Jorge Jesus

Jesus, son of Virgolino António de Jesus who played for Sporting CP in the 1940s, was born in Amadora, Lisbon, and finished his football formation with the same club, making his top flight debut with S.C. Olhanense on loan from the Lions.

Jorge Fernando Pinheiro de Jesus (born 24 July 1954) is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player, who is the manager of Saudi Pro League club Al Hilal.

He started his career with Sporting CP, going on to play for 12 other clubs in 17 years as a professional, which included nine Primeira Liga seasons.

After a 2–0 win at VfB Stuttgart in that season's Europa League (4–1 on aggregate), Benfica's first ever victory in Germany, Jesus surpassed the record held by Jimmy Hagan's 1972–73 team, with 16 consecutive wins.

During the league campaign, which started without departed Ángel Di María and Ramires, the lack of rotation caused a major fatigue in the most used players.

At the end of the season, Benfica only won the League Cup despite setting a domestic record of 18 consecutive wins in all competitions.

He played with Sporting's first team in the 1975–76 season, appearing in 12 matches and starting once as the Lisbon club finished in fifth place.

Subsequently, released, he played in the country's top flight in seven of the following eight years, representing C.F. Os Belenenses, Grupo Desportivo Riopele, Juventude de Évora, União de Leiria, Vitória de Setúbal and S.C. Farense, amassing totals in the category of 166 games and 14 goals.

On 20 March, he surpassed John Mortimore's 1985–86 record of 918 minutes without conceding a goal at home matches.

Jesus began a coaching career in 1990, and his first stop in the main category was with Felgueiras in the 1995–96 campaign.

Jesus retired in 1990 at the age of 36, after spells in the second (mainly with his hometown C.F. Estrela da Amadora) and third levels.

After starting as a manager with lowly Amora FC, Jesus moved in December 1993 to Felgueiras as a replacement for Rodolfo Reis, helping the club promote to the top flight in his second season and being in and out of the team until January 1998, with Felgueiras back in division two.

Subsequently, he led former team Estrela da Amadora to two consecutive eighth-place finishes in the first division and, in quick succession, managed both Vitória de Setúbal and Amadora, celebrating top flight promotions with both even though he was fired by the latter in March 2003.

In 2003–04 he helped Vitória de Guimarães narrowly avoid relegation, finishing two points ahead of first relegated team F.C. Alverca.

Domestically, Benfica finished second in the league despite leading up to second to last day, and reached the final of the Portuguese Cup, their first since 2004–05, suffering an unexpected defeat at the hands of Guimarães; these losses added great pressure on the coach, as the club ended the season trophyless for the first time since 2007–08.

In the following four years, always in division one, Jesus was in charge of Moreirense FC (suffering relegation), União de Leiria and Belenenses, finishing fifth with the latter and qualifying to the UEFA Cup, and adding a presence in the 2007 Portuguese Cup final, losing 0–1 to Sporting.

On 20 May 2008, one day after leaving Belenenses, Jesus took over at Braga, leading the Minho side to the fifth position in the league and the round-of-16 in the UEFA Cup.

Highlights in the latter competition included a 3–0 home win against Portsmouth and a last-minute 0–1 defeat to Milan at the San Siro.

He won the last edition of the UEFA Intertoto Cup, something never achieved by other Portuguese club.

He went on to work with several teams, arriving at Benfica in 2009 and winning ten trophies (a club record for a single manager, winning all domestic trophies at least once) as well as reaching two UEFA Europa League finals with them in six seasons.

On 17 June 2009, Jesus replaced Quique Flores at the helm of S.L. Benfica.

In his first year he led Benfica to the first division title after a five-year wait, with only two league defeats and 78 goals scored, also reaching the quarter-finals in the Europa League, losing to Liverpool on a 3–5 aggregate score (this would be the last match Benfica would lose in a run that lasted 27 games); he quickly implemented a 4–1–3–2 formation which resulted in highly attractive football.

On 5 October 2009 Jesus achieved his 100th victory in the Portuguese League, in a 3–1 home win against F.C. Paços de Ferreira.

In the 2011–12 season, Jesus guided Benfica to the second place in the league.

He led the team to a club's fourth League Cup, and to the knockout rounds of the 2011–12 Champions League, defeating FC Zenit Saint Petersburg first, before losing to Chelsea, in the quarter-finals.

On 10 December 2012, after a 3–1 away victory against Sporting, Jesus became the most successful Portuguese coach in the capital derby with seven wins in a total of nine, surpassing Toni (6/10).

On 26 January of the following year he defeated former side Braga at the Estádio Municipal de Braga for the first time, after three defeats and one draw.

He briefly led the league with a five-point advantage but did not maintain it, finishing in the second place again.

He was twice considered one of the 10 best club coaches in the world by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics, in 2013 (8th place) and in 2019 (7th place).

The following month he experienced his first Derby de Lisboa, which ended in a 0–0 away draw; at the end of the victorious campaign, which also brought the domestic League Cup, the coach was rewarded with a new contract extension, running until 2013.

On 15 March 2013, in a match against FC Girondins de Bordeaux in the campaign's Europa League, Jesus reached the 200 game-milestone with Benfica, becoming the sixth coach in the club's history to do so.

During the season he led the club to its first European final in 23 years: after coming third in its group in the UEFA Champions League, the side reached the final of the Europa League, losing 1–2 to Champions League winners Chelsea.

On 4 June 2013, Jesus renewed his contract for a further two seasons.

When police attempted to clear Benfica supporters from the pitch at the end of a match at Guimarães in September, he became physically involved, taking the side of supporters while obstructing the police.

The Portuguese Football Federation gave him a 30-day suspension, which meant he would miss four league matches, and fined him €5,355.

On 11 February 2014, Jesus won his tenth game (2–0) against Sporting, which draw two and won only one as an opposing coach.

Jesus led Benfica to its 33rd title on 20 April 2014, and became the second Portuguese coach to win two national championships for the club after Toni.

Four days earlier the team had beat FC Porto 3–1 in spite of being reduced to ten men with 1 hour left to play, thus reaching the final of the Portuguese Cup for the second consecutive time.

He became manager of Flamengo in 2019 and won the Copa Libertadores and Campeonato Brasileiro Série A in his first year.

He returned to Benfica in 2020 and did not win a single trophy despite a Portuguese record investment during the COVID-19 pandemic.