Fernando Santos (footballer, born 1954)

Fernando Santos

Santos as Beşiktaş manager in 2024
Personal information
Full name	Fernando Manuel Fernandes da Costa Santos[1]
Date of birth	(1954-10-10) 10 October 1954 (age 70)[1]
Place of birth	Lisbon, Portugal[1]
Height	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[2]
Position(s)	Left-back
Team information
Current team	Azerbaijan (manager)
Youth career
1970–1971	Operário Lisboa
1971–1973	Benfica
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1973–1979	Estoril	91	(2)
1979–1980	Marítimo	26	(0)
1980–1987	Estoril	125	(2)
Total		242	(4)
Managerial career
1987–1988	Estoril (assistant)
1988–1994	Estoril
1994–1998	Estrela Amadora
1998–2001	Porto
2001–2002	AEK Athens
2002	Panathinaikos
2003–2004	Sporting CP
2004–2006	AEK Athens
2006–2007	Benfica
2007–2010	PAOK
2010–2014	Greece
2014–2022	Portugal
2023	Poland
2024	Beşiktaş
2024–	Azerbaijan
Medal record Men's football Representing  Portugal (manager) UEFA European Championship Winner 2016 France UEFA Nations League Winner 2019 Portugal FIFA Confederations Cup 2017 Russia
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Fernando Manuel Fernandes da Costa Santos GOM (born 10 October 1954) is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who played as a left-back. He is the current coach of the Azerbaijan national team.

He amassed Primeira Liga totals of 161 games and two goals over eight seasons, almost always with Estoril. After retiring, he worked as a coach for several decades, starting out at his main club in 1988.

Santos managed Portugal's Big Three, winning five major titles with Porto. For the better part of the 2000s he worked in Greece, mainly with AEK Athens and PAOK. In 2010, he was appointed at the helm of the Greece national team, coaching them in a World Cup and one European Championship. Subsequently, he led Portugal to victory in the Euro 2016 and the 2019 Nations League, which were the first two major titles in the nation's history, before leaving in 2022. The following year, he took over as manager of Poland, being dismissed in September.

Following a brief spell back in club management with Besiktas, Santos became Azerbaijan coach in June 2024.