Azerbaijan under-20 project

Rui Jorge, 53, says his first job abroad, coaching Azerbaijan's under-20 side, is going very well. He was invited to prepare the country's participation in the 2027 under-20 World Cup, which Azerbaijan will host together with Uzbekistan. He said the squad is not good enough to compete at the tournament, but that the aim is to develop players for the future. He told the people who approached him that he was not the right choice if they wanted someone promising a world title or wins, but that he could help young players grow and play as a collective unit.

He singles out a 16-year-old Qarabag player as being on a par with the best 2010-born players in Portugal and the rest of the world, and he says young players in Azerbaijan lack the development environments that Portuguese players have.

“Kids with quality exist, that is undeniable.”

He says he is more interested in watching how these players develop and how far they can progress than in senior management.

Fourteen years with Portugal's under-21s

Before moving abroad, Rui Jorge led Portugal's under-21 side for more than 14 years and says he would change nothing about that spell. He lost two European Under-21 Championship finals, in 2015 and 2021, and says he did everything he and his players could to win the title. He says more than 60 players from his teams went on to the senior national side. He values the human and behavioural side of the job as much as the results, and declines to single out individual players, saying they all gave their maximum.

Senior coaching and the FPF

Rui Jorge has directed only two senior matches, the last two games of the 2008/09 season for Belenenses, which he took on against his wishes after a call from Jaime Pacheco, who was leaving the club at the time. He says senior management was never his goal. He left the under-21 role after the European Championship when his contract ended, and Luís Freire replaced him. He has not watched a Portugal under-21 match since leaving, but phoned Freire to wish him well.

He criticised the way Pedro Proença handled his exit, saying the federation president never had a word with him when he left.

“It was not only dishonest in the way they did it, but also of low value.”

He added that the conduct was not that of a person of good character, and that it left him sad.

Cristiano Ronaldo

Rui Jorge says he did not follow closely the controversy over the Portugal squad, knowing only in passing what he received in messages from others. He recalls Cristiano Ronaldo as a young player at Sporting, when Rui Jorge was already an experienced player with several years at the club and the national team. He hopes Ronaldo's national team career ends in a way that suits a name like his.

“He is the best Portuguese of all time, that is undeniable.”

Ronaldo left the national team camp on 30 September, ahead of Nations League Group A4 games against Denmark and Norway, and justified his exit by citing a breach of trust by coach Jorge Jesus. In a statement, the 41-year-old accused the coach of breaking his word twice. He had started the 1-0 home win over Wales on 24 September and was an unused substitute in the 2-1 win in Norway three days later, after which he left the pitch apparently dissatisfied.