Paulo Fonseca

Paços Ferreira In his first season in charge of a top-flight team, Fonseca led Paços de Ferreira to a third-place finish after signing a two-year contract on 28 May 2012. The club consequently qualified for the play-off round of the UEFA Champions League for the only time in its history; in the domestic league, they only lost to champions Porto and runners-up Benfica, notably winning both games against Braga (2–0 at home, 3–2 away) and Sporting CP (1–0 on both occasions).

Paços also reached the semi-finals of the Portuguese Cup that campaign, being knocked out by Benfica.

Porto 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. 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.

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. Previously, on 12 January, he had stated that Porto would be champions in the last matchday against that opponent.

Paços return and Braga On 11 June 2014, Fonseca returned to Paços de Ferreira. His one season back at the Estádio da Mata Real resulted in an eighth-place finish, missing out on qualification for the UEFA Europa League on the final day.

Fonseca agreed to a two-year contract with Braga on 1 July 2015. He led them to fourth position, also winning the domestic cup for the first time in 50 years with a penalty shootout victory over Porto in the final. In the Europa League, they reached the last-eight stage. He won the double in all three seasons of his spell – which earned him the distinction as the league's best coach in 2016–17.

Fonseca's side reached the round of 16 of the 2017–18 Champions League, after finishing second in the group stage following a 2–1 home defeat of Premier League club Manchester City. Having inflicted a first defeat in 29 matches of Pep Guardiola's side, he kept a promise to do his next press conference dressed as the fictional hero Zorro.

Roma

On 11 June 2019, Fonseca was appointed manager of Roma. He led the side to the fifth place in the Serie A in his first season, as well as the semi-finals of the subsequent Europa League. He announced his departure in May 2021.

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, allegedly due to tax issues. 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. In October, he was interviewed by Newcastle United following their Saudi-led takeover, before the interest shifted to Unai Emery and Eddie Howe; his name was then linked to a third English club, Aston Villa.

Lille On 29 June 2022, Fonseca signed a two-year contract with French Ligue 1 club Lille. He made his debut on 7 August in a 4–1 home win over Auxerre. On 9 October, his team defeated Derby du Nord rivals Lens 1–0 also at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy. One of the best attacking sides in the first half of that season, they played an open 4–2–3–1 formation with Benjamin André, André Gomes or Angel Gomes being deployed as central midfielders behind playmaker Rémy Cabella and lone striker Jonathan David. Following a 4–3 home victory against Monaco on 23 October, only Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain had more possession in the domestic league.

In the 2023–24 campaign, Lille finished fourth after a 2–2 draw with Nice on the final matchday, thereby missing out on direct Champions League qualification. He left on 5 June 2024 by mutual consent.

AC Milan

On 13 June 2024, Fonseca was appointed as the new head coach of AC Milan, agreeing to a three-year deal as of 1 July. After a bad start in the season and rumours of imminent dismissal, he oversaw a 2–1 victory against Inter Milan in the Derby della Madonnina on 22 September. Ahead of the match, he experimented with the lineup, choosing 4–4–2 and 4–2–4 for defence and attack, respectively; it was also the first time the club had defeated this opposition in two years, ending a six-game losing streak.

Fonseca was sacked on 29 December 2024, with the team in eighth position.

Lyon On 31 January 2025, Fonseca returned to the French top tier with Lyon. On 2 March, he aggressively confronted Benoît Millot at the end of a 2–1 home win over Brest, his head making contact with the referee; he was sent off for his actions and, the following day (his 52nd birthday), handed a suspension until 30 November that included the impossibility of sitting on his team's bench or entering their dressing room until 15 September.

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.

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."

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.’

Personal life Fonseca had a son and a daughter with his first wife. The family escaped Kyiv after the 2022 Russian invasion, travelling for 30 hours to Romania.

Managerial statistics

Honours Manager Porto Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 2013

Individual Ukrainian Premier League Best Coach: 2016–17