Miguel Cardoso

The newly appointed head coach of Greek Super League club AEK Athens, Miguel Cardoso has coached extensively in Spain, Ukraine and in his home country of Portugal. With a background in fitness, he graduated in 1995 with a degree in Physical Education and Sports with specialization in football. He went on to earn a Masters in Sports Science in 1998 at the College of Sports Science and Physical Education at the University of Porto. Starting his coaching career with the youth teams of FC Porto whilst also teaching physical education at a school near his hometown of Trofa, Cardoso initially joined the club as assistant coach of the U10s. He later progressed through the youth set-up to become fitness coach of the B-team in 1999 and he took charge of the U15s in 2003. The following year Cardoso moved to Belenenses to become fitness coach to the first team, before following former Belenenses manager Carlos Carvalhal to Braga to take on the same role. In September 2007, Cardoso was named as Domingos Paciencia’s assistant at Portuguese club Academica. He continued to work with Paciencia as his assistant manager at Braga, Sporting and Deportivo de La Coruna. In June 2013, Cardoso moved to Ukraine, where he was appointed manager of the Shakhtar Donetsk U21 team, while also working as a coordinator for the club’s youth set-up. Three years later, he was promoted to assistant manager of the first team. Returning to Portugal in 2017, Cardoso took charge of Primeira Liga club Rio Ave and after achieving three wins and an impressive draw against Benfica in his first four matches in charge, he was given the Manager of the Month award. He went on to lead Rio Ave to the club’s best-ever campaign in the Portuguese top flight, finishing fifth and achieving qualification to the UEFA Europa League. He subsequently replaced Claudio Ranieri as manager of French side Nantes, and went on to work in Spain once again as boss of Celta Vigo. Cardoso studied for his UEFA Pro Licence alongside Jose Mourinho.