Portuguese football manager boss, Fernando Santos has been dismissed by Poland following the national team’s poor run of form in the European Championship qualifiers.
It happens to have occurred right after Germany’s dismissal of former Bayern Munich coach, Hansi Flick from head coach position, making Santos the latest victim of the predicament.
Fernando Santos was named as Polish head coach on January 24, 2023 in the stead of Czesław Michniewicz, who departed after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Santos was also dismissed by Portugal after an underwhelming World Cup campaign, which saw The Seleção das Quinas bow out of the competition in the quarter-final stage to Morocco. This was preceded by a fall out between Portuguese football icon, Cristiano Ronaldo and Santos, where the former had to settle for a place on the bench in the quarter-final encounter amidst Portugal’s catastrophic exit.
Santos was in charge of Portugal’s national football team between 2014 to 2022, where he led the Portuguese to their first official trophy during the European championship (Euros) in 2016, as well as the inaugural nations league trophy in 2019.
The 68-year old football manager hoped to be the final piece of the Polish Puzzle with his vast experiences but such was not the case as his Polish dreams were curtailed by his disenchanted performances.
Santos amassed a total of 3 wins in 6 outings as the Polish head coach, his sack as a result of last night’s 2-0 defeat to Albania in Tirana. This has left the Polish hopes of qualification for next summer’s European Championships in jeopardy as they sit in 4th Position in group E with 6 points and 3 games to play in the qualifying phase.
Santos only managed to win 2 out of 3 games played in the 2024 European Championship qualifiers.
Fernando Santos’s tenure in Warsaw was short lived as he spent only 8 months as head coach of Poland’s national football team.
Saudi Arabian clubs are speculated to try and cajole the veteran manager to the Saudi Pro league.
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Story by : Andrews Sefa Bamfo | universnews.ug.edu.gh