After accompanying Paulo Bento for eight years as an assistant in China, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates, Filipe Coelho, 45, decided to continue his career as a head coach in November 2025 and accepted the challenge of leading Universitatea Craiova, the most Portuguese club in Romania. He has been at clubs like Vilafranquense, Leixões, and Casa Pia, but now the challenge is different – to win the Romanian championship – after also making his debut in European competitions. – How did this opportunity to go to Romania arise? – It was a bit unexpected; everything happened very quickly. The opportunity came up, and I was invited to join this project. It was unexpected since the previous coach ended up asking to leave. I was one of the names on the list to be the coach of Universitatea Craiova, I had an interview, ended up staying, and I am very satisfied. – You were in the fight for the championship lead and to continue in European competitions. I believe it was also a very appealing project in that aspect. What is your assessment with five wins in seven official games? – When I arrived, when we arrived, we were six points behind the leaders in the championship. We had a high volume of games: nine games in a month, including Conference League and league matches. The challenge was significant in that sense, as there was little time to work between games. We managed to recover those points and are currently in first place, although that is not the most important thing, as there are still many games left. I think things have gone very well in terms of the league, especially due to what I believe was our tactical improvement and how the players absorbed the ideas with so little training time. Regarding the Conference, we played three games. We ended up winning against Mainz at home, which fueled a bit of the dream of advancing to the playoff. Then we lost to Sparta Prague, a team that has been in the Champions League in previous years. We went to Athens, to AEK, where we were winning 2-0 and conceded the equalizer in the 98th minute, and then, five minutes later, we ended up losing on a penalty, which eliminated us from the Conference by just one goal. The assessment so far is positive, but it is still very premature to make a more realistic assessment, I would say. – On one hand, you are leading the championship, but on the other hand, that European objective was missed. How did the team handle that moment, and how did you personally? – I believe it was not a failed objective because we did not have that objective. With the home victory, after our second game, we fueled a bit of the club's dream, but it was not an objective. We competed against experienced teams with a lot of quality in these types of competitions. Regarding the losses, we reacted immediately: whenever we lost, we won again in the following league game. The league has always been, and will be, our main objective. Therefore, I do not believe we failed an objective, especially since we left with a lot of dignity, presented quality of play, and competed against good opponents. We gained experience and learning from that to compete differently in the future and be stronger as well. – What has been the biggest personal and professional challenge you have faced since arriving in Romania? – On a personal level, it was trying to adapt to a country I did not know very well, and I owe that to the club, the people who work with me, and how they welcomed me, especially the players. It was a huge challenge. Then, on a professional level, it was managing to convey ideas between games, often using images and how the players managed to absorb those ideas, accept them, and try to put them into practice. Obviously, victories helped in that process, but I believe that was the most difficult challenge: starting to win with games of high difficulty. And it was undoubtedly the biggest professional challenge. – You arrived at a club full of Portuguese in the structure, not only the sports director Mário Felgueiras but also physiotherapists and analysts. How is the day-to-day life, is it easier to work in this type of environment? And how important was sports director Mário Felgueiras in accepting this challenge? – Mário was extremely important, right? Because the contact was made through him. I believe it was a very, very personal bet of his. He is someone who knows the club very well. It is important to have Portuguese, it is true, but more important than nationality is competence. They are competent people who all work for the club, seeking to improve it in various departments. It is a club with a huge fan base, passionate about football. It is a big club. I honestly did not have that much awareness, and I believe people in Portugal do not realize how important Craiova is in Romania. It is a big club, often with 25,000 to 30,000 fans in the stands, with a fantastic stadium, and people who love football. Therefore, the adaptation ended up being easy in that sense. It is also a club that allows us to work and provides all the conditions for us to do our job as best as possible, with good facilities, good infrastructure, and good conditions for the athletes. So, I am very satisfied with what I found here, and now I just need to work and give my best to achieve the goals the club has set. – How do you deal with the pressure from the fans in a situation where the club has not won the championship for several years? – Obviously, I understand that the fans have that desire, and everyone has that desire, but it seems to me that we cannot think beyond the day-to-day. We need to learn a bit from the club's past, from what has been until now. We need to focus very much on the present because that is what matters, so we can try to have a good future. There is no point in thinking too much about the goal because