Marco Silva


Marco Alexandre Saraiva da Silva is a Portuguese retired footballer who played as a right back, and a current manager.
He played for a variety of Portuguese clubs, finishing his career with a six-year spell at Estoril. He managed them for three years before spending a season as coach of Sporting, during which the team won the Portuguese Cup. He then worked abroad, first as manager of Olympiacos from Greece and later as head coach of Hull City, Watford and Everton in England.

Playing career

Born in Lisbon, Silva developed into a professional footballer with local C.F. Os Belenenses. During a 15-year career he only appeared in two Primeira Liga games, one with that club and another with S.C. Campomaiorense; from 2000 to 2005 he alternated between the second and third divisions, representing C.D. Trofense, Rio Ave FC, S.C. Braga B, S.C. Salgueiros and Odivelas FC.
In the 2005 off-season, Silva joined G.D. Estoril Praia of the second level, where he remained until his retirement six years later, always in that tier. He played his last match on 2 January 2011, a 0–1 home loss against F.C. Penafiel for the campaign's Taça da Liga.
Silva retired in June at the age of nearly 34, amassing division two totals of 152 games and two goals for three clubs.

Coaching career

Estoril

On 10 June 2011, immediately after retiring, Silva was appointed director of football at Estoril. However, early into the season, he replaced Vinícius Eutrópio as manager, with the Cascais team ranking tenth in the second tier. His first game in charge was a 1–3 defeat at Penafiel and, after losing only three matches in 24, he helped the club return to the top flight after seven years, as champions. He ultimately was chosen as the league's Manager of the Year.
Silva made his debut in the Portuguese top division on 17 August 2012, in a 1–2 away defeat to S.C. Olhanense. Estoril overachieved for a second best-ever fifth place in the table, with the subsequent qualification to the UEFA Europa League, also a first. Highlights included not losing any of the games against Sporting CP, and drawing at S.L. Benfica 1–1.
On 23 February 2014, Estoril achieved an historic first-time win at the Estádio do Dragão, the 1–0 victory – where he was sent off midway through the second half – being FC Porto's first home defeat since the 2–3 against Leixões S.C. in 2008. He left his position on 12 May, after leading his team to the fourth position.

Sporting

Silva agreed to a four-year contract with Sporting on 21 May 2014, replacing Leonardo Jardim who left for AS Monaco FC. He led the team to the third place in the championship, also winning the Taça de Portugal by beating S.C. Braga 3–1 on penalties after a 2–2 draw in the final– this was the club's first piece of silverware since the 2008 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira.
On 4 June 2015, four days after winning the trophy, Sporting announced that Silva had been dismissed with just cause, for not wearing their official suit in a cup match against F.C. Vizela.

Olympiacos

On 8 July 2015, Silva was appointed the successor of countryman Vítor Pereira at Olympiacos FC, signing on a two-year contract. His first competitive game occurred in the season opener in the Superleague Greece, won 3–0 against Panionios FC. On 17 September, he played his first UEFA Champions League match with his new club, losing 0–3 at home to FC Bayern Munich.
Silva subsequently guided the team to break the record of 11 consecutive league wins from the first matchday, also recording a 3–2 victory at Arsenal in the Champions League group stage. The Piraeus side's run of domestic wins ended at 17, a European record in the 21st century, but they nonetheless won a record 43rd title with six games remaining.
Silva quit his job on 23 June 2016, alleging personal reasons.

Hull City

On 5 January 2017, Silva was appointed as the head coach of Hull City until the end of the season, replacing Mike Phelan who was dismissed with the team bottom of the Premier League. Upon his appointment, club vice-chairman Ehab Allam said: "He has a great track record and we feel this is a bold and exciting appointment in our aim to retain the club's Premier League status". Silva brought in his own coaching team, including assistant João Pedro Sousa, first-team coach Gonçalo Pedro and goalkeeping coach Hugo Oliveira.
Two days after his appointment, Silva coached the side to a 2–0 win over Swansea City in the third round in the FA Cup. His first league match in charge of the Tigers also ended in success, a 3–1 defeat of Bournemouth on 14 January.
On 26 January 2017, Silva's Hull defeated a Manchester United team, coached by Portuguese compatriot José Mourinho, 2–1 in the semi-finals of the EFL Cup, giving the club its first victory over that opponent since 1974. However, due to the latter's 2–0 win in the first-leg of the tie, the former failed to advance to the final, but on 4 February they beat Liverpool 2–0 in the domestic league, giving the coach four wins from his first four home matches as manager.
In March 2017, Silva stated that he wanted to end the groundshare agreement with rugby league club Hull F.C. at the KCOM Stadium, as the latter played on Friday and affected the pitch quality for his team at the weekend. On 25 May, after the team's relegation, he resigned.

Watford

On 27 May 2017, it was confirmed Silva would join Premier League club Watford as head coach on a two-year contract. After a good start to the season, he was tracked for the vacant managerial position at Everton in November. During this period and in the subsequent two months, the team's performances became increasingly poor, with fans citing his loss of focus as putting them at risk of relegation.
Silva was dismissed by Watford on 21 January 2018, with the club citing the "unwarranted approach by a Premier League rival" that caused "significant deterioration in both focus and results to the point where the long-term future of Watford FC has been jeopardised". In February 2019, Everton agreed to pay Watford £4 million in compensation in response to this claim.

Everton

Silva was confirmed as manager of Everton on 31 May 2018, on a three-year contract. His first game in charge was a 22–0 win in a pre-season friendly over Austrian team ATV Irdning.
On 21 April, Silva guided his side to a 4–0 win over Manchester United, making this the Toffees' largest victory over that opposition in all competitions since their 5–0 success in October 1984. His first season at Goodison Park ended with an eighth-place finish, the same position that they achieved under Sam Allardyce a year earlier.
Silva was sacked on 5 December 2019, after a 5–2 defeat to city rivals Liverpool which left the team in 18th place.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Manager

Estoril
Sporting
Olympiacos
Individual