Carlos Carvalhal

Carlos Augusto Soares da Costa Faria Carvalhal (born 4 December 1965) is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a centre-back, currently a manager.

As a player, he totalled 197 Primeira Liga appearances in service of six clubs, including two spells each at Braga and Chaves, as well as a single game for Porto.

In a managerial career of over two decades, Carvalhal led eight teams in Portugal's top flight, including Braga twice, winning the Taça de Portugal in 2021.

In the 1987–88 campaign, in one of his three spells at the club, he had one of his best years in the Primeira Liga, appearing in 34 games and only being booked seven times, even though the Minho team could only finish in 11th position.

Immediately afterwards, Carvalhal joined Porto, but was released after only one year, going on to represent in the following nine seasons – until his retirement at the age of 32 – Beira-Mar, Braga, Tirsense, Chaves and Espinho.

Carvalhal began managing at his last club Espinho, in the Segunda Liga, being dismissed early into his second year.

He reached the same final with Leixões in 2002 and won the Taça da Liga with Vitória de Setúbal in 2008.

Abroad, he had spells in Greece, Turkey, England, Wales, the United Arab Emirates and Spain.

Born in Braga, Carvalhal represented mainly his hometown's Braga during his career.

In 2002, he became the first coach in the country to take a team in the third division to the UEFA Cup, after leading Leixões to the final of the Taça de Portugal.

Two years later, he helped Vitória de Setúbal back to the top flight, which prompted his move to a side in that tier, Belenenses.

Carvalhal was sacked by Belenenses early into 2005–06, after five defeats in eight games.

He met the same fate with the two teams he coached the following season, Braga and Beira-Mar.

With the latter, he was dismissed in December 2006 after the Aveiro club signed a cooperation deal with Inverfutbol, a Spanish-based sporting company, in a relegation-ending campaign.

Returning to Setúbal for 2007–08, Carvalhal enjoyed his best year as a manager.

He led the Sadinos to the sixth position in the league – with the subsequent UEFA Cup qualification and with the team posting one of the best defensive records in Europe that year – and victory in the inaugural edition of the Taça da Liga, against Sporting CP.

In May 2008, Carvalhal accepted the first foreign job of his career at Asteras Tripolis of Super League Greece, signing a two-year contract worth an annual salary of €500,000.

He was relieved of his duties late into the year 2009, moving to Sporting in mid-November to replace the fired Paulo Bento.

As originally intended, Carvalhal left his post at the end of the season, with Sporting finishing in fourth position, 28 points behind champions Benfica.

On 2 August 2011, Carvalhal was appointed as caretaker manager of Beşiktaş from Turkey, as incumbent Tayfur Havutçu resolved his legal issues stemming from the 2011 Turkish sports corruption scandal.

At the start of the following April, with the team trailing Galatasaray by 20 points and him having fallen out with compatriot star player Ricardo Quaresma, he was relieved of his duties and replaced by his predecessor.

He left by mutual consent in November with the club in 12th, having been warned by compatriot José Peseiro about the precarious nature of management in the Mediterranean country.

Carvalhal returned to Portugal and joined Marítimo, only winning one match in 11 but with the Madeira side finishing comfortably in mid-table.

Remaining in the same city, Carvalhal joined İstanbul Başakşehir also of the Süper Lig in May 2012.

He resigned on 12 November, as they were in 14th place.

On 30 June 2015, after nearly three years of inactivity, Carvalhal was appointed head coach of English Championship club Sheffield Wednesday.

He led the team to sixth position in his debut campaign and, subsequently, qualified them for the play-offs, ultimately losing in the play-off final at Wembley.

Another notable achievement in his first season in England was ousting Arsenal in the fourth round of the Football League Cup, with a 3–0 victory.

In May 2017, after leading Wednesday to a fourth-place league finish, Carvalhal became the first Portuguese to win the EFL Championship Manager of the Month award.

He subsequently coached them to the play-offs, where they were defeated by Huddersfield Town on penalties.

Carvalhal left by mutual consent on 24 December 2017, as the side ranked in the lower half of the table.

On 28 December 2017, four days after leaving Sheffield Wednesday, Carvalhal moved to the Premier League with Swansea City following the sacking of Paul Clement the previous week.

His first game in charge took place late in the month, and he led his team to a 2–1 away win over Watford, led by compatriot Marco Silva.

After two consecutive league home victories against Liverpool (1–0) and Arsenal (3–1), he was nominated for his first Premier League Manager of the Month award for the month of January.

On 18 May 2018, after the club's relegation, Carvalhal left the Liberty Stadium.

Carvalhal returned to Portugal one year later, being named Rio Ave's coach, In his only season, he led the team from Vila do Conde to Europa League qualification in fifth place, along with a best-ever points tally of 55.

On 28 July 2020, two days after leaving Rio Ave, Carvalhal signed a two-year contract at Braga, returning to the Estádio Municipal de Braga 14 years later.

The following 23 January, his side lost the league cup final 1–0 to Sporting; both he and opposing manager Rúben Amorim were sent off for arguing with each other.

He also reached the decisive match in the other domestic cup, winning 3–2 at Porto in the semi-finals second leg in spite of playing more than one hour with one player less; the final was a 2–0 victory over Benfica on 23 May.

Carvalhal was linked to Flamengo in Brazil for the 2022 season, but would have faced a €10 million fine for not completing his Braga contract.