Paulo Alexandre Rodrigues Fonseca (born 5 March 1973) is a Portuguese professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and former player who played as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. He is currently manager of

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

club

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

. He amassed

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

totals of 111 matches and three goals over seven seasons, representing Leça,

Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses (), commonly known as Os Belenenses or simply 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 19,856 ...

, Marítimo,

Vitória de Guimarães Vitoria or Vitória may refer to: People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Sofia Vitória (bor ...

and

Estrela da Amadora Club Football Estrela Amadora SAD (), sometimes just Estrela da Amadora, is a Portuguese professional sports club (predominantly football) based in Amadora, northwest of Lisbon. The team is currently competing in the Primeira Liga, after winnin ...

. Fonseca became a manager in 2005, notably winning the

2015–16 Taça de Portugal The 2015–16 Taça de Portugal was the 76th season of the Taça de Portugal, the premier knockout competition in Portuguese football. As of this season, it became also known as Taça de Portugal Placard due to sponsorship by sports betting game ...

with

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

as well as three editions of the

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( ) or UPL is a professional association football league in Ukraine and the highest level of the Ukrainian football league system. Originally known as the Vyshcha Liha ( , ) it was formed in 1991 during the 1992 in ...

with

Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk () is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club that was based in the city of Donetsk until 2014 when, due to the War in Donbas (2014–2022), War in Donbas, the club was forced to move to Lvi ...

. He also coached

Paços de Ferreira Paços de Ferreira () is a city in the Porto District, in the north of Portugal. The population of the city in 2011 was 7491, while its municipality had 56,340 inhabitants, in an area of 70.99 km². Sometimes referred to as the ''Capital do ...

to a best-ever third place in the

2012–13 Primeira Liga The 2012–13 Primeira Liga (also known as Liga ZON Sagres for sponsorship reasons) was the 79th season of the Primeira Liga, the top professional league for Portuguese association football clubs. It began on 19 August 2012 and concluded on 19 M ...

, qualifying the club for the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

. Following a couple of seasons in charge of

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

, he joined

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

in June 2022, leaving two years later and returning to Italy with

AC Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

, being dismissed in December 2024.

Playing career

Born in

Nampula Nampula is the capital city of Nampula Province in Northern Mozambique. With a population of 743,125 (2017 census), it is the third-largest city in Mozambique after Maputo and Matola. The city is located in the interior of Nampula Province, appro ...

Portuguese Mozambique Portuguese Mozambique () or Portuguese East Africa () were the common terms by which Mozambique was designated during the period in which it was a Portuguese Empire, Portuguese overseas province. Portuguese Mozambique originally constituted a str ...

to a military father, Fonseca was a year old when his family relocated to Barreiro following the

Carnation Revolution The Carnation Revolution (), code-named Operation Historic Turn (), also known as the 25 April (), was a military coup by military officers that overthrew the Estado Novo government on 25 April 1974 in Portugal. The coup produced major socia ...

. He played 14 years as a senior, beginning with his adopted hometown's Barreirense in the third division and moving straight to the

with Leça in the 1995–96 season, starting in 21 of his league appearances as the club finished 14th and narrowly avoided relegation. In the following five years he continued in the latter competition, being first choice with

and Marítimo but only a backup with

and

. Fonseca retired in June 2005 at the age of 32 after a further four campaigns with Estrela, three of those spent in the Segunda Liga. In the 2003–04 campaign he participated in 15 games as the

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

side ranked last in the top tier, with the subsequent relegation.

Coaching career

Early years

Fonseca started coaching immediately after retiring, remaining two years at the helm of Estrela da Amadora's youths. From 2007 to 2011 he was in charge of several modest teams, notably Pinhalnovense which he led to the quarter-finals of the

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

in both the 2009–10 and 2010–11 seasons. In 2011–12, Fonseca was appointed at

Aves Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight ...

in division two for his first job in the professionals, and he led the team to the third position, just two points shy of promotion.

Paços Ferreira

In his first season in charge of a top-flight team, Fonseca led

to a third-place finish after signing a two-year contract on 28 May 2012. The club consequently

qualified Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

for the play-off round of the

for the only time in its history; in the domestic league, they only lost to champions

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

and runners-up Benfica, notably winning both games against

(2–0 at home, 3–2 away) and

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

(1–0 on both occasions). Paços also reached the semi-finals of the Portuguese Cup that campaign, being knocked out by Benfica.

Porto

Fonseca succeeded Vítor Pereira at Porto – winners of the last three league titles – when he joined on a two-year deal on 10 June 2013. He started his spell on a high note, winning the year's

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese association football, football match played since 1979 between the winners of the top-tier league (Primeira L ...

after a 3–0 victory over Vitória de Guimarães which marked his first honour as a coach. However, on 5 March 2014, following a string of poor results that left the club in the third position in the league, nine points behind leaders Benfica, Fonseca was relieved of his duties. Previously, on 12 January, he had stated that Porto would be champions in the last matchday against that opponent.

