Ruben Amorim
Ruben Filipe Marques Amorim is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who was most recently manager of Premier League club Manchester United.
As a footballer, Amorim played as a midfielder. He spent most of his professional career with Belenenses and Benfica, signing with the latter in 2008 and going on to win ten major titles, including three league titles, one Taça de Portugal, five Taças da Liga and one Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira. He represented Portugal in two FIFA World Cups, earning a total of 14 caps.
After retiring as a player in 2017, Amorim began his coaching career at Casa Pia in 2018, before resigning that same year amid a dispute with the Portuguese Football Federation. He was then appointed head coach at Braga's reserve team, popularly known as Braga B, before taking charge of the Braga senior side in December 2019, winning the 2020 Taça da Liga.
In March 2020, Amorim was appointed manager of Sporting CP, becoming then the third most expensive manager ever. In his first season, Amorim guided the club to a double by winning both the Taça da Liga and the Primeira Liga, ending the latter's 19-year league title drought. These achievements won him the Primeira Liga's Manager of the Year award for the 2020–21 season. He later led them to another Primeira Liga title in the 2023–24 season, being named for the second time Primeira Liga's Manager of the Year. He left the club for Manchester United in late 2024, bringing them to the final of the Europa League in 2025 before being dismissed from his role in January 2026.
Club career
Early career
Amorim began his career with Benfica, playing in the youth team alongside Bruno Simão and Pedro Russiano.Belenenses
After being released by Benfica, Amorim went on trial with Belenenses at the suggestion of Simao, playing with a broken arm.Amorim made his debut in the Primeira Liga on 14 December 2003, playing one minute for Belenenses in a 2–0 home win against Alverca. He played in the 2007 Portuguese Cup final for the club.
Benfica
In late April 2008, Amorim signed a four-year deal with Benfica after his Belenenses contract expired. During his first season he was a regular starter, scoring his first goal on 23 November in a 2–0 away victory over Académica de Coimbra.Competing with new signings Javi García and Ramires, Amorim appeared less in 2009–10, but still featured prominently as the side won the league – and the League Cup – after a five-year drought. When healthy, he was again regularly used by manager Jorge Jesus in the 2010–11 season. On 19 January 2011, however, after undergoing surgery on both knees, he was sidelined for several months.
In early October 2011, whilst on duty with the national team, Amorim criticised Jesus' preferences – Benfica played most of their games without a single Portuguese player. Increasingly disgusted with his plight, in December, he refused to train with the bench players – after warming up for several minutes only to not be used – following a game against Rio Ave, being subjected to the club's disciplinary proceedings; on 30 January 2012, a loan was arranged with Braga until June of the following year.
In 2013–14, Amorim returned to the Estádio da Luz and played 37 matches across all competitions, helping to win an unprecedent treble of league, Taça de Portugal and Taça da Liga. At the beginning of the following campaign, he featured the full 120 minutes to help his team defeat Rio Ave in the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, thus winning four titles in 2014. On 24 August, however, he got severely injured while playing on an artificial turf at Boavista, with news the next day reporting an anterior cruciate ligament injury; he was sidelined until 11 February 2015, when he featured as a substitute in a 3–0 home defeat of Vitória de Setúbal in the semi-finals of the domestic league cup.
On 14 August 2015, Amorim joined Al-Wakrah in Qatar on a season-long deal. On 4 April 2017, after more than a year of inactivity due to a complete rupture of the cruciate ligament in his right knee, the 32-year-old terminated his contract with Benfica and retired.
International career
Amorim appeared for Portugal at the 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in the Netherlands, as the national side eventually lost to Italy for the final berth for the following year's Summer Olympic Games. On 10 May 2010, although not part of the senior squad's list of 23 for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, he was named in a backup list of six players. On 8 June, he replaced Nani after the Manchester United player sustained a clavicle injury which ruled him out of the finals in South Africa. His senior debut came on the 15th, as he played the last five minutes of the group stage opener against Ivory Coast in the place of Raul Meireles.Amorim was also selected by new manager Paulo Bento for the 2014 World Cup. He made his debut in the tournament on 26 June in the last group phase match against Ghana, featuring the full 90 minutes in the 2–1 win but seeing his team eliminated on goal difference.
