Luís Freire

Luís Carlos Batalha Freire (born 3 November 1985) is a Portuguese professional football manager, currently in charge of C.D. Nacional.

This name uses Portuguese naming customs: the first or maternal family name is Batalha and the second or paternal family name is Freire.
Luís Freire
Personal information
Full name Luís Carlos Batalha Freire
Date of birth (1985-11-03) November 3, 1985
Place of birth Ericeira, Portugal
Club information
Current team
 Nacional (manager)
Teams managed
Years Team
2012–2015 Ericeirense
2015–2017 Pêro Pinheiro
2017–2018 Mafra
2018–2019 Estoril Praia
2019– Nacional

Beginning as a manager in amateur football in his 20s, he won six promotions in his first eight seasons, including as champions of the Campeonato de Portugal with Mafra in 2018. In 2020, he reached the Primeira Liga with Nacional.[1]

Managerial career

Freire was born in Ericeira, Mafra, Lisbon District. He played as a defender in the youth academy of Ericeirense and C.D. Mafra, but quit football when he began studying at the University of Évora in 2005. While studying, Freire started training local athletes at Juventude. To gain visibility, he started scouting at Mafra, Tondela, and then Oriental, taking on assistant duties as well. Freire returned to university to study his Master's degree and started training his local side Ericeirense, as well as teaching on the side. When he received an offer to scout at S.C. Covilhã, Ericeirense offered him a managerial position for the first time in his career. He managed to achieve promotion, and joined Pêro Pinheiro where he was promoted again.[2]

Freire's record of four promotions in his first five seasons of senior management earned him the nicknames of "The Poor Man's Vítor Oliveira" (after a specialist in promotion to Primeira Liga) and "The Mourinho of Promotions".[3] In 2017, he managed for the first time in the third-tier Campeonato de Portugal, winning promotion as champions with a 2–1 final win over S.C. Farense on 10 June 2018.[4]

The day after getting Mafra into LigaPro, Freire left for G.D. Estoril Praia of that league, with the aim of reaching the top flight.[5] On 29 July 2018, in his first match in professional football, his side beat Farense 2–0 away to reach the group stage of the Taça da Liga;[6] on his league debut on 11 August the team won 4–0 at home to FC Porto B.[7] He left on 21 January 2019 after a run of three losses and a draw.[8]

On 27 May 2019, Freire signed a one-year deal with C.D. Nacional, recently relegated to the second tier.[9] The team were in first place when the season was abandoned prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning Freire had a record of 6 promotions in his first 8 seasons as a manager. In 2020–21, 34-year-old Freire was the youngest manager in that season of the Primeira Liga.[1] He made his top-flight debut on 20 September in a 3–3 home draw with Boavista FC.[10][11]

Managerial statistics
As of 9 February 2021[12][13]
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team Nat From To Record
G W D L GF GA GD Win %
Ericeirense 1 July 2012 30 June 2015 94 48 16 30 145 108 +37 051.06
Pêro Pinheiro 1 July 2015 23 May 2017 65 43 15 7 116 40 +76 066.15
Mafra 23 May 2017 11 June 2018 40 27 9 4 76 29 +47 067.50
Estoril Praia 11 June 2018 21 January 2019 24 13 4 7 36 23 +13 054.17
Nacional 27 May 2019 Present 47 21 15 11 62 48 +14 044.68
Career totals 270 152 59 59 435 248 +187 056.30

Honours

Mafra

References
  1. Esteves, Adérito (7 May 2020). "O "ninja" subiu todas as divisões: o que tem Luís Freire de especial?" [The "Ninha" rose from all the divisions: what does Luís Freire has that's special?] (in Portuguese). Mais Futebol.
  2. Cabral, Mariana (12 May 2020). "Luís Freire: "A gente queria era dar espetáculo, mas quando perdia a bola era uma desgraça. Tanto ganhávamos 4-0 como levávamos 7-3"" [Luís Freire: "People wanted us to put on a show, but it was a disgrace when we lost the ball. We won 4-0 as often as 7-3"]. Tribuna Expresso (in Portuguese).
  3. Nogueira, Carlos (17 December 2017). "Luís Freire, um jovem treinador especialista em subir de divisão" [Luís Freire, a young manager specialising in promotions]. Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  4. "Mafra conquista Campeonato de Portugal após reviravolta frente ao Farense" [Mafra win Campeonato de Portugal after comeback against Farense]. Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). 10 June 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  5. "Estoril apresenta Luís Freire com o "objetivo de subir de divisão"" [Estoril present Luís Freire with the "objective of promotion"] (in Portuguese). Mais Futebol. 11 June 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  6. "Estoril-Praia mais eficaz vence em Faro e qualifica-se para a fase de grupos da Taça da Liga" [More efficient Estoril-Praia win in Faro and qualify for the Taça da Liga group stage]. Observador (in Portuguese). 29 July 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  7. "Estoril-FC Porto B, 4-0: Sandro Lima e Roberto bisam" [Estoril-FC Porto B, 4-0: Sandro Lima and Roberto score braces]. Record (in Portuguese). 11 August 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  8. "Luís Freire deixa comando técnico do Estoril" [Luís Freire leaves helm of Estoril]. Record (in Portuguese). 21 January 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  9. "Luís Freire é o novo treinador do Nacional e tem cinco subidas de divisão" [Luís Freire is the new manager of Nacional and has five promotions under his belt] (in Portuguese). Funchal Notícias. 27 May 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  10. "Treinador do Nacional quer pontuar frente ao Boavista na sua estreia na I Liga (Áudio)" [Nacional manager wants points against Boavista on his I Liga debut] (in Portuguese). Rádio e Televisão de Portugal. 18 September 2020. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  11. Oludare, Shina (19 September 2020). "Awaziem shines on Boavista debut against Alhassan's Nacional". Goal. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  12. Luís Freire coach profile at Soccerway
  13. "Luís Freire". ForaDeJogo. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
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