- published: 31 May 2016
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Luís André de Pina Cabral e Villas-Boas (born 17 October 1977) is a Portuguese football manager. He spent eight months as manager of Académica, one year as manager of Porto, and nine months as manager of Chelsea. He led Porto to an undefeated season in the league, winning four trophies and becoming the youngest manager ever to win a European title in the process. Unusually for a manager at the top level, he has no experience as a professional player.
Born in Porto, Norte, Villas-Boas was the second child and first son of Luís Filipe Manuel Henrique do Vale Peixoto de Sousa e Villas-Boas (born 29 February 1952) and Teresa Maria de Pina Cabral e Silva (born 11 February 1951). Villas-Boas at the age of 16 lived in the same apartment block as Sir Bobby Robson, who was then manager of Porto. Following a debate between the two, Robson appointed Villas-Boas to Porto's observation department. Villas-Boas has spoken fluent English since childhood, as his grandmother was from Stockport. Robson arranged for Villas-Boas to obtain the FA coaching qualification, the UEFA C coaching licence in Scotland and for him to study the training methods of Ipswich Town. He later obtained his B licence, A licence and UEFA Pro Licence under the tutelage of Jim Fleeting. Villas-Boas had a short stint as head coach of the British Virgin Islands national team at the age of 21, before he moved onto a career as an assistant coach at Porto under José Mourinho. As Mourinho moved clubs to Chelsea and Internazionale, Villas-Boas followed.