Paços return and Braga

On 11 June 2014, Fonseca returned to Paços de Ferreira. His one season back at the Estádio da Mata Real resulted in an eighth-place finish, missing out on

qualification Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

for the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

on the final day. Fonseca agreed to a two-year contract with Braga on 1 July 2015. He led them to fourth position, also winning the domestic cup for the first time in 50 years with a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

victory over Porto in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. In the Europa League, they reached the last-eight stage.

Shakhtar Donetsk

Fonseca moved abroad for the first time in his career on 31 May 2016, replacing legendary

Mircea Lucescu Mircea Lucescu (; born 29 July 1945) is a Romanian professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player, currently the head coach of the Romania national football team, Romania national team. He i ...

(12 seasons) at the helm of

and signing a two-year contract at the

side. He won the double in all three seasons of his spell– which earned him the distinction as the league's best coach in 2016–17. Fonseca's side reached the

round of 16 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

of the 2017–18 Champions League, after finishing second in the group stage following a 2–1 home defeat of

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

. Having inflicted a first defeat in 29 matches of

Pep Guardiola Josep "Pep" Guardiola Sala (; born 18 January 1971) is a Catalans, Catalan professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player from Spain who has been the manager of club Manchester City F.C., Ma ...

's side, he kept a promise to do his next press conference dressed as the fictional hero

Zorro Zorro ( or , Spanish for "fox") is a fictional character created in 1919 by American Pulp magazine, pulp writer Johnston McCulley, appearing in works set in the Pueblo de Los Ángeles in Alta California. He is typically portrayed as a dashin ...

Roma

On 11 June 2019, Fonseca was appointed manager of

. He led the side to the fifth place in the

in his first season, as well as the semi-finals of the subsequent Europa League. He announced his departure in May 2021. Immediately after leaving Roma, Fonseca was director

Fabio Paratici Fabio Paratici (born 13 July 1972) is an Italian association football director and former footballer. He made his professional debut as a footballer with Piacenza in 1989, playing in Serie C1, the third tier of Italian football at the time. Duri ...

's top choice to be manager of

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

, but the advanced negotiations were scrapped on 17 June 2021, allegedly due to tax issues. However, in an interview with ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' in September, the former revealed that the main reason for this was that the latter wanted to hire a more defensive-minded coach. In October, he was interviewed by

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

following their Saudi-led takeover, before the interest shifted to

Unai Emery Unai Emery Etxegoien (born 3 November 1971) is a Spanish Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player who is the manager of Premier League club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa. He is widely regarded as o ...

and

Eddie Howe Edward John Frank Howe (born 29 November 1977) is an English professional football manager and former player, who is the manager of Premier League club Newcastle United. A centre-back during his playing career, Howe spent most of his playing ...

; his name was then linked to a third English club,

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

Lille

On 29 June 2022, Fonseca signed a two-year contract with French

club

. He made his debut on 7 August in a 4–1 home win over

Auxerre Auxerre ( , , Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Auchoirre'') is the capital (Prefectures in France, prefecture) of the Yonne Departments of France, department and the fourth-largest city in the Burgundy historical region southeast of Par ...

. On 9 October, his team defeated

Derby du Nord The Derby du Nord (, ) is a football rivalry contested between French clubs Lille OSC and RC Lens, two of the region's most successful clubs. Both clubs are located in northern France, though in different departments: Lille in the Nord and Lens ...

rivals

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements'') ...

1–0 also at the

Stade Pierre-Mauroy The Stade Pierre-Mauroy (), also known as the Decathlon Arena – Stade Pierre-Mauroy for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-use retractable roof stadium in Villeneuve-d'Ascq (Métropole Européenne de Lille) in Northern France, that opened in Augus ...

. One of the best attacking sides in the first half of that season, they played an open 4–2–3–1 formation with

Benjamin André Benjamin Michel Édouard André (born 3 August 1990) is a French professional footballer who plays as a central and defensive midfielder for club Lille, for which he serves as the captain. Club career Ajaccio André was with the Corsica-based ...

André Gomes André Filipe Tavares Gomes (; born 30 July 1993) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Ligue 1 club Lille. He played three years at Benfica, where he won the domestic treble in the 2013–14 season. ...

Angel Gomes Adilson Angel Abreu de Almeida Gomes (born 31 August 2000) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for Ligue 1 club Olympique de Marseille, Marseille and the England national football team, England ...

being deployed as central midfielders behind playmaker

Rémy Cabella Rémy Joseph Cabella (born 8 March 1990) is a French professional association football, footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Super League Greece club Olympiacos F.C., Olympiacos. He had two spells each at Montpellier HSC, Montpell ...

and lone striker

Jonathan David Jonathan Christian David (born January 14, 2000) is a professional Association football, soccer player who last played as a Forward (association football), forward for club Lille OSC, Lille and the Canada men's national soccer team, Canada na ...

