Carlos Queiroz

In 1984, Queiroz was appointed as assistant manager of Estoril-Praia. After that, Queiroz was appointed senior national team coach in 1991. He had a record of 14 wins in 31 matches.[8] Afterwards, he went on to manage the Portuguese Primeira Divisão team Sporting CP in 1994.

He subsequently coached the NY/NJ MetroStars in the United States and the Japanese team, Nagoya Grampus Eight. In between, he found time to author the Q-Report, detailing plans to professionalize the development of footballers in the United States. Queiroz returned to coaching national teams in 1999, when he took the job as head coach of the United Arab Emirates, before becoming head coach of South Africa in 2000. Under Queiroz, South Africa qualified for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, but Queiroz resigned in March 2002 before the finals after falling out with the South African Football Association.[9] Queiroz was part of FIFA XI coaching staff, alongside Brazilian Carlos Alberto Parreira, in a humanitarian friendly match played in war-torn Sarajevo against Bosnia and Herzegovina on 25 April 2000.[10]

Queiroz became a coach at English club Manchester United in June 2002. He began his work at the start of the 2002–03 season, working alongside Alex Ferguson, who had gone without an assistant manager since the departure of Steve McClaren in the middle of 2001.[11]

Queiroz's position at Manchester United as assistant manager attracted the attention of Real Madrid, who wanted Queiroz as their manager to replace departing manager Vicente del Bosque in the summer of 2003. It was an opportunity to work with FIFA World Player of the Year award winners Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo and Luís Figo, an opportunity that Queiroz felt unable to turn down. He was appointed on a two-year contract, only a week after the arrival of Manchester United player David Beckham.

Real Madrid got off to a good start of the 2003–04 season, defeating Mallorca in the Supercopa de España. By mid-season, the team topped the La Liga table and was in contention for the Copa del Rey and the UEFA Champions League trophies. However, they lost their final five matches and finished in fourth place, with Valencia winning the title. Real Madrid also disappointed in the Copa del Rey and the Champions League, ending the season with the Supercopa de España as the only trophy won. Following ten months at Real Madrid, Queiroz joined the long list of managerial failures at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, as he was sacked in May 2004.[12]

Queiroz with Sir Alex Ferguson during the Manchester derby against Manchester City on 10 February 2008

Queiroz returned to United as Ferguson's assistant in June 2004. Some sources noted the effect of his absence on the club's 2003–04 season, in which they came third in the league and exited early from the Champions League.[13]

Queiroz at Old Trafford during a match between Manchester United and Reading on 12 August 2007

In his 2014 autobiography, United captain Roy Keane stated that an argument with Quieroz about loyalty was one of the reasons why the Irishman quit the club in 2005.[14] Keane said during ITV's coverage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup that "one of my big regrets is that I probably should have ripped his head off".[15]

Queiroz was linked with managerial roles with Portuguese side Benfica[16] and the United States national team in 2006 but he remained with Manchester United to help them win the Premier League in 2007. Queiroz was often seen conducting interviews with BBC programmes, such as Match of the Day, as at the time Alex Ferguson refused to speak with the BBC after allegations by the BBC's Panorama programme that Ferguson's younger son Jason, and then Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp, had been involved in corruption regarding cuts in transfer fees. Some of Queiroz's post-match opinions on refereeing were controversial. For example, in 2008 Queiroz was – unsuccessfully – charged with improper conduct by the Football Association after describing referee Martin Atkinson's performance in a match as "a disgrace".[17][18]

In late March 2008, it was reported that Benfica had, once again, approached Queiroz to become their manager and had made a formal request to Manchester United.[19] United were heavily involved in the 2007–08 Premier League title race, five points clear at the top, with just seven games remaining, and also were still competing in the Champions League – being in the quarter-finals at the time of the enquiry. Queiroz did not make any public response to the approach.

Following Benfica's approach, and amid rumors of an opening as the Portugal national coach, Alex Ferguson started to push for Queiroz to be his successor as manager at Old Trafford and discouraged any possible suitors from approaching him.[21] However, rumours over the summer of 2008 continued to link Queiroz with the Portugal national team managers' role, following the departure of Luiz Felipe Scolari.[22] On 11 July 2008, Manchester United agreed to release Queiroz from his contract, and he was appointed manager for the Portuguese national team.

On 11 July 2008, it was announced that Queiroz was leaving Manchester United, having agreed to a four-year contract to become the head coach of the Portugal national team.[23][24][25][26]

Portugal struggled under his management during the qualification for the 2010 World Cup. Despite kick-starting their World Cup qualification campaign with a comfortable 4–0 win against Malta in Ta' Qali, Queiroz's team failed to win any of their subsequent four matches.

