The head coach of the national football team, Fernando Santos, has been dismissed by the Portuguese Football Federation.
Portugal was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the ongoing FIFA World Cup in Qatar after losing to Morocco.
Santos was in the limelight after benching captain Cristiano Ronaldo in the last two games.
Despite winning against Switzerland, he was heavily criticized after losing against Morocco. Santos, 68, managed the Portugal national team for eight years.
In 2016, he made Portugal the Euro champion. However, keeping Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench in his last match was the main reason for his departure from the coach.
However, Santos, speaking after the match, said that the decision not to play Ronaldo was not wrong and that he would not resign.
Santos, who is under contract until the European Championship in 2024, said that there is no need to resign.
The Portuguese Football Federation has thanked him for managing the team for 8 years.
“The FPF would like to thank Fernando Santos and his technical team for the services provided over eight unique years and would like to assure you that this thanks is on behalf of the Portuguese people,”
the Portuguese Football Federation said.
The Portuguese Football Association will soon begin the process of selecting the next national coach.
Ronaldo training at Real Madrid after being eliminated from the World Cup
Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo is without a club and is training with the Spanish club Real Madrid.
After leaving Manchester United after Qatar was eliminated from the quarter-finals of the World Cup, he started training with Real Madrid.
BBC reports that he is at Real Madrid’s training ground for his fitness. Ronaldo was training alone at Valdebebas, Real’s training ground.
Saudi Arabian club Al-Nasr have made a huge offer for the 37-year-old forward, but he is looking at other options.
Five-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo just completed his second spell at Manchester United.
The Qatar World Cup was expected to be Ronaldo’s last chance to win the World Cup, but his performance was not as expected and he had to return home before reaching the semi-finals.
Ronaldo has hinted that he is ready to join a new club as soon as possible as he focuses on training rather than rest following Portugal’s World Cup exit.
However, he will not be playing for Real. While at Real, the top scorer Ronaldo scored 450 goals in 438 games.
During which time he won the Champions League four times and La Liga twice. Ronaldo joined Real from Manchester United in 2009 for the then world record and moved to Juventus in 2018.
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