THE Vitória de Guimarães coach, Tiago Margarido, considered today that football coaches cannot be “the only ones responsible for sporting success or failure”, regarding the various dismissals this season.
In view of the departures of Carlos Carvalhal from Famalicão, on Monday, and Carlos Vicens from Sporting de Braga and Alexandre Santos from Nacional, on Tuesday, the 1st Portuguese football league recorded seven changes in 2026/27, a number higher than any of the ‘big 5’ in Europe.
“Over time, we got used to being the ‘punching bag’, but, in a global project, there are many people responsible. We cannot be the only ones responsible for the sporting success or failure”, he said, on the sidelines of the reception against Marítimo, of the ninth round of the championship, scheduled for Friday.
The 37-year-old coach recalled, in fact, the statement from the National Association of Football Coaches (ANTF), published on Wednesday, regarding the departures seen in the I and II League, to emphasize that the tendency to fire coaches after cycles of bad results at the beginning of seasons “is not beneficial for the profession”.
At the helm of a team that occupies 15th place in the I League, with five points, the result of one victory, two draws and five defeats in eight rounds, Tiago Margarido said that the coaches already “know how to deal” with the “culture installed in Portugal” of “standardizing the evaluation” of sporting performance in a “single person”, the coach, even when he is not the only one to blame.
“When things don’t go so well, it’s not always the coaches’ fault. Sometimes, it is. We have to accept that, but structures often ‘hide’ in the coaches, when things don’t go so well,” he said.
In addition to the three dismissals that occurred this week, Nacional fired coach João Gião after the fourth round, being the record holder for departures in 2026/27, Rio Ave agreed to the departure of Greek Sotiris Silaidopoulos after the seventh round and Estoril Praia confirmed the departure of Vasco Matos after the eighth, in addition to Vasco Seabra, who left Arouca for Vila Condenses.