Home form was poor, with a 3–2 defeat to Denmark followed by 0–0 draws against Albania and Sweden. Together with another goalless draw in Stockholm against Sweden, these results left Portugal with only six points out of a possible 15 and on the brink of missing a major international tournament for the first time since 1998. Building on an improving reliability in defence, Portugal defeated Albania in Tirana 2–1 with a late goal, tied 1–1 against Denmark on 5 September, beat Hungary 1–0 and again 3–0 in the return match, and finally defeated Malta 4–0. These results, together with a defeat of Sweden to Denmark, enabled Portugal to finish the campaign second in the group with 19 points, one ahead of Sweden, and qualify for the UEFA play-offs. They played Bosnia and Herzegovina in home and away legs. Portugal won 1–0 in Lisbon and followed up with a 1–0 victory in Zenica, and as a result they advanced to the finals of the 2010 World Cup.

At the World Cup, Portugal drew 0–0 with the Ivory Coast but then beat North Korea 7–0, the heaviest victory in the World Cup since Germany's 8–0 defeat of Saudi Arabia in 2002. This rout virtually guaranteed Portugal passage to the second round and a second goalless draw with Brazil confirmed qualification. In the second round, they lost to Spain 1–0 and were knocked out having failed to score in three of their four World Cup matches.

Quieroz was suspended for six months by the Portuguese Anti-Doping Authority (Autoridade Antidopagem de Portugal) on 30 August 2010, when he was judged to have disrupted their pre-World Cup procedures; he had been suspended for a month by the Portuguese Football Federation for using inappropriate language towards the testers, a lesser charge that he admitted to.[27] He was sacked by the PFF on 9 September.[28] On 23 March 2011, the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld his appeal against the Anti-Doping Authority, annulling his suspension.[29]

On 4 April 2011, Queiroz agreed to a two-and-a-half-year deal to coach Iran until the end of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil[30] alongside goalkeeping coach Dan Gaspar and assistant coach Omid Namazi.

Since Queiroz's role as manager of the Iran national team, he has been renowned for introducing players from the Iranian diaspora to the national squad. These players include German Iranians Daniel Davari and Ashkan Dejagah, Dutch Iranian Reza Ghoochannejhad, Swedish Iranians Omid Nazari and Saman Ghoddos, and Iranian American Steven Beitashour among others.[31][32]

Queiroz celebrating following Iran's qualification for the 2014 World Cup

Iran, under Queiroz, began their World Cup qualification campaign successfully, defeating the Maldives 4–0 in the first leg of their second round of qualifiers. After winning 5–0 on aggregate, Iran advanced to the third round of qualifiers, where they were drawn with Indonesia, Qatar and Bahrain. Iran highlighted their position at the top of their group by defeating Bahrain 6–0 at home in the Azadi Stadium, as well as inviting former German youth international, Ashkan Dejagah, who scored twice on his debut against Qatar. After a 4–1 win at Indonesia, Iran qualified for the final round of direct qualifiers, the fourth round.

Queiroz during Iran's group stage match against Argentina on 21 June 2014

In the fourth round, Iran were drawn with South Korea, Qatar, Uzbekistan, and Lebanon in their group. Queiroz made new foreign-based additions to his squad, adding players such as Reza Ghoochannejhad to his team. Iran started their fourth round of Asian qualifiers with a 1–0 win in Uzbekistan. Team Melli then drew Qatar and lost in Lebanon before defeating South Korea at the Azadi on 16 October with a goal from captain Javad Nekounam. After a 1–0 loss in Tehran against Uzbekistan, Iran defeated Qatar 1–0 in Doha and Lebanon 4–0 at home. In their last qualification match, Iran defeated South Korea 1–0 in Ulsan Munsu with a goal from European-based Ghoochannejhad, resulting in their qualification to the 2014 World Cup as group winners with 16 points. Thus, Iran became the third team that Queiroz managed to qualify for the World Cup, having reached the 2002 edition with South Africa and the 2010 edition with Portugal, leading the latter to a knockout stage finish.

Iran qualified for the 2014 World Cup as group winners and competed in Group F alongside Argentina, Nigeria, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. On 1 June 2014, Queiroz announced his 23-man squad.[33] Prior to the tournament, they founded the Central Asian Football Association.[34]

In the opening match of the tournament on 16 June, Iran drew Nigeria 0–0, making it their first clean sheet of the FIFA World Cup.[35] In their next match, Iran was defeated by Argentina 1–0 with a late goal from Lionel Messi, and received praise after holding Argentina for 90 minutes while creating some attacking opportunities of their own.[36] Iran was eliminated from the tournament in their next game, a 3–1 defeat to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Iran's lone goal was scored by Reza Ghoochannejhad.[37] After the tournament, Queiroz extended his contract until the 2018 World Cup.[38]

Queiroz overseeing a training session in March 2016

Iran continued their winning streak after 2014 World Cup qualification, securing qualification to the 2015 Asian Cup months later as the highest ranked seed.[39] Iran qualified for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup as group winners, where they were the highest ranked seed.[39] Iran faced Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates in Group C.

