He was born Jose Felix Mourinho on the 26th of January 1963. Mourinho grew up in   a middle class area of Setubal which is a beautiful coastal city situated just   south of the Portuguese capital Lisbon. The City is steeped in religious history   as is the 15th century Church of Jesus which lies in the city centre At the   beginning of the 20th century it was renowned for it’s fishing ports and is now   infamous for it’s modern high quality golf courses

Mourinho was born in to a   large middle class family, son of Felix and Maria Mourinho. His father played   professional football for Portuguese sides Belenenses and Vitoria de Setubal as   well as earning a solitary cap for the Portuguese national team and His mother   was a primary school teacher from a wealthy background. Unsurprisingly, Jose   was an extremely smart and competitive child and was very popular amongst his   classmates

As an adolescent he became increasingly interested in football   and would sometimes attend his fathers training sessions to study tactics. He   went on to join the Belenenses youth team, however he found that despite   having a good football brain he was lacking the pace and power needed for a career as a professional footballer.. Mourinho was reluctantly enrolled at Business school, but decided   to drop out on his very first day. Mourinho was keen to become a football coach   and so decided to attend the Technical University of Lisbon where he studied   Sports Science. He became a physical Education teacher and taught at several   different schools until he gained his diploma after 5 years of   study..

Mourinho left University determined to become a football manager and   returned to his native Setubal where he became a youth coach for his father’s   old team Vitoria de Setubal. In 1992 Mourinho was given a golden opportunity   which would prove to be the making of him, he was appointed as Bobby Robson’s   interpreter at Sporting Club De Portugal and Mourinho was educated about tactics   and coaching by the former England manager. It was a mutually respectful   friendship and Mourinho still credits Robson for his knowledge of the game to   this very day. Robson was sacked by Sporting and moved to Porto FC where they   stayed for two years before moving as a team again to manage Spanish giants FC  Barcelona.

Mourinho began to gain a reputation at Barca for his tactical   mind and confidence and when Robson left Barcelona, Mourinho stayed behind and   worked with new boss Louis Van Gaal enjoying major success with two consecutive   La Liga titles. Despite his achievements as an assistant at Barcelona, the   ambitious Mourinho was yearning to become a head coach and so he returned to   Portugal in 2000 to manage Benfica. His mentor Bobby Robson was the new manager   at Newcastle United and he wanted his old friend to join him in England ,   promising that once he stepped down as boss, Mourinho could take the reigns.

Mourinho was enjoying life as a manager too much though and respectfully   declined his mentors offer. He was keen for a contract extension at Benfica, but   the President of the club had other ideas as he was planning to install Benficas   legendary midfielder Toni as Mourinho’s successor. Mourinho left Benfica after   just 9 games in charge. In January 2002 he was appointed as head coach of Porto   FC where he would begin to gain international recognition as a top manager, at   the end of the 2001/2002 season Porto finished 3rd after an impressive run of   form coinciding with Mourinho’s arrival. This was followed with his first League   title as a manager in 2003 and he was turning Porto in to one of European   football’s most dangerous sides. the acquisition of defender Ricardo Carvalho,   midfield magician Deco and Jorge Costinha would transform Porto’s fortunes. the   2003/2004 Champions League campaign would see Jose Mourinho become a big name in   European club football,

The incident which initially got him noticed by the   English media was his infamous run down the touchline when Porto scored the goal   to knockout English champions Manchester United. His Porto side defied all the   odds by making that year’s final and he would go on to achieve his   greatest accolade in football when his Porto side defeated Monaco 3-0 in   the 2004 Champions League final and his place in history was assured.. Before   and after this momentous game there was much speculation that Mourinho had been   approached by English Premier League club Chelsea to succeed Claudio Ranieri as manager.

In June 2004 he announced himself in the English game at a memorable   press conference. Mourinho said:” Please don’t call me arrogant, but I am   European champion and I think im the special one’ such confidence and character   had been missing from the English game since Brian Clough’s departure and   Mourinho was a managerial breathe of fresh air. With his film star good looks,   Mediterranean dress sense and arrogant swagger, Mourinho was the polar opposite   of the majority of Premiership managers.