we still have a lot of work to do before we can achieve a good position. – And what is it like to have a Portuguese player in the squad, Samuel Teles? Is it important for you to have a compatriot in the team? – Obviously, he was also someone important in our adaptation here, who can help us and has helped. But more than his nationality, it is about who he is as a professional. I think for us coaches, nationality is not very important; what matters is what we can find in players as professionals. In that aspect, not only Samuel but all the other players welcomed us in a very, I would say, friendly manner, willing to accept our ideas, and that was undoubtedly an added value for us to start in the best way. – I also ask if you have talked to Mário Felgueiras about the possibility of bringing more Portuguese players in January or the summer. Or is that not a priority? – Regarding whether more Portuguese players can come or not, I do not think much about nationality. We will see if we can, what may happen in this market, which closes a bit later here, to understand what exits we may have and what entries we can also have. But that always depends a bit more on Mário and the structure. My job is to work with the players I have and try to do the best I can. – The Portuguese coach has been a reference for many abroad. Do you feel that this Portuguese mark is reaching Romania? – No, important names have already passed through Romania: Paulo Sérgio, Jorge Costa, Toni Conceição… Names that ended up being successful as coaches here. I will make my path, and I will try to do my best. I would obviously like that at the end of my journey here, they remember me as someone who achieved success. But more important than me are the club, the players, and the people who work here. – After many years as Paulo Bento's assistant, did you think for some time about returning to being a head coach? Or a year ago, did you not see yourself in this position? – I believe I was with Paulo for more than seven years, since 2017. First of all, I must thank Paulo a lot because I learned a lot from him. He is undoubtedly a reference for me. He was, is, and will be a very special person in my journey. And he knew, sooner or later, that I could return to work as a head coach. He was always part of the process, supported me, and continues to support me, so I think it was unexpected, but at the same time, it was the moment it had to be, it had to happen. – How was that change for you, going from working in a national team context in South Korea, in the Emirates, to working again in a club? – It is a somewhat distinct context, which I honestly like more because I prefer fieldwork, I enjoy the day-to-day, and more frequent competition. Therefore, I have always worked in clubs for many years. I started as a coach at 22 or 23 years old. Then there was this opportunity to work with Paulo, where I also worked in a club with him in China. After that, we had the incredible experience in South Korea, in the national team, which I also loved. I had the opportunity to have unique moments, one of the highlights of my sports career, which was being at a World Cup. Obviously, working in a national team is different. It is not that it is more or less important, but it is distinct. However, I have always been prepared and have tried to keep up with what clubs and my colleagues working in clubs were doing to be updated for my return. – How did you recently react to the interest from Pafos in Cyprus? Meanwhile, the Cypriot club has already found a new coach, but is it a positive sign for you? And do you guarantee your commitment to the club until the end of the season? – Yes, yes, yes. The commitment… There are only two ways for me to leave here: one is to finish my contract, the other is for the employer to think I should leave. That is my way of being in football. I like to be like this; I like to fulfill what I set out to do. Therefore, obviously, that commitment, and the people here know, will be from my side until the end of my contract, always. Regarding the approaches or news about other clubs that may happen… Honestly, it is of little importance to me. My focus is entirely here on what our path will be in these next four months. – Do you have the goal of one day returning to Portugal, or do you plan to continue abroad, possibly after the end of your contract? – I am a coach, and therefore I have already worked in places and countries I did not expect. I am open to considering my life at the end of the contract, considering what may be more important in what I consider to be secure and appealing steps. Therefore, I do not close the doors to returning to Portugal, nor do I close the doors to continuing abroad. I am a coach and will be a coach anywhere in the world as long as it makes sense to me. – Do you miss Portugal, or does the very Portuguese environment here help alleviate that longing a bit? – No, obviously, we always have — and I speak for myself — I always miss my family, especially my children. It is a price to pay for being away. Coaches sometimes have to make these decisions, and that is the difficult part – it is not less good; it is really bad – the permanent absence from them. Regarding the adaptation here, I do not feel that difficulty. I have been so far away that now being 5 hours by plane seems close to me, especially when I have been, I don't know, 20 hours from home or something like that. I am focused; we spend most of the time working. And of course, yes, I miss the people we love the most, but being a coach is also this. It often ends up being a lifestyle, and we have to have that balance and know how to deal with that issue.
Paulo Bento South Korea remains central to this story.
Paulo Bento South Korea remains central to this story.
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