Who is Peseiro
Peseiro was born in 1960 in Crouche, Portugal, where he began his football career. His playing days, however, didn’t see advancement beyond the second division of the Portuguese League.
He hung his boots at the age of 34 in 1994 while languishing in the fourth division with União de Santarém.
Upon retirement, Peseiro thrust himself straight into the man-managing and tactics tinkering space of football management. For a handful of years, he managed teams in the lower rungs of Portuguese football, swinging between the third and fourth divisions.
Then his big break came when he was appointed manager of C.D Nacional in 1999. He helped improve the club’s football, and within three seasons, he managed them to the Portuguese first division.
In 2003, Peseiro was hired to be an assistant manager to fellow countryman Carlos Queiroz who was employed to lead the Galacticos charge at Real Madrid. The team under the Portuguese pair was successful at first and was primed to win the La Liga, having built a significant advantage over their rivals, but a late-season crumble saw them surrender the title to Valencia, then coached by a young Rafa Benitez. Los Blancos finished a distant fourth, barely qualified for the UEFA Champions League, and the duo was sacked.
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Following a short spell at Real Madrid, Peseiro returned to Portugal and was picked up by Sporting Lisbon. Coaching players like Nigeria’s Jonathan Enakarhire and Joao Moutinho, he managed the club to the 2005 UEFA Cup final but lost 3-1 to CSKA Moscow.
After a typical journey-man career move that saw him coach clubs in Greece, Romania, Egypt, and the national team of Saudi Arabia, Peseiro returned to Portugal to coach FC Porto in 2016. He lost the final of the Taça de Portugal to Braga on penalties.
The Portuguese gaffer was appointed the head coach of the Venezuelan national side in 2020. He oversaw a disastrous 2021 Copa America outing which had the team eliminated from the group stage after two draws and two defeats. He managed to keep his job until August 2021, when he resigned over non-payment of salaries for a year.