Style of play
Amorim's style was similar to countryman Tiago, with both playing the same position, operating in central midfield, both defensive and offensive, although he could also be deployed as a right-back or winger.Coaching career
Early career
Shortly after retiring, Amorim joined the Lisbon Football Association in order to earn a coaching licence. Additionally, he attended a postgraduation course in psychomotor education and spent a week-long internship under Manchester United manager José Mourinho.Amorim started working as a manager in 2018–19, with third division team Casa Pia. After losing his first two games and, with his pride hurt and doubts setting in, he announced if he lost the third game he would quit. In the next match, he changed his system and played a back three for the first time. With the new system working, Casa Pia embarked on an unbeaten run. He also felt he had found the formation that allowed him to produce the football he wanted. In January 2019, the team were deducted six points and he was suspended from all activity for one year after giving instructions during a match without having the required coaching level to do so; even though the bans were suspended shortly after, he presented his resignation in the aftermath.
On 20 May 2019, Amorim initially agreed to return to Benfica as their under-23 coach. The following month, however, after a meeting at the club, he rejected that possibility.
Braga
In mid-September 2019, Amorim was appointed at Braga's reserves in the third tier, winning seven of his eight games, managing them. Three months later, he replaced the dismissed Ricardo Sá Pinto at the helm of the first team on a two-and-a-half-year contract, with the Minhotos being eighth place in the league at the time of his appointment.In his first game in charge on 4 January, he led them to a 7–1 away demolition of B SAD, and three weeks later won the domestic league cup final against Porto with a last-minute goal from Ricardo Horta, Braga's first trophy in four years. In the Primeira Liga, on 15 February, Amorim recorded Braga's first win away to Benfica in 65 years, with João Palhinha scoring the game's only goal. He lost his first point in the league, after Braga drew 2–2 at home to Gil Vicente. During this time, he picked up ten wins in 13 games, with Braga being placed third in the league, he only lost two games for the club, in the round of 16 of the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League against Rangers, 3–2 away in the first leg on 20 February, and 1–0 on the return leg at home, a week later.
Sporting CP
2019–20: Debut season
Amorim became Sporting CP's manager on 4 March 2020 after the sacking of Silas, signing a deal until 30 June 2023 with a €20 million buyout clause. Despite only having two years of top-flight experience, Sporting paid €10 million for his services, the third-highest transfer fee for a manager in history.In his first game in charge on 8 March, he led them to a 2–0 home win against Desportivo das Aves. In the rest of the games he took over, Amorim won six and drew three, but lost to Benfica in the Lisbon derby and rivals Porto at the end of the season, guiding Sporting to a fourth-place finish and qualification to the Europa League third qualifying round. Despite their league finish, Amorim managed to bring a recognisable identity that the club had previously been lacking, despite a toxic atmosphere that had grown around the club since May 2018, after a mob of about 50 club supporters brutally attacked players and staff on the premises of Sporting's training facility.
2020–21: Sporting's first league title in 19 years
In the summer transfer window, Jérémy Mathieu retired after suffering a knee injury in training, and was replaced by Zouhair Feddal. Rodrigo Battaglia, Miguel Luís, Luciano Vietto, Wendel and Marcos Acuña departed from the club. Experienced goalkeeper Antonio Adán was brought in as the new first-choice goalkeeper, with other signings including Nuno Santos, Bruno Tabata, Pedro Porro, João Mário and João Palhinha, the last returning from his loan at Braga. At the end of the transfer window, Sporting signed Pedro Gonçalves, who had impressed in the previous season at Famalicão. Along with the new signings, Amorim promoted Daniel Bragança, Gonçalo Inácio, Matheus Nunes, Nuno Mendes and Tiago Tomás to the first-team squad.On 23 January 2021, Amorim won his second consecutive league cup final, against his previous club; both he and Braga manager Carlos Carvalhal were sent to the stands for arguing with each other. On 4 March, he renewed his contract for one more year, with an improved release clause of €30 million. Following a national record of a 32-match unbeaten-streak, including on 11 May, a 1–0 home win against Boavista, he guided the club to their first league title triumph in 19 years, with Pedro Gonçalves finishing as the top scorer of the league with 23 goals and six Sporting players being named in the Primeira Liga Team of the Year. Sporting only had one loss, during the season, being defeated by rivals Benfica 4–3 away in the Lisbon derby on 15 May. At the end of the season, Amorim was named Primeira Liga's Manager of the Month in April and the Primeira Liga's Manager of the Year.