Francesco Farioli is one of the fastest-rising stars in coaching. The 37-year-old led Porto to the Portuguese title last season and is now preparing to take charge of his first Champions League match as a manager against Manchester City at the Estadio do Dragao on Tuesday. Leading a team out in Europe's premier club competition might still feel a long time coming for Farioli, who was linked with the vacancies at Chelsea, Liverpool and Rangers last season.
However, Farioli, who began his managerial journey in Turkey in 2021 with Fatih Karagumruk and then Alanyaspor, opted to renew his contract instead and is certain he made the right choice. "I don't feel I could be in a better place," he told BBC Sport. "I said at our post-season dinner they have created a problem for me, as I will have to bring the president and directors with me." Chief among the relationships keeping him at Porto has been the one with club president Andre Villas-Boas, the former Tottenham and Chelsea manager.
Another key figure in his story is current Tottenham boss Roberto de Zerbi, who appointed Farioli - then a former non-league goalkeeper in Italy and blogger on the Wyscout coaching platform - on to his backroom staff at Benevento in 2017 and then took him to Sassuolo. Initially a goalkeeping coach, he moved into management in Turkey before successful spells at Nice in France and Dutch club Ajax. His time at Ajax did, though, end in disappointment, with the club missing out on the Eredivisie title on the final day.
That came after a turbulent January transfer window, during which he felt they had failed to strengthen sufficiently. The season before his arrival, Ajax had briefly been involved in a relegation battle. "I am used to entering uncomfortable situations where there is a lack of direction and things are not in place," Farioli said.
"I was looking for a club with a similar spirit, not for revenge, but one that wanted to put things right." He said Porto had felt the "same pain" after finishing third before his arrival and shared "the same ambition to do something special". On meeting Villas-Boas in the Italian city of Como before accepting the job, Farioli was reassured to find the club's vision aligned with his own. Porto won the Portuguese Super Cup last month and will have designs on causing an upset against Enzo Maresca's City.
As former European champions who lifted the trophy under Jose Mourinho in 2004, they possess considerable Champions League pedigree. It is not just Farioli's rise through the game that has attracted attention. Across spells at Nice, Ajax and now Porto, his teams have developed a distinctive identity built on possession, structure and aggressive pressing.
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