Two Portuguese coaches will go head-to-head in this year’s African Champions League final as Miguel Cardoso of Mamelodi Sundowns takes on Alexandre Santos of Morocco’s Royal Armed Forces.
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For Cardoso, it is a third final in a row, and a chance to win the continent’s top title for the first time after losing with Tunisian club Esperance to Egyptian giants Al Ahly in 2024 and then with Sundowns to Pyramids last season.
The 49-year-old Santos, who was previously at Primeiro Agosto in Angola, will appear in his first Champions League final. He has been at the Rabat-based military club for the last 14 months.
Both will be looking to emulate the feat of another Portuguese, Manuel José, who won four titles with Al Ahly and coached a total of five finals.
José, a former coach of Benfica, was a winner with Al Ahly over Sundowns in 2001 and then returned for a second spell with the club when he took them to four finals in a row from 2005 to 2008. They won three of those but lost in 2007 to Etoile Sahel of Tunisia.
José also had a third stint at the Cairo giants after he coached hosts Angola at the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations finals but was unable to add further continental club success to his bow.
José turned 80 this month and will likely be pleased to see his compatriots doing well in African club competition.
José is the only Portuguese coach to have won the Champions League title. His four successes are a record for the competition, followed by three for Pitso Mosimane, who had success with Sundowns in 2016 and Al Ahly in 2020 and 2021.
Mosimane was also coach of Al Ahly when they lost in the final in 2022 to Morocco’s Wydad Casablanca, thereby also appearing in three successive wins and a total of four overall.