António Jorge Rocha Simão (born 12 August 1976) is a Portuguese former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, currently a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

. Having played only as an amateur, he began work as an assistant manager at 26, before his first outright position at Atlético in 2014. He led six

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal ...

clubs, starting with Belenenses.

Football career

Born in Pampilhosa da Serra,

Coimbra District Coimbra District ( pt, Distrito de Coimbra, or ) is located in the Centro Region, Portugal. The district capital is the city of Coimbra. Municipalities The district is composed by 17 municipalities: * Arganil * Cantanhede * Coimbra * Conde ...

, Simão played solely amateur football, emerging through

C.F. Estrela da Amadora Club Football Estrela da Amadora (), sometimes just Estrela, is a Portuguese sports club (predominantly football) based in Amadora, northwest of Lisbon. It's the successor of Clube de Futebol Estrela da Amadora, founded in 1932 and extinct in ...

's youth system and retiring at the age of 26. He started working as a coach in 2003, going on to act as assistant at several clubs. In February 2014, Simão left his assistant position at

club

C.F. Os Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses, commonly known as Os Belenenses (), is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 25,000-seat Estádio do Rest ...

and embarked on his first managerial role by accepting an invitation at Segunda Liga side

Atlético Clube de Portugal Atlético Clube de Portugal is a Portuguese club, located in the city of Lisbon, more precisely in the parish of Alcântara. It was founded on 18 September 1942 due to the merger of two clubs of Alcântara (Carcavelinhos Football Club) and Santo ...

until the end of the season. Despite claiming 16 points from a possible 36, he was unable to prevent his team from finishing bottom of the league, but they were later reinstated as the competition was expanded. Subsequently, Simão joined C.D. Mafra from the third division. On 17 March 2015, however, he moved straight to the top tier at Belenenses, replacing

Lito Vidigal José Carlos Fernandes Vidigal (born 11 July 1969), commonly known as Lito, is an Angolan professional football manager and former player who played as a defender. He spent his entire playing career in Portugal, mainly with Belenenses in the ...

at the sixth-placed club. His debut five days later was a 1–0 loss at Boavista F.C. and his nine-game spell divided equally between results, leaving the team's position unchanged and

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

qualification Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

confirmed. In the 2015 off-season, Simão succeeded Paulo Fonseca at the helm of F.C. Paços de Ferreira. He left at the end of the campaign, after achieving a seventh-place finish. Simão started 2016–17 also in the top tier, with

G.D. Chaves Grupo Desportivo de Chaves, commonly known as Chaves (), is a Portuguese football club from Chaves currently playing in the Primeira Liga. They were founded in 1949 and currently play at Estádio Municipal de Chaves. Their home kit is red-and-bl ...

. On 17 December 2016, he was appointed at fellow league club S.C. Braga as a replacement for fired José Peseiro. He resigned at the latter in late April 2017, due to poor results. Simão returned to both active and the Portuguese top flight on 14 September 2017, replacing the fired Miguel Leal at the helm of Boavista. His first game in charge was two days later, and his team managed to defeat current champions

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904 as ''Sport Lisboa'', B ...

2–1 at home. On 26 January 2019, with the team one point above the relegation places, he left by mutual consent to be replaced by Vidigal. In June that year, Simão's name was discussed by the board of

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

club

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

for their vacant managerial position, but instead he took his first foreign job at

Al-Fayha FC Al Fayha FC () is a professional football club based in Al Majma'ah, that plays in the Saudi Professional League, the first tier of Saudi Football. It was founded in 1953. Al Fayha's colors are orange and blue, hence the nickname "Al-Burtuqa ...

in the

Saudi Professional League The Saudi Pro League (SPL for short) ( ar, دوري المحترفين السعودي, link=no, ''Dawriyy al-Muḥtarifayni as-Suʿūdī''), known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL for short) for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of associat ...

. In late August 2020, he was dismissed with three games remaining and one point above

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open league ...

. On 14 May 2021, having been relegated with

Royal Excel Mouscron Royal Excel Mouscron (, ), commonly known as Mouscron or familiarly as REM, was a Belgian professional football club based in Mouscron. The team was formed as ''Royal Mouscron-Péruwelz'' in the spring of 2010 as a result of the merging between ...

of the

Belgian First Division A The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 tea ...

, Simão returned to Paços de Ferreira. On 11 December, after eight matches without a win in all competitions and with the side placed 13th in

the league ''The League'' is an American sitcom that aired on FX and later FXX from October 29, 2009, to December 9, 2015, for a total of seven seasons. The series, set in Chicago, Illinois, is a semi-improvised comedy show about a fantasy football leag ...

, he left by mutual agreement. Simão took over from the sacked Mário Silva at C.D. Santa Clara on 11 January 2023, signing a five-month contract. With two points from seven games, he was dismissed on 26 February.

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Simao, Jorge 1976 births Living people People from Pampilhosa da Serra Sportspeople from Coimbra District Portuguese footballers Association football midfielders C.F. Estrela da Amadora players Real S.C. players Portuguese football managers Primeira Liga managers Liga Portugal 2 managers Atlético Clube de Portugal managers C.F. Os Belenenses managers F.C. Paços de Ferreira managers G.D. Chaves managers S.C. Braga managers Boavista F.C. managers C.D. Santa Clara managers Saudi Professional League managers Al-Fayha FC managers Belgian Pro League managers Royal Excel Mouscron managers Portuguese expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Saudi Arabia Expatriate football managers in Belgium Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Belgium