Published on February 22, 2024 at 12:53. / Modified on February 22, 2024 at 6:39 p.m.
His family announced this Thursday the death at the age of 78 following a long illness of Artur Jorge, first in a rich line of Portuguese travel coaches. An intellectual and poet, with a rare academic background for the time, he embodied football’s temptation to rationalize its training methods and management at a time when the sector was beginning to attract captains of industry. Artur Jorge announced what is the norm today: the study of statistics, contingents of 25 to 30 seasoned players, a manager detached from the daily life of the field. This is generally the – positive – image that remains of him everywhere except in Switzerland, where between December 1995 and July 1996 he was the most enigmatic coach in the history of the Nati.
This former Porto and Benfica striker, 16 times selected for the Portugal team when the Seleção did not participate in anything, made himself known in 1987 by winning the European Champion Clubs’ Cup with FC Porto against Bayern Munich, thanks to a famous backheel from Rabah Madjer (2-1). This brilliant inspiration consecrated a coach advocating, on the contrary, rigor and discipline. At the same time, he signed with Matra Racing, which the industrialist Jean-Luc Lagardère wanted to make into a major European club. First failure, which was attributed to Lagardère.
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