First stop in Portugal
© Imago
FC Porto presented the former Ajax coach Francesco Farioli as the new head coach. The 36-year-old, who had recently left Amsterdam after just one year, signed a contract until 2027 at last year’s third of the Liga Portugal. For the Italian, it is the first stop in Portugal and the fifth as chief coach.
At Porto, Farioli follows Martín Anselmi, who had to go after 21 games with a point cut of 1.71 and that after the group phase at the club World Cup. Farioli, on the other hand, had declared Ajax a day after the season finals and the missed championship that they wanted to leave the club at his own request. “Management and I have the same goals for the future of Ajax, but we have different visions and time frames how we should work to achieve these goals,” said a club notification at the time.
Farioli had come to Amsterdam for a rained 1.25 million euros from Nice last summer after the club ended a chaotic season in fifth place. The Italian stabilized the team and after a strong start to 2025 it looked like Ajax was able to celebrate the first championship since 2022. On the 29th matchday, the lead over Eindhoven was still nine points, but after a winless series PSV passed on the 33rd matchday (read here how that came about). After the final game in the Johan Cruijff Arena, Farioli was visibly touched. With a point cut of 2.09 points per game, he was nevertheless the best Ajax coach since Erik Ten Hag’s era.