In his first year as Chelsea boss   they would lift the Carling Cup and win Chelsea’s first league title in 50 years   with a record tally of 97 points. The Blues became an efficient machine and   Players such as a young John Terry and Frank Lampard would begin to flourish   under his management. He brought in the likes of Carvalho from former club Porto   and signed Ivorian striker Didier Drogba from Marseille for 25 million pounds.   Billionaire Russian owner Roman Abramovich gave ‘The Special one’ all the money   he needed to build a special team and they went on to retain their Premier   League title in 2006. Things began to get sour however and there began to   be discontent over Mourinho’s efficient style of play as Abramovich was looking   to rebrandish the club’s name with a more attacking style of football. The   politics in the boardroom became too much and after an emergency meeting in   September 2007 he parted ways with Chelsea football club.

He had established   himself as an icon in the English game after an extremely successful and   compelling 3 year tenure in South West london. Mourinho found himself the   subject of speculation at the end of 2007 when it was rumoured that he was being   pursued for the England job, he seemed uninterested in the post though as he was   enjoying the time he had with his family. The 47 year-old finally returned to   top level management when he was revealed as Italian side Inter Milan’s new   boss. In his first full season he would go on to win the Italian League   comfortably but was unable to overcome Inter’s European jinx as he was knocked   out by his former rival Alex Ferguson in Milan’s second round Champions League   dismissal at the hands of Manchester United. Mourinho guided Inter to their   first Champions League trophy in 45 years with a 2-0 victory over Bayern Munich   in the 2010 final and became only the third manager ever to win the trophy with   two separate clubs.

Constant scrutiny from the Italian media and public   resulted in the Portuguese being hounded out of Italy and taking the much   coveted Real Madrid hot seat in June 2010. Real president Florentino Perez is   desperate for the club to return to European glory after 7 years in the   wilderness and felt that Mourinho had the credentials to end the clubs   heartache. Mourinho has endured a turbulent first season in charge at the   Bernabeau which has seem him land in severe trouble with UEFA after Madrid’s   controversial semi-final exit out of the Champions League at the hands of their   bitter adversaries Barcelona. Mourinho hurled allegations of bias and corruption   against Barcelona and even went as far as to question their humanitarian   Sponsors Unicef’s reputation. The Portuguese was consequently handed a 5 match   touchline ban for his actions by UEFA.

The Los Blancos boss has had a torrid   relationship with the Spanish media ever since his arrival in Madrid which has   influenced his thinking over a possible reappearance in English football.   Mourinho has strongly hinted that a return to the Premiership in the near future   is on the cards after stating that his most enjoyable time in football   management was at Chelsea. Madrid’s sole piece of silverware in the 2010-2011   campaign was the Copa Del Rey trophy which was achieved with a dogged 1-0 win   over Barcelona at the Mestailla.

Controversy has followed the outspoken   Mourinho wherever he’s gone, in 2004 he was quoted as calling Arsenal manager   Arsene Wenger ‘a voyeur’ but later apologised for his comments. He evoked more   controversy when he was critical of Inter Midfielder Sulley Muntari for being   too weak after he fasted for a Muslim holy festival. During Chelsea’s European   clash with Barcelona in 2005 he accused Barca manager Frank Rijkard and match   official Anders Frisk of having a half-time talk which arguably lead to the   premature retirement of Frisk. In 2007 the notorious family man saw his private   life invaded when an alleged affair between himself and a young Blonde model was   uncovered. The affair was meant to have taken place between 2001 and 2003, his   marriage would survive the alleged affair though.

He has made several   appearances in advertisements for companies such as Samsung, Addidas and   American Express earning millions of pounds in the process. One part of his life   which has failed to gain much publicity is his devoted charity work including a   work that brings Israeli and Palestinian Children together through a love of   football,and he also donated his jacket to Tsunami relief raising £22, 000 in   the process. He has been married to his wife since 1989 and has two children, a   teenage girl named Matilde and Jose Junior who was born in the year 2000.   Mourinho says that he sees family as ‘The centre of his life’ and that even   football is trivial in comparison to that. Known for his outbursts at press   conferences and his strong personality.