LISBON: Porto appointed Sergio Conceicao as their new coach on Thursday with the ex-Portugal winger becoming the fifth man in the last four years to manage the former European champions.
The 42-year-old, who resigned from French Ligue 1 club Nantes on Tuesday, has replaced Nuno Espirito Santo, who left one day after the end of the season by mutual consent.
Porto, who have qualified for next season’s Champions League group stage, have seen arch-rivals Benfica win the domestic league title for the last four seasons and Conceicao will be expected to immediately end that run.
“There is that desire to win the championship, the main title, and, obviously go as far as possible in the Champions League,” he told reporters.
Since 2013, Paulo Fonseca, Julen Lopetegui, Jose Peseiro and Nuno have all sat in the hot seat, while Luis Castro and Rui Barros have also been in charge on an interim basis.
Before that Porto won the league nine times in 11 seasons from 2002/03 to 2012/13, also winning the Champions League under Jose Mourinho in 2004.
Conceicao joined Nantes last December when they were second-bottom in Ligue 1. He guided the club away from the relegation zone and up to a seventh-place finish.
Conceicao had agreed to a contract extension until 2020 with the French club before being offered the Porto job.--REUTERS