Paulo Bento

Paulo Jorge Gomes Bento (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈpawlu ˈbẽtu]; born 20 June 1969) is a Portuguese football manager and former player.

A defensive midfielder with tackling ability and workrate as his main assets, he played for two of the major three teams in his country, amassing Primeira Liga totals of 284 matches and 16 goals over 11 seasons, and also spent four years in Spain with Real Oviedo. He represented the Portugal national team in the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2000.

Bento took up a coaching career in 2005, managing Sporting CP for four years and four months, with relative success, and won a Super League Greece title with Olympiacos. He managed the national teams of his country and South Korea for four years apiece, taking each team to a World Cup and continental tournament. In 2023, he was appointed at United Arab Emirates.

Born in Lisbon, Bento played professionally in his homeland for Estrela da Amadora, Vitória de Guimarães and Benfica, and had a four-year abroad spell with Real Oviedo, helping the Spanish club always retain its La Liga status before moving to Sporting CP, where he finished his career. With the latter, he was part of the star-studded team that achieved the double in 2002 under the direction of Laszlo Bölöni, contributing 31 games and one goal in the Primeira Liga and playing alongside Mário Jardel and João Pinto among others.

Bento earned 35 caps for the Portugal national team, debuting on 15 January 1992 in a 0–0 draw with Spain and making his last appearance in the 1–0 loss to South Korea on 14 June 2002 in the FIFA World Cup. He also played at UEFA Euro 2000 where, along with teammates Abel Xavier – who played with him at Oviedo for two seasons – and Nuno Gomes, he was suspended (in Bento's case for five months) due to bad behaviour, during the semi-final defeat against France.

After an emotional 2004 retirement, aged 35, Bento got the job of Sporting's youth team coach. He won the junior championship in 2005, and developed a base to the future. After the sacking of José Peseiro midway through 2005–06 season, he was promoted to first-team duties in spite of being relatively inexperienced.

Despite a slow start, Bento managed an impressive turnaround of Sporting's fortunes in the second half of the campaign, as a series of ten consecutive wins placed them within distance of leaders and eventual league champions Porto, as the former went on to rank second in that and the following seasons, achieving direct qualification for the UEFA Champions League. He was responsible for bringing youth products Nani, João Moutinho and Miguel Veloso into the spotlight.

Bento signed a new two-year contract in June 2007. His side had a turbulent pre-season in preparation for 2007–08, with defense mainstays Rodrigo Tello and Marco Caneira leaving the club while Portuguese international goalkeeper Ricardo was sold to Real Betis. With little resources to invest, the club brought Eastern promises – Marat Izmailov, Vladimir Stojković and Simon Vukčević – aboard.