José Peseiro

José Vítor dos Santos Peseiro (born 4 April 1960) is a Portuguese football manager and former player who played as a forward. He is the head coach of Saudi First Division League club Al-Ula.

After an unassuming career as a player, he went on to coach several clubs in his country, including Sporting CP – which he took to the 2005 UEFA Cup final– and Porto. He also worked extensively in Arab nations, being in charge of the Saudi Arabia national team. He also finished second at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations with Nigeria.

Playing career

Born in Coruche, Santarém District, Peseiro never played in higher than the Segunda Liga as a professional, starting out at Sport Lisboa e Cartaxo in 1979. In that competition, he represented Amora, Oriental, Samora Correia and Torreense for a total of five seasons.

34-year-old Peseiro retired at the end of the 1993–94 season in the fourth division, with local club União de Santarém.

Coaching career

Beginnings

Peseiro spent his first eight years as a manager in the third and fourth tiers of Portuguese football, starting out as a player-coach at his last team. In summer 1999, he was appointed at Nacional, which he helped get promoted to the Primeira Liga in just three seasons. In 2002–03, he led the team to a final eleventh position.

In 2003–04, Peseiro assisted Carlos Queiroz at Real Madrid. At the end of the campaign, after the team lost a considerable advantage on the table to be finally surpassed by Valencia, Barcelona and Deportivo de La Coruña, the pair was sacked, and the latter returned to his assistant position in Manchester United.