Manager

Wolverhampton Wanderers appointed Vitor Pereira as their latest manager to replace Gary O’Neil in December 2023. He took over as Wolves’ new head coach with a contract to 2026.

The West Midlands outfit moved swiftly to appoint Pereira mere days after O’Neil had left Molineux. The Englishman was relieved of his duties after he had won just two Premier League matches in 16 games, leaving Wolves 19th in the division.

O’Neil spent just over a year in charge of Wolves, having taken over in August 2023. He led the club to Premier League safety in his full Premier League campaign in charge. But after the sales of Pedro Neto and Max Kilman in the summer, the Old Gold’s form never recovered.

Wolves manager Vitor Pereira’s past coaching career

Pereira has had a vast coaching career so far which spans multiple countries in Europe and across the world.

After retiring from amateur-level football at 28 years old, Pereira’s first coaching experience came at junior level before he took charge of Sanjoanense in 2004. A year later, he joined Espinho but this appointment did not work out, and he soon found himself back at Porto’s junior side.

In 2008, he went back into management and took over Santa Clara. This spell was far more successful for Pereira as he led the club to third and fourth-place finishes in the Portuguese second tier, narrowly missing out on promotion.

Due to this success, he was appointed Porto’s assistant manager to Andre Villas-Boas in 2010 before being promoted to the first-team manager a year later. He proceeded to spend two years in charge of the Portuguese giants where he would lift the Primeira Liga in both seasons in charge as well as the Portuguese Super Cup.

In 2013, he moved to Saudi side Al-Hilal before he quickly moved to Greek giants Olympiacos in January 2015. Here, he won the double before being sacked after six months in charge.

Following this, he remained in Europe and took over Turkish side Fenerbahce, just one day after leaving Olympiacos. This also proved to be a short spell and he was sacked from his role two years later.

After a brief spell at 1860 Munich saw Pereira relegate the German side to the third tier, he moved to Asia to take charge of Chinese side Shanghai Port FC. Success followed as he led the club to their first-ever Super League title as well as the Super Cup.

He returned to Fernerbahe in July 2021 in what was once again a brief spell. Pereira was sacked less than six months later with the club fifth, 14 points behind the league leaders.

This failure led him to leave Europe once again, this time going to South America to take charge of Corinthians. He was in charge of the Brazilian side for less than a year, and he just missed out on the Copa do Brasil after he lost on penalties in the final before stepping down due to his mother-in-law’s health.

Yet, days later, he decided to stay in Brazil and became the head coach at Flamengo. Here, he would last just three-and-a-half months where he finished runners-up in the Recopa Sudamericana, Supercopa do Brasil and Campeonato Carioca. He was sacked in April 2023 and returned to Saudi to manage Al Shabab a year later.

After a solid record at Al Shabab, he once again decided to leave the club after less than a year to join struggling Wolves.

Vitor Pereira’s coaching career

• Manager, Padroense (juniors), 2002-03
• Manager, Porto (juniors), 2003-04
• Manager, Sanjoanense, 2004-05
• Manager, Espinho, 2005-07
• Manager, Porto (juniors), 2007-08
• Manager, Santa Clara, 2008-10
• Assistant Manager, Porto, 2010-11
• Manager, Porto, 2011-13
• Manager, Al-Ahli, 2013-14
• Manager, Olympiacos, 2015
• Manager, Fernerbahce, 2015-16
• Manager, 1860 Munich, 2017
• Manager, Shanghai Port FC, 2017-20
• Manager, Fenerbahce, 2021
• Manager, Corinthians, 2022
• Manager, Flamengo, 2023
• Manager, Al Shabab, 2024
• Manager, Wolves, 2024-26 (expected)

Vitor Pereira’s playing career

Pereira’s playing career was a short one and the majority of his football was at amateur level. He was often deployed as a midfielder and had a great eye for goal at his level.

Across his career, he played for eight different teams but never stayed longer than two years.

He eventually retired at the age of 28 years old in 1996 before taking his first step into management six years later.

Vitor Pereira at Wolves 

Pereira became Wolves’ new manager in December 2024, quickly taking over at Molineux after O’Neil’s sacking just a few days prior.

The Portuguese manager will now face the daunting task of keeping Wolves in the Premier League after an awful start to the 2024/25 campaign. He will also face tests in the FA Cup, with the third round set to take place in January 2025.