Marco Silva

Marco Alexandre Saraiva da Silva (born 12 July 1977) is a Portuguese football manager and former player who played as a right-back.

He is the head coach of club Fulham.

He played for a variety of Portuguese clubs, finishing his career with a six-year spell at Estoril.

He managed them for three years before spending a season as coach of Sporting CP, during which the team won the Portuguese Cup.

From 2000 to 2005 he alternated between the second and third divisions, representing Trofense, Rio Ave, Braga B, Salgueiros and Odivelas.

In the 2005 off-season, Silva joined Estoril, where he remained until his retirement six years later, always in the second tier.

He led the team to the third place in the championship, also winning the Taça de Portugal by beating Braga 3–1 on penalties after a 2–2 draw in the final – this was the club's first piece of silverware since the 2008 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira.

He played his last match on 2 January 2011, a 0–1 home loss against Penafiel in the group stage of the Taça da Liga.

Silva retired in June at the age of 34, amassing second-division totals of 152 games and two goals for three clubs.

On 10 June 2011, immediately after retiring, Silva was appointed director of football at Estoril.

However, early into the season, he replaced Vinícius Eutrópio as manager, with the Cascais team ranking tenth in the second tier.

His first game in charge was a 3–1 defeat at Penafiel and, after losing only three matches in 24, he helped the club return to the top flight after seven years, as champions.

He ultimately was chosen as the league's Manager of the Year.

Silva made his debut in the Portuguese top division on 17 August 2012, in a 2–1 away defeat to Olhanense.

Estoril overachieved for a second best-ever fifth place in the table, with the subsequent qualification for the UEFA Europa League, also a first.

Highlights included not losing any of the games against Sporting CP (3–1 at home, 2–2 away), and drawing 1–1 at Benfica.

On 23 February 2014, Estoril achieved an historic first-time win at the Estádio do Dragão, the 1–0 victory – where he was sent off midway through the second half – being Porto's first home defeat since the 2–3 against Leixões in 2008.

He left his position on 12 May, after leading his team to the fourth position.

Silva agreed to a four-year contract with Sporting on 21 May 2014, replacing Leonardo Jardim who left for Monaco.

He then worked abroad, first with Olympiacos where he won the Super League Greece in 2015–16.

He spent several years in England as head coach of Hull City, Watford, Everton and Fulham.

Born in Lisbon, Silva developed into a professional footballer with local Belenenses.

In a 15-year career he only appeared in two Primeira Liga games, one with that club and another with Campomaiorense.

On 4 June 2015, four days after winning the trophy, Sporting announced that Silva had been dismissed with just cause, for not wearing their official suit in a cup match against Vizela.

The dismissal was necessary for president Bruno de Carvalho to bring in Jorge Jesus from rivals Benfica, and included a clause requiring Silva to pay Sporting should he join another Portuguese team.

On 8 July 2015, Silva was appointed the successor of countryman Vítor Pereira at Olympiacos, signing on a two-year contract.

His first competitive game occurred in the season opener in the Super League Greece, winning 3–0 against Panionios.

On 16 September, he played his first UEFA Champions League match with his new club, losing 0–3 at home to Bayern Munich in the group stage.

Silva subsequently guided the team to break the record of eleven consecutive league wins from the first matchday, also recording a 3–2 victory at Arsenal in the Champions League group phase.

Silva left Olympiacos on 23 June 2016, citing personal reasons.

The Piraeus side's run of domestic wins ended at 17, a European record in the 21st century, but they nonetheless won a record 43rd title with six games remaining.

On 5 January 2017, Silva was appointed as the head coach of Hull City until the end of the season, replacing Mike Phelan who was dismissed with the team bottom of the Premier League.

Upon his appointment, vice-chairman Ehab Allam said: "He has a great track record and we feel this is a bold and exciting appointment in our aim to retain the club's Premier League status".

Silva brought in his own coaching team, including assistant João Pedro Sousa, first-team coach Gonçalo Pedro and goalkeeping coach Hugo Oliveira.

Two days after his appointment, Silva led the side to a 2–0 win over Swansea City in the third round in the FA Cup.

His first league match in charge also ended in success, with a 3–1 defeat of Bournemouth on 14 January.

On 26 January 2017, Silva's Hull beat Manchester United 2–1 in the semi-finals of the EFL Cup, giving the club its first victory over that opponent since 1974.

However, due to the latter's 2–0 win in the first-leg of the tie, the former failed to advance to the final, but on 4 February they beat Liverpool 2–0 in the domestic league, giving the coach four wins from his first four home matches as manager.

In March 2017, Silva stated that he wanted to end the groundshare agreement with the Hull rugby league team at the KCOM Stadium, as the latter played on Friday and affected the pitch quality for his team at the weekend.

On 25 May, after the team's relegation, he resigned.