Rui Miguel Garcia Lopes de Almeida (born 29 September 1969) is a Portuguese professional football manager. After working as an assistant to Jesualdo Ferreira, he worked mainly in France, with Bastia in

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

and four clubs in

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...

, as well as a brief spell in his country's

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, ...

with Gil Vicente.

Managerial career

Almeida spent his early managerial career as an assistant at Estoril and

Trofense Clube Desportivo Trofense (), commonly known as Trofense, is a Portuguese football club based in Trofa, Portugal. Founded in 1930, it plays in Segunda Liga, holding home games at '' Estádio do Clube Desportivo Trofense'', with a capacity of 5,0 ...

. His first stint as a professional manager was with the Syria under-23 team in an attempt for qualification to the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. A polyglot (speaking Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Arabic, English and French), he left Syria to become assistant manager to Jesualdo Ferreira at Panathinaikos, Sporting, Braga and Zamalek before managing again with

Red Star A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. I ...

in June 2015. He was dismissed in December 2016 when the club was in 16th, and had been eliminated from the Coupe de France by fifth-tier

Blagnac Blagnac (; oc, Blanhac) is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France. The city hosts the aviation museum Aeroscopia. It is the third-largest suburb of the city of Toulouse, although governed by a separate council, and is ...

. Almeida then joined Bastia in

in February 2017, on a two-and-a-half-year contract; the

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

n team was five points within the relegation zone. He left in June, as the team faced a financial crisis after their descent. On 30 May 2018, Almeida was announced as the manager of

Troyes Troyes () is a commune and the capital of the department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within the Champagne wine region and is near to ...

in Ligue 2, on a two-year deal. He led the team to third, one point off promotion, in his only season and was then linked to English club West Bromwich Albion, though no official approach was ever made. In July 2019, Almeida was appointed manager of

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Vítor Oliveira Vítor Oliveira may refer to: * Vítor Oliveira (footballer, born 1953) (1953–2020), Portuguese football manager and midfielder * Vítor Oliveira (footballer, born 2000) Vítor Manuel Carvalho Oliveira (born 15 March 2000), also known as Viti ...

at Gil Vicente in the

. He lost his job on 10 November, having won once in seven games and lost the last four. On 4 September 2022, Almeida returned to the French second tier, taking over at Niort ahead of the seventh game of the season, on a one-year contract with a second as an option. He left the bottom-placed team by mutual accord the following 1 February after recording 4 wins, 5 draws and 9 defeats, including his last three games.

References

External links

Rui Almeida
at Zerozero.pt * {{DEFAULTSORT:Almeida, Rui 1969 births Living people Sportspeople from Lisbon Portuguese football managers Portuguese expatriate football managers Ligue 1 managers Ligue 2 managers Red Star F.C. managers SC Bastia managers ES Troyes AC managers Stade Malherbe Caen managers Chamois Niortais F.C. managers Primeira Liga managers Gil Vicente F.C. managers Portuguese expatriates in France Portuguese expatriates in Egypt Portuguese expatriates in Greece Portuguese expatriates in Syria Expatriate football managers in Egypt Expatriate football managers in France Expatriate football managers in Greece Expatriate football managers in Syria