FC Porto Bets on 36-Year-Old Italian as a Head Coach to Reignite the Club

Few clubs change direction as abruptly as FC Porto, and the past week has been particularly frenetic. The northern powerhouse has handed the keys of its first team to 36-year-old Italian coach Francesco Farioli on a contract that runs through June 2027, complete with a €15 million buy-out clause. He will step onto the José Maria Pedroto auditorium stage for his public unveiling, tasked with repairing bruised pride after a season that left supporters restless and board members calculating.

A swift handover in the Dragão corridors

Porto’s board registered the deal with Portugal’s stock-market authority late Monday, making it official barely a fortnight after Argentine manager Martín Anselmi accepted an early exit package. Club sources say the parting cost roughly €3.1 million—far less than the €7 million that would have been due had Porto waited until winter to act. By moving quickly, new president André Villas-Boas signalled he wants stability in the dug-out before transfer season hits full swing.

From goalkeeper coach to sought-after tactician

Farioli’s résumé is unusual for a man about to lead one of Iberia’s giants. Born in Tuscany, he never played professionally; instead, he carved out a niche as a goalkeeping specialist with Benevento and Sassuolo before detouring to Qatar. Turkey provided his first taste of head-coaching at Karagümrük and later Alanyaspor, where his possession-heavy football caught French eyes. A single campaign at Nice delivered Europa League qualification and the league’s second-best defence. Ajax pounced, yet a late-season wobble saw Eindhoven snatch the Eredivisie crown by one point—an anticlimax that nevertheless enhanced the Italian’s profile as an innovator unafraid to back youth.

Why Porto pressed the reset button

The explanation starts in the United States, where the expanded Club World Cup became a public relations disaster. Porto collected just two points from three matches, the poorest record among European entrants, and limped home to a third-place domestic finish—11 behind champions Sporting, nine behind Benfica. Anselmi had arrived only in January, but the mood soured quickly. Villas-Boas, elected in April, chose to draw a line under the campaign rather than gamble on gradual improvement.

Inside the new blueprint

During preliminary talks Farioli outlined a plan built on short passing, coordinated pressing and a 4-3-3 shape that allows full-backs to drift into midfield. At Nice his side conceded a mere 29 goals; Porto’s hierarchy want similar balance on the Douro after a term riddled with set-piece lapses. The Italian also insists on English as the common working language—welcome news for the club’s growing pool of foreign talent.

Transfer window implications

Because Ajax agreed a mutual release, Porto paid no compensation fee—money that can now be redirected toward squad surgery. Insiders expect at least one ball-playing centre-half and a deep-lying midfielder to arrive, while fringe players could depart to satisfy UEFA’s financial-sustainability rules. Villas-Boas, the club's President, has hinted at “the biggest market campaign in our history”, suggesting that the board will back its new coach decisively.

What newcomers to Portugal should know

For expatriates who treat match-days as a cultural deep-dive, a rejuvenated Porto side could make the Primeira Liga more enticing than ever. Tickets at the 50,000-seat Estádio do Dragão remain cheaper than comparable seats in England or Spain, and frequent rail links from Lisbon mean a weekend trip is straightforward. If Farioli’s methods click, Champions League nights on the Atlantic coast might become a regular spectacle rather than a nostalgic memory.

Circle these dates

The ceremonial presentation is scheduled for 8 July, with preseason medicals beginning the following morning. Porto open their league campaign in mid-August and will learn their Champions League qualifying opponent later this month. Farioli has promised supporters “football that makes you proud to wear blue and white” and urged them to pack the stands from the first friendly onward.

Whether the youthful tactician can transform promise into trophies remains to be seen, but the gamble has undeniably jolted Portugal’s football conversation. For the thousands of foreigners now calling the country home, the coming months at the Dragão could provide a front-row seat to a fascinating experiment in modern coaching.