PortuGOAL Figure of the Week: Casa Pia’s João Pereira the next big thing of Portuguese coaching? | OneFootball

Sporting CP recruited the wrong João Pereira in their desperate attempt to replace Ruben Amorim. Casa Pia have been catapulted to 7th place under the leadership of the 32-year-old revelation, and the Lisbon minnows are on track for the best season in the club’s history.

After reaching the summit of Portuguese domestic football, João Pereira began the season with three initial losses. However, in his last fifteen encounters only Sporting and FC Porto have been able to overcome Casa Pia.

At 32 years of age, João Pereira is the youngest head coach in Liga Portugal since former manager and current Porto president André Vilas-Boas took over Académica de Coimbra in 2009.

With an outside chance of qualifying for European football, while confirming the presence of Casa Pia as an ever-growing staple of the division, João Pereira is this week’s PortuGOAL Figure of the Week.

Give us our flowers

João Pereira and Casa Pia deserve respect and recognition.

Anticipating an intense encounter between Famalicão and Casa Pia, João Pereira did not hold back at the pre-match press conference in which only two journalists were present.

“I’ve heard a lot about how Vitória SC are having a great campaign, but they have only two points more than Casa Pia.” At the time of writing, the gap is down to a mere point.

“At the end of the game against Sporting Braga, when we achieved an important victory against a prestigious team, our press officer Catalina Ramirez here besides me was surprised when only one question was asked, and she herself asked: ‘is that all – just one question?’. In all honesty, Casa Pia have been under-reported," he expressed with a tone of deep unsatisfaction.

Maintaining an impressive calm and coherence during his rant, João Pereira ended it by stressing that “teams like Casa Pia are crucial to Liga Portugal. It’s important that the people who work in these clubs are valued in order to add value to our product of football in Portugal.”

Pereira, of course, is absolutely correct. Local coverage of the Liga Portugal is dominated Benfica, Porto and Sporting, the traditional Big Three hogging the vast majority of column inches, TV and radio broadcasts, with the new media and social networks only accentuating the tendency.

PortuGOAL special feature – Talk of the town: Casa Pia Atlético Clube

Pereira’s holistic approach

The Coimbra native is the definition of the modern manager, recognising the fundamental importance of conscious management and the psychological impact that the correct communication can engender.

“Football has become more and more of a barbaric jungle over the last few years for various reasons. I think more and more that the head coach should be a manager, given the complexity of the role, not only with the media, but also with the directors, fans and the coaching team itself. Football is becoming less and less about training and playing.”

This mentality, coupled with previous experiences, has prepared João Pereira for current and future successes at the pinnacle of Portuguese football.

At district level, João Pereira would balance playing responsibilities along with youth football management at GD Mealhada. His first taste of management would coincide with external scouting opportunities for Futebol Clube do Porto, where he worked with the likes of Vítor Matos (ex-Jürgen Klopp assistant), Luís Gonçalves (Mozambique national team manager) and Luís Castro (ex-Al Nassr), for whom João also carried out an analysis role.

Pereira followed Luís Gonçalves to Mozambique after spells at SC Braga’s academy partner Palmeiras FC and his local club Académica de Coimbra. Manchester City, Real Betis, Sevilla, Eintracht Frankfurt, Nacional da Madeira and Liverpool would all receive visits from João Pereira, where the student sought knowledge from masters of their trades.

Immediate success

In his first experiences as professional, senior head coach, Pereira reached the promotion phase in Liga 3 in back-to-back seasons with Amora FC and FC Alverca. Amora would be defeated despite finishing first in the regular phase, highlighting the competitive nature and ruthless structure of the competition’s organisation.

Pereira’s Alverca would become champions of the division, which persuaded Casa Pia to follow the profiles of Ruben Amorim and Filipe Martins with another young, ambitious, unfazed manager. For context, Euro 2016 winner and former West Ham and Southampton defender José Fonte is eight years older than the manager he accepted to play for.

In the third year of Casa Pia’s project at this level, Rio Maior (80km north of their Pina Manique stadium in Lisbon) is still called home, temporarily, as work to improve their ground continues. While efforts are ongoing to cement Casa Pia as ‘Primeira Liga worthy’ in all aspects, delivering stability and then some with one of the lowest budgets is an incredible feat. And as Pereira says, one that deserves acknowledgement.