. Following a 4–3 home victory against

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

on 23 October, only

and

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

had more possession in the domestic league. In the 2023–24 campaign, Lille finished fourth after a 2–2 draw with

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one millionChampions League qualification. He left on 5 June 2024 by mutual consent.

AC Milan

On 13 June 2024, Fonseca was appointed as the new head coach of

, agreeing to a three-year deal as of 1 July. After a bad start in the season and rumours of imminent dismissal, he oversaw a 2–1 victory against

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

in the

Derby della Madonnina The Derby della Madonnina (; named after the ''Madonnina'' statue on top of the Milan Cathedral), also known as the Derby di Milano (), is a derby football match between the two prominent Milanese clubs, Inter Milan and AC Milan. In the past, ...

on 22 September. Ahead of the match, he experimented with the lineup, choosing 4–4–2 and 4–2–4 for defence and attack, respectively; it was also the first time the club had defeated this opposition in two years, ending a six-game losing streak. Fonseca was sacked on 29 December 2024, with the team in eighth position.

Lyon

On 31 January 2025, Fonseca returned to the French top tier with Lyon. On 2 March, he aggressively confronted Benoît Millot at the end of a 2–1 home win over Brest, his head making contact with the

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other title ...

; he was

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

for his actions and, the following day (his 52nd birthday), handed a suspension until 30 November that included the impossibility of sitting on his team's bench or entering their dressing room until 15 September.

Managerial style

Tactics

At Shakhtar, Roma and Lille, Fonseca preferred a 4–2–3–1 formation and an emphasis on dominating possession. In these teams, the player behind the

centre-forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than Midfielder, midfielders and Defender (association football), d ...

played as a

second striker In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on bein ...

;

Henrikh Mkhitaryan Henrikh Mkhitaryan ( ; born 21 January 1989) is an Armenian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Inter Milan. Mkhitaryan won four Armenian Premier League titles with Pyunik, and joined Metalurh Donetsk in 2009; he moved ...

achieved 13 goals for Roma in 2020–21 from that position. In an interview for French media RMC about his Lille debut, Fonseca described his managerial style as "an offensive play in order to overcome the opponent, to settle in the opponent's half and to create many scoring chances."

Influences

Speaking in 2021, Fonseca mentioned three coaches which influenced his philosophy and style: ‘At this moment, I can highlight

Maurizio Sarri Maurizio Sarri (; born 10 January 1959) is an Italian professional football manager who is currently manager of Serie A club Lazio. Sarri did not play football professionally, taking part as an amateur centre back and coach while working as a ba ...

and Pep Guardiola as the coaches I admire the most because they are bold, they have their own ideas, they are brave enough to play their own game and attack. Now, we can’t forget that

José Mourinho José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix (; born 26 January 1963) is a Portuguese professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player, who is currently the head coach of Süper Lig club Fenerba ...

has marked a generation of coaches in Portugal and marked Portuguese football. He completely changed the mindset of Portuguese coaches and he’s obviously been a great influence.’

Personal life

Fonseca had a son and a daughter with his first wife. On 29 May 2018, he married Ukrainian television personality and producer Katerina Ostroushko (born 1991) at

Lake Como Lake Como ( , ) also known as Lario, is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, Italy. It has an area of , making it the third-largest lake in Italy, after Lake Garda and Lake Maggiore. At over deep, it is one of the deepest lakes in Europe. ...

, Italy; their son was born the same year. The family escaped

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

after the 2022 Russian invasion, travelling for 30 hours to Romania.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Manager

Porto *

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Braga *

: 2015–16 Shakhtar Donetsk *

: 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19 *

Ukrainian Cup The Ukrainian Cup ( ) is an association football national knockout cup competition run by the Ukrainian Association of Football. The competition is conducted almost exclusively among professional clubs. Since the 2003–04 season, the Cup winner qu ...

: 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19 *

Ukrainian Super Cup The Ukrainian Super Cup () is an association football game of the Ukrainian Premier League in traditional super cup format that acts as the grand-opening for every new football (soccer), football competition season in Ukraine. Originally it was s ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

Individual *Ukrainian Premier League Best Coach: 2016–17

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fonseca, Paulo 1973 births Living people People from Nampula Mozambican people of Portuguese descent Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Barreiro, Portugal Men's association football central defenders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players F.C. Barreirense players FC Porto players Leça F.C. players C.F. Os Belenenses players C.S. Marítimo players Vitória S.C. players C.F. Estrela da Amadora players Portuguese football managers Primeira Liga managers Liga Portugal 2 managers C.D. Pinhalnovense managers C.D. Aves managers F.C. Paços de Ferreira managers FC Porto managers S.C. Braga managers Ukrainian Premier League managers FC Shakhtar Donetsk managers Serie A managers AS Roma managers AC Milan managers Ligue 1 managers Lille OSC managers Olympique Lyonnais managers Portuguese expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Ukraine Expatriate football managers in Italy Expatriate football managers in France Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Italy Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in France