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
  46. ↑ 46.0 46.1 "Andre Villas-Boas". Soccerbase. Retrieved 20 July 2012.

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