Rúben Amorim

Rúben Filipe Marques Amorim (born 27 January 1985) is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who is the current manager of Primeira Liga club Sporting CP.

As a footballer, Amorim played mainly as a midfielder, although he could also be deployed as a right-back or winger.

Born in Lisbon, Amorim made his debut in the Primeira Liga on 14 December 2003, playing one minute for hometown club Belenenses in a 2–0 home win against Alverca.

From 2005–06 onwards, he became a regular.

In the 2007–08 campaign, Amorim started in 28 of his 29 league appearances (2,491 minutes of action) and helped his team finish in eighth position.

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.

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.

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 (24 matches with ten starts) 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 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.

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.

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.

Amorim's style was similar to countryman Tiago, with both playing the same position, operating in central midfield, both defensive and offensive (Amorim, however, was also able to play as a right back).

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.

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.

His senior debut came on the 15th, as he played the last five minutes of the group stage opener against Ivory Coast (0–0) in the place of Raul Meireles.

Upon retiring in 2017, he began his coaching career at Casa Pia in 2018, before resigning in 2018, amid a dispute with the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF).

On 4 April 2017, after more than a year of inactivity, the 32-year-old terminated his contract with Benfica and retired.

Amorim started working as a manager in 2018–19, with third division team Casa Pia.

He was appointed as head coach at Braga B, before taking charge of the first team in December 2019, winning the 2020 Taça da Liga.

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.

In mid-September 2019, Amorim was appointed at Braga's reserves in the third tier.

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 Belenenses SAD, and three weeks later won the domestic league cup final against Porto with a last-minute goal from Ricardo Horta.

In March 2020, Amorim was appointed manager of Sporting CP for a managerial transfer worth €10 million (£8.65 million), becoming then the third-most expensive manager ever.

He guided the club to a double of 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 in 2021.