Vicens leaves after three straight defeats

SC Braga dismissed head coach Carlos Vicens on Tuesday 20 October 2026, with immediate effect, and the club said the rest of his coaching staff left with him, namely Mário Enguidanos, Jordi Lie, Lander Iza, Ramiro Marín and Willy Alonso. The decision followed a 2-1 home defeat to Gil Vicente on Monday 19 October, the third straight loss and the fourth match without a win in all competitions. Earlier in the run the team had lost 1-3 to Sporting and 3-0 to Copenhagen, and in all three defeats SC Braga had been ahead before conceding. At the time of the sacking the club sat eighth in the I Liga with 11 points after eight rounds. Vicens had been in charge since the summer of 2025, replacing Carlos Carvalhal, after four seasons as an assistant to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.

Franclim Carvalho returns

Franclim Carvalho, 39, was named head coach with immediate effect and signed a contract until the end of the current season, with an option for one more. A native of Miranda do Corvo, he was assistant to Artur Jorge at SC Braga in 2022/23 and 2023/24 before moving to Botafogo, and he had been without a club since leaving the Brazilian side in August. At Botafogo he coached 21 matches as head coach and won ten of them. His earlier head-coach spell came at B SAD in 2021/22, across 18 matches. His staff is Luís Filipe, Mauro Moderno, Ricardo Matos and Tiago Pires, while Eduardo Carvalho and Orlando Silva remain from the previous setup. He took charge of the first training session on the day of his appointment.

Vicens's record and the fallout

Across 76 matches in all competitions, Vicens recorded 41 wins, 19 draws and 16 defeats. His defeat rate of 21 per cent is the lowest among SC Braga coaches with 50 or more matches.

Wins41

Draws19

Defeats16

Wins

41

Draws

19

Defeats

16

Data from the article text

His biggest wins were 5-0 against Santa Clara in the League Cup and 5-0 against Alverca in the league, and the club reached the semi-finals of the Europa League last season. Ricardo Horta was the club's top scorer under him with 23 goals. After the Copenhagen defeat, supporters confronted him over the run of poor results, and Vicens and SC Braga president António Salvador went to talk with the fans who had travelled to Denmark, a moment that spread quickly on social media. Vicens then posted a message to supporters:

“We will give everything to turn this around. We went through difficult moments last season and we move forward together.”

Results behind the decision

Copenhagen won 3-0 in the Conference League opener, the worst defeat of the season so far. The run of three defeats left SC Braga with four matches without a win in all competitions, a stretch the club had not seen under Vicens and had not seen since 2022. The dated steps leading to the change are set out below.

In its statement the club thanked the departing staff:

“SC Braga thanks Carlos Vicens and the rest of the coaching staff for the professionalism, dedication and commitment shown in service of the club.”

Gent match and what comes next

SC Braga host Gent on Thursday 22 October in the second matchday of the Conference League, which will be Franclim Carvalho's first official match in charge. Gent lead the Belgian league with seven wins and one draw, but they were knocked out of the Belgian Cup on penalties by Rochefort, a side from the amateur divisions, the previous weekend. Franclim Carvalho has had little time to work with the squad before that fixture. FC Porto top the I Liga, 13 points clear of SC Braga at the time of the sacking.