The top Portuguese managers currently without a club

Sergio Conceição

No doubt the biggest name on this list, Conceição oversaw a successful period for FC Porto, coaching the Portuguese giants for seven years before being replaced by his assistant manager in one of the first major overhauls carried out by the newly elected club president André Vilas-Boas - a dismissal which came just a week after Conceição guided his side to the Portuguese Cup title with victory over Sporting.

His departure remains divisive; though many felt a change was the best thing to move the club forward, the long-serving Conceição provided an element of stability, and in many seasons perhaps overachieved with a club that often sold its best players and didn't always reinvest large sums of money to replace them.

Across his seven campaigns at the Porto helm, the 49-year old won eight major honours - and an additional 3 Portuguese Super Cup finals - with his silverware including three league titles and 4 Portuguese Cup triumphs.

Conceição also made a name for himself on the European stage, guiding his team to the quarter finals of the Champions League on two separate occasions, and proving a flexible tactician. Though domestically Porto dominated possession and played on the front foot in the vast majority of games, Europe’s elite competition provided an opportunity for the former winger to display his defensive accumen, often setting up organised defences that could frustrated teams such as Arsenal in the Champions League round of 16 last campaign.

With a track record that points to tangible success, the hot-headed and passionate coach is unlikely to be short of suitors, having been linked with some major job opportunities in the past, including the likes of Newcastle, PSG and Napoli.

Luis Castro

The experienced Luis Castro has also had some notable success, winning trophies in 5 different nations across 3 continents.

Something of a late-bloomer, the 63-year old worked his way up the managerial ladder, his first four managerial positions being at lowly Portuguese sides before landing his first big job at top flight Penafiel. When the club suffered relegation, he went on to join Porto’s coaching staff, managing their youth team and reserves for several years before a stint as interim manager of the senior side for two months in 2014.

He has been very successful over the last 10 years at senior level though. After leading Vitoria Guimarães to a 5th place finish in Portugal and securing them European football, Castro was picked out by Shakhtar Donetsk, winning the Ukrainian league title at the first time of asking and leading his side to the semifinals of the Europa League.

Since then, he has won the Emir Cup in Qatar with Al Duhail, the Rio Cup with Botafogo and the Arab Club Champions Cup with Al Nassr.

Having worked in academies, youth development is an important characteristic of Luis Castro, while he has often been praised for his attacking style of play.

Leonardo Jardim

Leonardo Jardim was once considered one of the most impressive and sought-after Portuguese managers in the game, particularly after the remarkable success he oversaw while managing Ligue 1 outfit Monaco.

Currently out of work after his stint at Al-Rayyan came to a premature end, Jardim has tasted plenty of success in his managerial career. As a young up-and-coming manager at Braga in the 2011-12 season, he led the Minho club to an impressive 3rd place finish, and only left after disagreements with the club president. He then went to Olympiakos, seeing the team sit top of the table by a 10 point margin before being dismissed in controversial circumstances.

A brief stint at Sporting, where he earned a 2nd place finish and markedly improved the side's fortunes, was then followed by that incredible period at Monaco.

It was his 3rd season at the club that really put Jardim on the map as a manager. With his youthful attacking team, Monaco managed to topple PSG at the top of French football, winning the league title for the first time in 17 years. It was in the Champions League, though, that things were particularly impressive.

After topping their Champions League group, they defeated Manchester City on penalties in the first knockout round after an incredible 6-6 thriller over two legs, before putting another six goals past Dortmund across both matches, winning 6-3 on aggregate to reach the Champions League semifinal, where they were subsequently eliminated by Juventus.

It was a remarkable showing by a side that weren't particularly fancied to make a splash on the European stage, and it remains one of the club's greatest ever European adventures.

That wasn't the end of the success for Jardim though. After a two year break from football, Jardim joined Al Hilal, and in his one season at the club completed a treble, winning the Saudi Pro League, the Saudi Super Cup, and the Asian Champions League. He subsequently moved to Shabab Al Ahli and won the UAE league title in his one season at the club.

The success this man has had at almost every club he's been at, combined with his youth development and attacking style of play, makes it a real surprise that he hasn't been offered some of the major jobs in the game, and should he choose to return to Europe, could be an incredibly shrewd appointment by many a club.

Rui Vitoria

Rui Vitoria’s greatest claim to fame is his four year spell in charge of Benfica, which came with mixed fortunes. Ultimately he won everything there is to win in the domestic game while at the helm of the Eagles, lifting the Portuguese Primeira Liga on two occasions alongside the Portuguese Cup (in 2016-17), Portuguese League Cup (in 2015-16) and Portuguese Super Cup (in 2016 and 2017).

Those first two seasons at Benfica were filled with incredible success, not only winning back to back league titles, but doing so in style too. Benfica picked up 88 points in his first season in charge, a league record points haul, while also reaching the quarter finals of the UEFA Champions League, only narrowly being knocked out by German giants Bayern Munich 3-2 on aggregate.

That great spell was unable to be sustained though, with Vitoria’s third and final full season at the club ending in Champions League humiliation, finishing bottom of a favourable group with 0 points, being demolished 5-0 by Basel in one of the outings.

He, much like the aforementioned Luis Castro and Leonardo Jardim, also went on to manage Al Nassr, winning the Saudi league title and the Saudi Super Cup.

His other managerial roles include Spartak Moscow - where he famously led the club to the top of their Europa League group ahead of both Leicester City and Napoli - and Egypt. Since being dismissed by the African nation in February, Vitoria has been without a club, and it will be interesting to see where he goes to next.