Paulo Alexandre Rodrigues Fonseca (born 5 March 1973) is a Portuguese professional
footballmanager and former player who played as a
central defender. He was most recently the head coach of
Ligue 1 club
Lille.
Fonseca retired in June 2005 at the age of 32 after a further four campaigns with Estrela, three of those spent in the
Segunda Liga. In the
2003–04 campaign he participated in 15 games as the
Lisbon side ranked last in the top tier, with the subsequent relegation.[4]
Coaching career
Early years
Fonseca started coaching immediately after retiring, remaining two years at the helm of Estrela da Amadora's youths. From 2007 to 2011 he was in charge of several modest teams, notably
Pinhalnovense which he led to the quarter-finals of the
Taça de Portugal in both the
2009–10 and
2010–11 seasons.[5][6]
In
2011–12, Fonseca was appointed at
Aves in division two for his first job in the professionals,[7] and he led the team to the third position, just two points shy of promotion.[8]
Paços Ferreira
In his
first season in charge of a top-flight team, Fonseca led
Paços de Ferreira to a third-place finish[9] after signing a two-year contract on 28 May 2012.[10] The club consequently
qualified for the play-off round of the
UEFA Champions League for the only time in its history;[11] in the domestic league, they only lost to champions
Porto and runners-up
Benfica,[12][13] notably winning both games against
Braga (2–0 at home, 3–2 away) and
Sporting CP (1–0 on both occasions).[14][15][16]
Fonseca succeeded
Vítor Pereira at Porto – winners of the last three league titles – when he joined on a two-year deal on 10 June 2013.[18][19] He started his spell on a high note, winning
the year's
Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira after a 3–0 victory over Vitória de Guimarães which marked his first honour as a coach.[20][21]
However, on 5 March 2014, following a string of poor results that left the club in the third position in the league,
nine points behind leaders Benfica, Fonseca was relieved of his duties.[22] Previously, on 12 January, he had stated that Porto would be champions in the last matchday against that opponent.[23]
Fonseca moved abroad for the first time in his career on 31 May 2016, replacing legendary
Mircea Lucescu (12 seasons) at the helm of
Shakhtar Donetsk and signing a two-year contract at the
Ukrainian Premier League side.[30][31] He won
the double in all three seasons of his spell[32][33]– which earned him the distinction as the league's best coach in
2016–17.[34]
Immediately after leaving Roma, Fonseca was director
Fabio Paratici's top choice to be manager of
Tottenham Hotspur, but the advanced negotiations were scrapped on 17 June 2021,[43] allegedly due to tax issues.[44] However, in an interview with The Daily Telegraph in September, the former revealed that the main reason for this was that the latter wanted to hire a more defensive-minded coach.[45] In October, he was interviewed by
Newcastle United following their
Saudi-led takeover, before the interest shifted to
Unai Emery and
Eddie Howe;[46] his name was then linked to a third English club,
Aston Villa.[47]
In the
2023–24 season, Lille finished fourth in Ligue 1 after a 2–2 draw with
Nice on the final matchday, thereby missing out on direct Champions League qualification.[53] He left the club on 5 June 2024 by mutual consent.[54]
Managerial style
Tactics
At Shakhtar, Roma and Lille, Fonseca preferred a 4–2–3–1 formation and an emphasis on dominating possession. In these teams, the player behind the
centre-forward played as a
second striker;
Henrikh Mkhitaryan achieved 13 goals for Roma in 2020–21 from that position.[55][56][57]
In an interview for French media
RMC about his Lille debut, Fonseca described his managerial style as "an offensive play in order to overcome the opponent, to settle in the opponent's half and to create many scoring chances."[58]
Influences
Speaking in 2021, Fonseca mentioned three coaches which influenced his philosophy and style: ‘At this moment, I can highlight
Maurizio Sarri and
Pep Guardiola as the coaches I admire the most because they are bold, they have their own ideas, they are brave enough to play their own game and attack. Now, we can’t forget that
José Mourinho has marked a generation of coaches in Portugal and marked Portuguese football. He completely changed the mindset of Portuguese coaches and he’s obviously been a great influence.’[59]
Personal life
Fonseca had a son and a daughter with his first wife.[2] On 29 May 2018, he married Ukrainian television personality and producer Katerina Ostroushko (born 1991) at
Lake Como, Italy; their son was born the same year.[60][61] The family escaped
Kyiv after the
2022 Russian invasion, travelling for 30 hours to Romania.[62]
^Frederico, Francisco; Pereira, Sérgio (14 May 2012).
"P. Ferreira: Paulo Fonseca negociado para render Calisto" [P. Ferreira: Paulo Fonseca in negotiations to take over from Calisto] (in Portuguese). Mais Futebol. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
^
abCalaveiras, Carlos (22 May 2016).
"Sp. Braga vence Taça de Portugal" [Sp. Braga win Portuguese Cup] (in Portuguese). Rádio Renascença. Retrieved 31 May 2016.