Jorge Simão


António Jorge Rocha Simão is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a midfielder, and the manager of Saudi club Al-Fayha FC.

Football career

Born in Pampilhosa da Serra, Coimbra District, Simão played solely amateur football, emerging through C.F. Estrela da Amadora's youth system and retiring at the age of 26. He started working as a coach in 2003, going on to act as assistant at several clubs.
In February 2014, Simão embarked on his first managerial role by accepting an invitation at Segunda Liga side Atlético Clube de Portugal until the end of the season. Despite claiming 16 points from a possible 36, he was unable to prevent his team from finishing bottom of the league, but they were later reinstated as the competition was expanded.
Subsequently, Simão joined C.D. Mafra from the third division. In March 2015, however, he moved straight to the Primeira Liga with C.F. Os Belenenses.
In the 2015 off-season, Simão succeeded Paulo Fonseca at the helm of F.C. Paços de Ferreira. He left at the end of the campaign, after achieving a seventh-place finish.
Simão started 2016–17 also in the top level, with G.D. Chaves. On 17 December 2016, he was appointed at fellow league club S.C. Braga as a replacement for fired José Peseiro; he resigned at the latter in late April 2017, due to poor results.
Simão returned to both active and the Portuguese top flight on 14 September 2017, replacing the fired Miguel Leal at the helm of Boavista FC. His first game in charge was two days later, and his team managed to defeat current champions S.L. Benfica 2–1 at home. On 26 January 2019, with the team one point above the relegation places, he left by mutual consent to be replaced by Lito Vidigal.
In June that year, Simão's name was discussed by the board of EFL Championship club Middlesbrough for their vacant managerial position, but instead he took his first foreign job at Al-Fayha FC in the Saudi Professional League.

Managerial statistics