Shabab Al-Ahly Football Company announced through its official account on the social networking site “X” yesterday that the club has signed Portuguese coach Paulo Sousa (53 years old) to coach the team starting next season 2024-2025. The press statement stated: “Shabab Al-Ahly Company wishes the coach success in achieving the goals and ambitions of the club, its fans and its large fans. Welcome Paulo to the stronghold of the Knights.”
Paulo Souza will lead Shabab Al-Ahly, succeeding Serbian coach Marko Nikolic, who coached the team last season, before he was dismissed in May, after the “Knights” lost the ADNOC Professional League title. Souza is experiencing his first experience in the region, and has a strong CV, as he was born in the Portuguese city of Viso on August 30, 1970. He was one of the football stars as a player, and wore the shirts of a number of the best teams in Europe, and won many championships. The Al-Ahly youth coach began his career with Benfica in 1989, and spent four years with them, during which he won the league, the cup, and the Portuguese Super Cup. After that, he moved to Sporting Lisbon, and spent the 1993-1994 season with them, before moving to Juventus, with whom he won the 1996 Champions League. He joined Dortmund in Germany the following season, and won the Champions League with them against Juventus, then returned to Italy through Inter Milan in 1998, then to Parma and then Panathinaikos in Greece, and ended his career in 2002 at Espanyol in Spain.
Paulo Sousa was one of the stars of the Portuguese national team between 1991 and 2002, and won the bronze medal at Euro 2000 as his best achievement with his country’s national team. During his coaching career, he led many clubs, most notably Queens Park Rangers, Swansea City and Leicester City in England, Fiorentina in Italy, Basel in Switzerland, Bordeaux in France, Flamengo in Brazil, the Polish national team, and finally Salernitana in Italy. As a coach, he achieved many titles, the most prominent of which was the Swiss League title with Basel in the 2014-2015 season.
Paulo Souza has previously achieved many titles as a player, most notably two European Champions League titles, and other titles as a coach.
