Without mincing words, Jose Mourinho is one of the most successful and revered football managers in the world giving his numerous achievements with different club sides in Europe. He’s also renowned for being controversial, acerbic, and self-confident.
The aforementioned attributes do not in any way make the former Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester United manager a bad individual, as a matter of fact, the Portuguese is one of the most loved managers in the game because of his unique character.
Because there are a number of things about the enigmatic Mourinho that is not known to the world, these are interesting facts about the Tottenham Hotspur manager.
- Multilingual Mourinho
Having managed teams in different countries in Europe, Jose Mourinho has the ability to speak Portuguese, English, Spanish, Catalan, Italian, and French fluently.
He once said, “I think because I can speak five languages, it doesn’t make me a translator. But it helps me”
Mourinho was famously tagged as the ‘translator’ during his time as an assistant at FC Barcelona when he was helping Sir Bobby Robson with communication but he detests being called the ‘translator’ despite his fluency in different languages.
Meanwhile, he later turned down an offer from Bobby Robson in 2000 to become an assistant manager at Newcastle despite working with Robson in Spain from 1992-1997.
- Enigmatic Mourinho Quit Business-School on Day 1
In the early 20s of Jose, his mother enrolled him in a business school, hoping that he’d become a successful businessman when he grows old but Mourinho dropped out on his first day, deciding he would rather focus on sport, and chose to attend the Instituto Superior de Educação Física (ISEF), Technical University of Lisbon, to study sports science.
After quitting the school just after day 1, his mother later revealed that Mourinho didn’t just become a perfectionist, he had been showing the signs he was young to do his things his own way.
- His Unassailable Home Unbeaten Record
Not only that it’s flabbergasting to know that during Jose’s first stint in England, his Chelsea team conceded 15 goals in a whole season (the lowest in the era of the Premier League). And there was a time in the season 2003-2004 season, that the London club played over 1000 minutes without conceding a single goal.
His home unbeaten record is unbelievable. Between February 23rd, 2002, and April 2nd, 2011, Jose Mourinho didn’t lose a single home league match with any of his clubs. A feat that an assault can never be launched on by any team soon.
Mourinho’s incredible nine-year home unbeaten run came to an end when his Real Madrid side lost 1-0 to Sporting Gijon at the Bernabeau. Can you beat that?
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Life Of A Rockstar – Jose Mourinho
At the latter part of 2011, A cartoon drawing of Jose appeared on the front cover of a popular music magazine of which the Spanish version of Rolling Stone magazine named Jose “Rockstar of the Year” after he led Real Madrid to victory in the Spanish Cup and the Copa del Rey glory, for the first time in 18 years.
The magazine talked about Jose Mourinho’s provocative attitude on the bench and at press conferences, as well as his impertinent wit. It also featured extensive reports about the Portuguese manager featuring interviews with old colleagues, journalists, and close friends.
- Compassionate Mourinho Contributed To Tsunami Relief Efforts
This definitely will be hard to believe. When the Tsunami disaster happened in 2005, the Portuguese gaffer donated a jacket to be auctioned to help raise money for victims of the Tsunami disaster.
The Organiser, Marc Thompson revealed that an amount of €25,800 was paid for Mourinho’s jacket by one bidder, the event took place at the Stamford Bridge. The auction of Mourinho’s ‘lucky’ jacket played a part in raising around £545,000 for the cause.
- Dr. Jose Mourinho
Mourinho bagged a doctorate degree in 2009 for his achievements in professional football from Lisbon’s Technical University. Whereas, he had graduated from the university for more than two decades with a degree in physical education and sport.
According to the University, the accolade given to Jose was in recognition of his managerial success on the home front, having led FC Porto to the 2003 UEFA Cup and 2004 Champions League titles.
The doctorate is one of 30 individual accolades won by Mourinho in his fledgling career as a manager across Europe.
- Maintaining The MOURINHO Legacy
Jose Mourinho bears the same name as his father, Jose Manuel Mourinho Félix, who used to be a goalkeeper in Portugal.
Jose’s son who plies his trade at Fulham is also called Jose Mario Mourinho Jr. While Mourinho’s wife is called Matilde, and so is his daughter: Matilde Mourinho!
- Unbelievable! Mourinho Almost Stopped A Book On Him Being Published
A Portuguese journalist, Louis Lourenco is one of the best sellers in the country wrote a book about The Special One in 2004. The book which was the official biography of Mourinho was titled: Jose Mourinho – Made in Portugal.
The book portrayed Mourinho’s family and their fear towards him. However, he failed in his attempt to stop its release.
The failure to stop the sale of the book was confirmed in court when the judge dismissed Mourinho’s appeal against the release of the book.
At the end of the case, the judge affirmed there was no clear basis for Mourinho’s complaint and added that “The author acted within the limits of his profession as a journalist and writer acting correctly in the context of a free, democratic and pluralistic press, exercising his rights of freedom of expression and information.”
Eventually, more than 15,000 copies were sold in the country.
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- Jose The Physical Education Teacher
And before Jose Mourinho became a football manager, he used to be a PE teacher in Portugal. According to one of his former pupils, he became an immediate hit with the female students.
“Until he arrived, no girls ever wanted to do PE. But suddenly, nobody was asking for a doctor’s sick note,” she recalled.
According to history, Jose Mourinho spent five years as a PE teacher, taking classes in different schools across the Portuguese nation and it is widely believed that teaching PE propelled Jose to become a football manager having failed to establish a career as a football player.
- Threw His Medal To The Crowd
Upon winning his second Premier League title with Chelsea in 2006, Mourinho threw his winners medal into the crowd at Stamford Bridge. He was given a replacement medal minutes later, but it too suffered a similar fate. One of the lucky fans to catch a medal later sold it at auction for €19,720.
- 1 Billion on Transfer
He holds the distinction of being the first coach to have spent more than £1 billion on transfers.
