Vítor Matos

Vítor Emanuel Soares Matos (born 28 March 1988) is a Portuguese football manager who is the head coach of club Swansea City.

Matos began his career coaching youth teams in Portugal, including at Porto. After two years coaching at Shandong Luneng in China, he returned to Porto before joining Premier League club Liverpool as an elite development coach under Jürgen Klopp in 2019. Five years later, Matos joined Pepijn Lijnders as his assistant coach at Red Bull Salzburg.

In 2025, Matos became manager of Liga Portugal 2 club Marítimo, his first job as a head coach of a senior team. He was appointed head coach of Swansea City later that year.

Career Early career Born in Vila Nova de Gaia in the Porto metropolitan area, Matos played football for Coimbrões and Valadares. At age 15, he was inspired to become a coach when compatriot José Mourinho won the UEFA Champions League for Porto in 2004. Matos then returned to Porto, where he was assistant manager of the B-team in 2018–19. He was tasked with developing Liverpool's academy players and helping them adapt to the first team. Matos also assisted with training sessions and game planning for the club's under-23s and first team, with Liverpool winning the Premier League during his first season.

In May 2024, Matos was one of twenty candidates to be issued a UEFA Pro Licence by the Football Association of Wales. Later that month, he left Liverpool, alongside Klopp and his assistant, Pepijn Lijnders. but the pair were dismissed in December 2024 with the team fifth in the league.

Marítimo On 12 June 2025, Matos was given his first job as a head coach of a senior team, on a two-year contract at Marítimo in Liga Portugal 2. His release clause was set as €1 million. On his debut on 10 August, he lost 1–0 at home to Lusitânia Lourosa. He won six of his eleven league fixtures for the Madeiran club, taking them to third place in the table. He was announced by Swansea two days later, having signed a four-year contract. On his debut on 25 November, the team lost 2–1 at home to Derby County. He achieved his first win in his third game on 6 December, 2–0 against Oxford United at the Swansea.com Stadium.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Shandong Luneng U15 Chinese National Championship: 2017 U15 SuperLeague Championship: 2017