“Fútbol Clube do Porto – Futebol, SAD ("FC Porto") informs the market, its Associates, Fans and Supporters, as well as the general public, that it has reached an agreement and signed employment contracts with Francesco Farioli as coach of its main football team, as well as with the rest of the technical team, valid until the end of the 2026/27 sports season”, the ‘dragons’ stated in the note sent to the market regulator.

The 36-year-old coach arrives at FC Porto from Ajax to replace Argentine Martín Anselmi, who left the club just a few days after the team failed to advance past the group stage of the Club World Cup, which is being held in the United States.

Farioli will be officially presented in a ceremony at the José Maria Pedroto auditorium, at Estádio do Dragão, according to the club on its official website.

The Italian began his career as a goalkeeper coach, performing these functions in teams in the lower divisions of Italy, as well as at Benevento and Sassuolo, and, in between, he also worked in Qatar.

His first experience as a head coach came at Karagumruk, in the Turkish top flight, in 2020/21, before moving the following season to Alanyaspor, where he led the club from 2022 to 2023.

In 2023/24, he took charge of Nice, leading the southern French team to fifth place in Ligue 1 and qualification for the Europa League, but losing in the quarter-finals of the French Cup to Paris Saint-Germain.

Last season, he was chosen to coach the historic Ajax and was well-placed to win the Dutch title, as with five rounds remaining in the competition they were nine points ahead of second-placed PSV.

However, towards the end of the championship, the team from Amsterdam was dropping point after points and, in the penultimate round, they were overtaken by the team from Eindhoven, who confirmed their second title in the final round, relegating Ajax to second place, one point behind.

In the Dutch Cup, they lost to AZ Alkmaar in the round of 16, the same stage in which they were eliminated from the Europa League, against the Germans from Eintracht Frankfurt.

Poor performance

FC Porto previously announced that they had begun negotiations to terminate Martín Anselmi's contract, following the team's performance in the Club World Cup, in which the 'blue and whites' were considered the European team with the worst performance in the competition, with only two points, resulting from draws with Palmeiras (0-0) and Al Ahly (4-4), and a defeat to Inter Miami (2-1).

The Argentine coach had arrived at FC Porto at the beginning of the year, to replace Vítor Bruno, but could only manage a third place in the I Liga, 11 points behind champions Sporting and nine behind ‘runner-up’ Benfica, having also been eliminated from the Europa League by Roma, in the play-off for access to the round of 16.