José Couceiro

José Couceiro

Couceiro as Lokomotiv Moscow coach in 2011
Personal information
Full name	José Júlio de Carvalho Peyroteo Martins Couceiro
Date of birth	(1962-10-04) October 4, 1962
Place of birth	Lisbon, Portugal
Playing position	Defender
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1981–1982	Montijo
1982–1985	Berreirense
1985–1986	Atlético CP
1986–1988	Torreense
1988–1989	Oriental
1989–1991	Torreense
1991–1992	Estrela da Amadora
Teams managed
2002–2004	Alverca
2004–2005	Vitória de Setúbal
2005	Porto
2005–2006	Belenenses
2006–2007	Portugal U-21
2008	Kaunas
2008–2010	Lithuania
2009–2010	Gaziantepspor
2011	Sporting CP (caretaker)
2011–2012	Lokomotiv Moscow
2013–2014	Vitória de Setubal
2014–2015	Estoril Praia
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

José Júlio de Carvalho Peyroteo Martins Couceiro (born 4 October 1962)^[1] is a Portuguese football manager.

He served as president for the Portuguese Professional Football Players' Union (Portuguese: Sindicato dos Jogadores Profissionais de Futebol). He managed Sporting Clube de Portugal, one of the 'Big Three' clubs from Portuguese football. He is a known fan of the Lisbon side, and related to club legend and member of "The Five Violins" Fernando Peyroteo, through his mother.

Managerial career

As a manager, Couceiro's career is marked with the relegation of Alverca in the 2003–04 season. He bounced back with a good run with Vitória de Setúbal, and won the best Portuguese coach prize. He then signed for FC Porto on 1 February 2005, going on to Belenenses during the 2005–06 season. In August 2006, he was appointed manager of the Portuguese under-21 team, reaching positive results in the UEFA Championships.

He was then appointed the head coach of FBK Kaunas, the Lithuanian A Lyga club controlled by Vladimir Romanov, in July 2008. On 5 August 2008, Kaunas, playing in a UEFA Champions League play-off match, beat 2007 UEFA Cup finalists Rangers of Scotland 2–1 on aggregate to qualify for the third round for the first time in their history. He became head coach of the Lithuanian national team on 14 August 2008.^[2] In his first competitive match as manager, Lithuania defeated Romania 3–0 in Cluj-Napoca for a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier. After that, they beat Austria 2–0 at home, and the Faroe Islands 1–0. They did not, however, qualify for the World Cup tournament in South Africa.

In April 2009, Couceiro signed as a manager with Turkish side Gaziantepspor.^[3]

On February 26, 2011, following the dismissal of Paulo Sergio, Couceiro was named caretaker manager of Sporting CP for the remainder of the season. He then moved to Lokomotiv Moscow in July 2011,^[4] however left the club in May 2012 as his contract was not renewed.^[5]

After being appointed as the manager of Vitória de Setubal in 2013, he was sacked on 15 May 2014.^[6]

Family

Fernando Peyroteo, the former Sporting Clube de Portugal legend, is Couceiro's granduncle. António César de Vasconcelos Correia, 1st Viscount and 1st Count de Torres Novas and 93rd Governor of India, was his great-great-great-uncle. Augusto de Vasconcelos was his second cousin, three times removed. His father, an engineer also named José Martins Couceiro, born in Angola in 1928 and deceased on 30 September 2005, was the first chairman of the former Clube Académico de Coimbra in 1974. Married to Clara, he is the father of three daughters, Catarina (born 1991), Sofia (born 1994), and Beatriz (born 1996).

References