Ricardo José Moutinho Chéu (born 14 May 1981) is a Portuguese
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
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 o ...
, currently in charge of
U.D. Vilafranquense
União Desportiva Vilafranquense is a Portuguese football club from Vila Franca de Xira, Lisbon District. It currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, the second tier of the Portuguese football league system, following its promotion in 2019. The oth ...
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, ...
games in 2014, while also leading six teams in the second tier. Abroad, he worked in Italy, Slovakia and Cyprus.
Managerial career
After leading Académico de Viseu to a mid-table finish in the 2013–14 season, Chéu was appointed in May 2014 as the new coach of Penafiel. Following three defeats in the first four games of the 2014–15 season, he left by mutual consent.
In November 2014, two months after departing from Penafiel, Chéu returned to management by returning to former side Académico de Viseu. In his second stint with the ''Viriatos'', Chéu led them to a twelfth-place finish. The following season saw him depart in February 2016 after a string of poor results.
On 25 October 2016, Chéu succeeded Carlos Brito at
Freamunde
Freamunde is a Portuguese parish in the municipality of Paços de Ferreira. The population in 2011 was 7,789,Braga B.
Chéu returned to work on 14 December 2017 as the third manager of the season at 18th-placed
União da Madeira União is the Portuguese word for Union. It may refer to:
*the Brazilian federal government
*União do Vegetal, a church known for its usage of Hoasca as tea
* Brazilian frigate ''União'' (F45), a general-purpose ''Niterói'' class frigate launc ...
. His team were relegated on the final day after a 3–2 loss at
Cova da Piedade
Cova da Piedade is a former civil parish in the municipality of Almada, Lisbon metropolitan area, Portugal. In 2013, the parish merged into the new parish Almada, Cova da Piedade, Pragal e Cacilhas. The population in 2011 was 19,904, in an area of ...
, whose winner came in the fourth minute of added time.
In July 2018 Chéu moved to Italy, accepting the role of head coach of newly promoted
Serie C
The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C.
The unification of the Lega Pro ...
club
Rieti
Rieti (; lat, Reate, Sabino: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, with a population of 47,700. It is the administrative seat of the province of Rieti and see of the diocese of Rieti, as well as the modern capital of the Sabina re ...
. He resigned on 30 December following the club's change of ownership.
On 9 January 2019 Chéu was named new head coach of Slovak Super Liga club
Senica
Senica (; german: Senitz; hu, Szenice) is a town in Trnava Region, western Slovakia. It is located in the north-eastern part of the Záhorie lowland, close to the Little Carpathians.
Etymology
The name is derived from the word ''seno'' ("hay") ...
on an 18-month deal, with the club second from bottom. Having avoided relegation, he moved in June to Spartak Trnava in the same league. He was replaced a year later, after coming fifth.
Chéu returned to his country's second tier on 11 September 2021, succeeding Rui Santos at 13th-placed
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 ...
. He left by mutual consent at the end of the season on 1 June, having fallen one place in the table over his spell.
Chéu was hired at
Doxa Katokopias
Doxa Katokopias FC ( el, Δόξα Κατωκοπιάς) is a Cypriot football team from Katokopia in the Nicosia District. Since the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, Katokopia is under Turkish occupation, and the club moved to Peristerona, w ...
of the Cypriot First Division in August 2022 and began his tenure on 29 August with a goalless draw away to the previous season's runners-up,
AEK Larnaca
AEK Larnaca FC ( el, AEK; for short Αθλητική Έvωση Κίτιον Λάρνακας , translit=''Athletiki Enosi Kition Larnakas'', "Athletic Union Kition of Larnaca") is a Cypriot professional football club based in Larnaca. The club ...
. He left before the end of the calendar year and returned to Portugal's second tier on 9 February 2023 at Vilafranquense.