Abel Ferreira

Abel Fernando Moreira Ferreira (born 22 December 1978), known simply as Abel as a player, is a Portuguese football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Brazilian club Palmeiras.

As a right-back, he played 234 Primeira Liga matches over 11 seasons (three goals), with Vitória de Guimarães, Braga and Sporting CP. With Sporting, he won two Taça de Portugal and as many Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, in a 14-year professional career.

Ferreira started working as a manager in 2013, being in charge of Sporting CP B, Braga B, Braga, PAOK and Palmeiras. With the latter club, he won the Copa do Brasil in 2020, two successive Copa Libertadores in 2020 and 2021 and the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A in 2022 and 2023.

Penafiel, Guimarães and Braga
Abel was born in Penafiel, Porto District. Having joined his hometown club Penafiel's youth ranks at age 10, he started his senior career in the 1997–98 season. After the manager of the first team reconverted him to right-back from central midfielder, he initially was against this decision and thought about quitting football.

In the summer of 2000, Vitória de Guimarães signed Abel and he would make his Primeira Liga debut at the club. For 2004–05, he moved to Braga.

Sporting CP
Abel transferred to Sporting CP in January 2006, in a two-way loan deal involving the Brazilian Wender. The move was made permanent before the 2006–07 campaign.

On 27 November 2007, Abel scored a goal against Manchester United in a UEFA Champions League group stage 2–1 away loss. In that season he was also called up for the Portugal national team, but did not earn any caps.

In 2008–09, Abel lost his starting position to Pedro Silva. Both players lost their importance in the squad after the purchase of Braga's João Pereira in January 2010.

Abel was still regularly used in the following seasons, as Pereira featured regularly as a midfielder. On 24 October 2010, he scored his first league goal for Sporting, in the 90th minute to defeat Rio Ave at home (1–0).

Abel retired at the end of the 2010–11 season aged 32, due to injury problems.

Sporting CP
Ferreira started working as a manager immediately after retiring, taking charge of Sporting's juniors as well as their reserves in the Segunda Liga. Due to disagreements with chairman Bruno de Carvalho during the 2014 preseason, he was fired from the latter.

Braga
In February 2015, Ferreira was appointed at Braga B in the same division. On 26 April 2017, he succeeded Jorge Simão at the helm of the first team.

Ferreira led them to fourth place in his first full season in charge, with the subsequent qualification for the UEFA Europa League's third qualifying round.

PAOK
PAOK paid a reported €2 million to acquire Ferreira's services on 30 June 2019, after former manager Răzvan Lucescu left for Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia. In his first year, the team were knocked out by Ajax in the Champions League third qualifying round when the opposition scored through two controversial penalties in the second leg. They were eliminated by Slovan Bratislava in the Europa League playoff round. On the domestic front, he led the side to second place in the Super League Greece, but was also in charge as the club's record of 51 matches unbeaten came to an end. They also reached the semi-finals of the Greek Cup.

Ferreira left the Toumba Stadium on 30 October 2020, following a 0–0 draw at Granada in the Europa League group stage.

Palmeiras
Ferreira was announced as head coach of Brazilian club Palmeiras that same day, on a two-year deal. He made his debut on 5 November 2020 in the last-16 second leg of the Copa do Brasil in a 1–0 home win against Red Bull Bragantino (4–1 aggregate). Three days later, on his Campeonato Brasileiro Série A debut, his team won away to Vasco da Gama.

On 30 January 2021, Ferreira won his first title as coach with a 1–0 victory over fellow Brazilians Santos in the final of the 2020 Copa Libertadores; only two other non-South American managers had won the tournament before, one being his compatriot Jorge Jesus, a year earlier, also with a Brazilian side, Flamengo.

On 7 March 2021, Palmeiras won the second leg of the Brazilian Cup final with a 2–0 home defeat of Grêmio, with the aggregate score being 3–0. Owing to this result, Ferreira became the first foreign coach to win the competition. On 27 November that year, his team retained the Libertadores with a 2–1 extra-time win in the final against Flamengo at the Estadio Centenario in Montevideo.

The team defeated Athletico Paranaense 2–0 at Allianz Parque on 2 March 2022, winning the Recopa Sudamericana for the first time; this was the third international championship won by Ferreira with the side, also making him the club's most successful head coach in those type of competitions. In November they were crowned Brazilian champions and, after the conquest of the Campeonato Paulista the following April, he became the foreign manager with the most trophies in the country.

In January 2024, shortly after winning another Brazilian League, Ferreira renewed his contract, with the new link running until December 2025.

Personal life
Ferreira married Ana Xavier in 1996, with whom he had daughters Inês and Mariana. In March 2021, he was decorated with the Commander of the Order of Infante D. Henrique.

In December 2023, following the conquest of the Brazilian title which made him a two-time champion with Palmeiras, Ferreira recalled the sacrifices he made in his playing days, saying that he did not have many girlfriends or go to parties. He told the media his evenings were spent at home with his parents watching the Brazilian soap opera 'Tieta' on Portuguese television, which his mother considered too daring and sometimes closed the door on him, and explained that in order to achieve goals people have to "make sacrifices".

Player
Sporting CP
 * Taça de Portugal: 2006–07, 2007–08
 * Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 2007, 2008

Manager
Palmeiras
 * Campeonato Brasileiro Série A: 2022, 2023
 * Copa do Brasil: 2020
 * Supercopa do Brasil: 2023
 * Copa Libertadores: 2020, 2021
 * Recopa Sudamericana: 2022
 * Campeonato Paulista: 2022, 2023 2024
 * FIFA Club World Cup runner-up: 2021

Individual
 * Primeira Liga Manager of the Month: September 2018
 * Copa Libertadores Coach of the Year: 2020, 2021
 * Best Football Coach in Brazil: 2020
 * Best Coach in Brazil by O Globo/Extra: 2020
 * South American Coach of the Year: 2021
 * Best Portuguese Coach Abroad by CNID: 2022
 * Bola de Prata Coach of the Year: 2022, 2023
 * Campeonato Brasileiro Série A Coach of the Year: 2022
 * Campeonato Brasileiro Série A Coach of the Month: August 2023
 * Campeonato Paulista Coach of the Year: 2024

Orders

 * PRT Order of Prince Henry - Commander BAR.svg Knight Commander of the Order of Prince Henry