Nuno Espirito Santo

He spent his playing career in Spain, Russia, and his native Portugal, but in recent years Nuno Espirito Santo has become a folk hero in the West Midlands of England. Manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers since 2017, he has led the club into a new golden age, taking them from the second-tier of English football to their best top-flight finish in 40 years and their first European quarter-finals in nearly half-a-century. He has won several Manager of the Month awards and been awarded an honorary doctorate by the city’s university.

Santo’s playing career was spent in goal. He turned professional with Portuguese Primeira Liga club Vitoria Guimaraes in the early 1990s and spent the decade playing for the likes of Deportivo La Coruna, Porto, and Dynamo Moscow. He retired in 2010 and became goalkeeping coach for Spanish second-division side Malaga CF. In 2012, he was returned to Portugal, becoming manager of top-flight Rio Ave. During his second season, the team reached the finals of both of Portugal’s domestic cups and qualified for the Europa League for the first time. Tempted to Spain by Valencia, he led them to a fourth-place La Liga finish and won three Manager of the Month awards.

In 2016, Santo went back to Portugal again, this time to former club Porto. Although he led them to finish runners-up in the Liga, it wasn’t enough and he was let go. Wolverhampton Wanderers, then under new owners, offered him a lifeline and he took over at the Molineux, instigating a Portuguese revolution by bringing in a number of his fellow countrymen. The club, who had suffered back-to-back relegations just a few seasons before, was transformed. They won the Championship with ease and proceeded to take the Premier League by storm, finishing sixth and qualifying for Europe.