Wayne Lumbasi
Fernando Santos has left his role as Portugal managerfollowing Portugal’s FIFA World Cup 2022 exit in the quarterfinal stage. Portugal made it to the last 8 of the Qatar World Cup after topping Group H (2 wins and 1 loss) and beating Switzerland 6-1 in the pre-quarters.
Despite having the momentum on their side, Santos’ Portugal failed to go past the quarterfinals where they suffered a shocking 0-1 loss at the hands of Morocco.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Fernando Santos didn’t seem to be on the same page during the tournament as it looked like their relationship turned bitter after the group games ended. As a matter of fact, Santos started Ronaldo on bench in both pre-quarters and quarterfinal.
Santos has presided over 109 games for Portugal since his appointment in 2014, winning 67 of them and leading the team to the Euro 2016 title two years after assuming the role.
He also won the 2019 UEFA Nations League tournament but was eliminated from Euro 2020 (which was held in 2021 due to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic) in the last 16.
