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If there is a stoppage in what is sure to be a supercharged Dérbi de Lisboa on Friday, the Sporting head coach, Rui Borges, will likely look down to check the watch he considers a lucky charm.
The black Casio – bought for €20 while still playing for his hometown club Mirandela in north-east Portugal, 150km inland from Porto – is a symbol of his superstitious nature and one he has maintained on his journey from the obscurity of being an amateur coach to making a mark on the biggest stage in club football.
The 44-year-old Portuguese picked up the pieces after the turbulence brought by Ruben Amorim’s exit for Manchester United and is quietly forging a fine reputation himself, with Sporting chasing a third straight league title and vying to qualify automatically for the knockout stages of the Champions League. It promises to be significant few days, a trip across town to Benfica’s Estádio da Luz, the warmup for a visit to the Allianz Arena and Bayern Munich on Tuesday.
Borges’s maiden steps as a coach came at fourth-tier Mirandela, where he bookended a modest playing career, reaching the Portuguese second division as good as it got. Borges has made a bigger splash in the dugout, securing a domestic double with Sporting last season, winning the league and cup in his first season. This season Sporting are second, three points behind Porto and three in front of Benfica.
There were headaches at the outset, too, namely Viktor Gyökeres’s protracted exit, but Borges’s side are the highest scorers in the division, the Colombia striker Luis Suárez – signed from Almeria in the summer – hitting the ground running with nine goals in 12 matches.
Borges wears the watch every game without fail. Casio even reached out to him this season and sent him various watches – and upgrades – but he has stuck with his original. His superstitions run deep, to the point where he stipulated on sitting at the same table at the same restaurant after a scalp towards the end of last season. Around that time, his squad ribbed him for staying loyal to a gilet, Borges convinced it would help Sporting become champions. They did, pipping Benfica to the title to secure their 21st Primeira Liga and their first back-to-back titles since 1953-54. Sporting have not won three in succession since that era and Benfica were the last team to do so, in 2015-16.
Sporting have a history of giving up-and-coming coaches a chance, Marco Silva, Amorim and João Pereira among the best examples. But Pereira, promoted from within, lasted just six weeks and Sporting moved quickly to hire Borges, who led Vitória de Guimarães to second in the division.
Seven straight wins at the start of last season meant less than six months at the club, Sporting triggering his £3.5m release clause. Since succeeding Pereira last Christmas and approaching his first anniversary, he has tasted defeat just once in the league, at Porto in August. Defeat at Napoli in October was another rare hiccup.
Carlos Correira was the Mirandela president who coached Borges as a boy and later entrusted him with his first head coach role, at the start of 2017-18. The aim was survival but they finished fourth and Borges jumped two divisions to join Academico Viseu, a second-tier club staring at relegation – until he averted danger.
“It was clear that he was a leader, and we could see that this was the path he wanted,” Correira says. “As captain, he was someone who could unite people and bring everyone together around him. He was very studious, truly loves football, and spends hours and hours working to become better. He did great work here and quickly reached the top. When he left Mirandela, he said that in two or three years he would be in the first division – and he made it.”
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Borges took charge of Moreirense at the start of 2023-24, fresh from the club returning to the Portuguese top flight at the first attempt following relegation. It was a big test for the club and Borges, who had never managed at the level, after spells with Coimbra, Nacional, Vilafranquense and Mafra. A seven-match unbeaten run, during which Moreirense held Benfica to a frustrating draw at the Estádio da Luz, paved the way to sixth, their best finish in the division.
“From the moment he arrived, he brought a very positive energy, which was very important for a very difficult season we had ahead of us,” says Gonçalo Franco, now of Swansea. “I think all the success we had was largely due to the relationship the manager and his coaching staff had with all the players. His ideas were all very clear so that we could all learn and evolve. When I think of that season all that comes to mind is pure happiness. We were all rowing in the same direction.”
Borges’s father, Manuel, played in Portugal’s top division and Borges considers his late grandfather, Ze Pedro, a shoemaker, a big influence and dedicated his first top-flight title to his grandad and has a tattoo in his memory. “Whenever he comes to Mirandela, he always goes to our training and matches,” Correira says.
“He is very humble and has not forgotten his roots. Everyone in Mirandela supports him. He is a son of the town, someone we’re extremely proud of. His entire coaching staff also passed through Mirandela, and they all deserve credit alongside him. They followed him throughout his success, and he always recognised that. We are very proud of him.”