With the second highest number of fans in the tournament after hosts Australia, the Iranians defeated Bahrain 2–0 with limited preparations.[40][41] A defensive-minded Iran then defeated Qatar 1–0 thanks to a Sardar Azmoun goal before defeating the UAE by the same scoreline to reach the top of their group.[42][43]

In the quarter-finals, Iran faced underdog Iraq, who they had beaten weeks prior in a friendly match. Having received a controversial red card in the first half from referee Ben Williams, Iran led a valiant effort with ten men, scoring two goals late in extra time to draw the match 3–3. In the ensuing penalty shootout, Iran lost 7–6 in sudden death.[44][45][46]

Queiroz during group match against Portugal

Iran began their 2018 World Cup qualification campaign with friendly matches against Chile and Sweden in March 2015.[47][48][49] Queiroz resigned from his managerial post thereafter due to disagreements with the Iranian Football Federation.[50] On 14 April 2015, Iran were drawn with Oman, India, Turkmenistan, and Guam in the second round of qualifiers.[51]

On 26 April, Queiroz announced that he would continue as the manager of Iran for their 2018 World Cup campaign.[52] Iran ended their second round qualifying with a 4–0 victory against India and a 2–0 win against Oman. Iran finished top of the group with 20 points from eight games, Queiroz and his team managed to avoid defeat and remain unbeaten in the second round of World Cup qualifying. Iran was placed in Pot 1 alongside Australia for the draw of the third round of World Cup qualifying. They drew with South Korea, Uzbekistan, Qatar, China and Syria. With two games remaining, Iran qualified to the World Cup with defeating Uzbekistan at the Azadi Stadium. They became third team to qualify to the World Cup after host Russia and Brazil.

After going undefeated in qualification, Iran beat Morocco 1–0 in their opening match of the tournament thanks to a late own goal from Aziz Bouhaddouz, but lost 1–0 to Spain in their second match. Their final match saw Queiroz come up against his home country, Portugal; after going 1–0 down, goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand saved a penalty from Cristiano Ronaldo to give Iran hope, but they had to wait until injury time at the end of the second half for an equaliser from Karim Ansarifard. The draw might have been enough to see Iran into the knockout phase for the first time in their history at the expense of the Spaniards, but Spain's injury-time equaliser in a 2–2 draw with Morocco meant they qualified with Portugal.[53]

In April 2018, he was one of the applicants for the vacant Cameroon national team job.[54]

Queiroz during a qualification match against Qatar

On 23 September 2018, Queiroz extended his contract until the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.[55][56] With wins over Yemen and Vietnam, and a draw with neighbours Iraq, Iran won Group D and progressed to the round of 16, where they met the third-placed team from Group F, Oman. A 2–0 win over Oman set up a quarter-final against China, whom they beat 3–0. However, in his 100th match in charge of Iran, the semi-final against Japan saw Queiroz's team concede their first goals of the tournament, all in the second half, losing 3–0. After the match, Queiroz announced that he would not be renewing his contract as manager of Iran.[57]

On 7 February 2019, Queiroz took over as the new manager of Colombia on a three-year contract.[58] He will be the only European & African coaching a South American national team, and is the fourth European manager to be in charge of the Colombian team after Friedrich Donnenfeld, Toza Veselinović and Blagoje Vidinić.[59] His stint with Colombia began with the 2019 Copa América, where his Colombia took the first place with a perfect nine points, including a 2–0 win over Argentina.[60] However, Colombia was knocked out by Chile in the last eight, where Colombia was saved with two goals for Chile being disallowed but failed bitterly in the penalty shootout.[61]

Colombia also began the 2022 World Cup qualifiers with hope to make it third in a row for the second time, and Colombia appeared to be on the right path where they beat neighbor Venezuela and held Chile.[62][63] However, when matches resumed following COVID-19 pandemic, Colombia's performance slipped disastrously, with a 0–3 home loss to Uruguay (its worst ever home loss for 82 years) before being shockingly thrashed 1–6 by Ecuador, and this finally put the end of Carlos Queiroz's reign as Colombia's boss.[64][65]

Sporting CP

• Taça de Portugal: 1994–95
• Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 1995

Real Madrid

• Supercopa de España: 2003

Portugal

• FIFA World Youth Championship: 1989, 1991
• UEFA European Under-16 Championship: 1989