Fernando Santos, manager of Portugal’s national football team, has been named the best national team manager in the world in 2019 by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS).
The distinction comes hot on the heels of Santos leading Portugal to two decisive wins against Lithuania (6-0) and Luxembourg (2-0) which secured direct qualification for the Euro 2020.
This year also saw the national team winning the first UEFA Nations League competition after beating Netherlands 1-0 in the final at Estádio do Dragão in Porto.
The winner of the best national manager award is decided based on the votes of journalists from 90 countries all over the world. Santos received 112 points, 10 more than Brazilian national team coach Tite and 15 ahead of Belgium’s Roberto Martínez.
Fernando Santos, who had already won the award in 2016 after leading Portugal to its first ever Euro title, is now one of only two managers to have ever won the award two times, alongside Germany’s Joachim Low.
The only coach with a better record is Vincente Del Bosque, former Spanish team coach, who won the award four times.
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