Jaime Moreira Pacheco is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a central midfielder, and a current manager. During his career he played, among others, for Porto and Sporting, amassing Primeira Liga totals of 296 matches and 19 goals over 15 seasons. Subsequently, he worked as a manager for several clubs during more than two decades, including Boavista which he led to its only league title. A Portugal international on 25 occasions, Pacheco represented the country at the 1986 World Cup and Euro 1984.
Playing career
Club
Born in Paredes, Pacheco arrived at FC Porto from lowly Aliados do Lordelo FC, then in the second division. After tough beginnings, he consolidated himself in the team's starting XI, appearing more than 100 times overall during his first spell. In the summer of 1984, Pacheco signed with another Primeira Liga club, Sporting CP, moving alongside teammate António Sousa as part of the deal that sent 17-year-old prodigy Paulo Futre to the northerners. The pair returned after two seasons, proceeding to win the European Cup, the Intercontinental Cup and the UEFA Super Cup whilst appearing regularly. Aged 31, Pacheco joined Vitória de Setúbal, playing two seasons with both that club and F.C. Paços de Ferreira, and another with S.C. Braga – always in the top flight – and finally retired at the end of 1995 with amateurs U.S.C. Paredes.
Pacheco took up coaching while still an active footballer, starting with Paços Ferreira. In early 1994 he left Braga and returned to the former in the same capacity. In a similar move, he would again act as player-coach, now at Rio Ave FC, and leave Paredes for Vitória S.C. midway through the 1995–96 season, after which he concentrated solely on management. Pacheco was responsible for Boavista FC's greatest ever success. In his first full season as manager he led the club to a second place finish, equalling its best performance in the league since the 1975–76 season. This led to the first ever participation of the club in the UEFA Champions League in the 1999–2000 edition, and a fourth place finish in the league. It was followed by winning the league championship in 2001, followed by another participation in the UEFA Champions League second group stage and a 2002–03 UEFA Cup semi-final run. These achievements prompted the interest of La Liga club RCD Mallorca in June 2003, but he was dismissed in September after just five matches, immediately returning to Boavista as a replacement for sacked Erwin Sánchez, whom he had previously managed there. Following a poor run of results, Pacheco stood down as coach of Boavista in April 2005. He was then contracted by Vitória Guimarães but resigned in December, after which he again moved to his main club. Pacheco was at Boavista's helm when the Porto club was relegated to division two at the end of the 2007–08 season, due to the Apito Dourado affair. He then signed with C.F. Os Belenenses, but was sacked in May 2009 after the Lisbon side was also relegated – later reinstated. Pacheco joined Al-Shabab FC in 2009, winning the Prince Faisal bin Fahad Cup almost immediately. However, following a 0–1 group stage loss against Iran's Sepahan F.C. for the campaign's AFC Champions League on 15 April 2010, he was sacked. In December 2010, Pacheco was signed by Beijing Guoan F.C. of the Chinese Super League on a year-long contract. In June of the following year, during a match against Tianjin Teda F.C. at Workers Stadium, he erected his middle finger to the referee and the opposite team, being punished with an eight-match suspension and a €4,265 fine by the Chinese Football Association. Pacheco moved to the third continent of his career in October 2014, when he was appointed at Egypt's Zamalek SC as a replacement for the sacked Hossam Hassan. At the turn of the new year, he unexpectedly quit the league leaders to return to Al-Shabab; he had a record of eight wins and a draw from ten games and felt disrespected by the club's board. His second spell in Riyadh lasted just until March 2015, when he left by mutual consent to deal with undisclosed personal issues at home. In August 2016, Pacheco returned to China's top flight by signing a one-year deal with Tianjin Teda. Having completed his goal of keeping them in the league that year, he left the next May after a five-game winless run in the opening stages of the following campaign.
