Mário Jorge dos Santos Branco (born 6 November 1975) is a Portuguese former football scout and the current director of football of Fenerbahçe. He has previously worked with the clubs Pontevedra in Spain, Leixões, Estoril and Famalicão in Portuguese, Wisła Kraków and Zagłębie Lubin in Poland, Steaua București and Astra Ploiesti in Romania, Hajduk Split in Croatia, PAOK in Greece and currently for Fenerbahçe in Turkey.[3][4]
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Mário Jorge dos Santos Branco [1] | ||
| Date of birth | 6 November 1975 | ||
| Place of birth | Porto, Portugal [2] | ||
| Position(s) | Sporting director | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Fenerbahçe | ||
| Managerial career | |||
| Years | Team | ||
| 2004–2005 | Pontevedra (scout) | ||
| 2005–2006 | Wisła Kraków (scout) | ||
| 2006–2007 | Zagłębie Lubin (scout) | ||
| 2008–2009 | Steaua București (scout) | ||
| 2009–2011 | Leixões (sporting director) | ||
| 2011–2012 | Astra Ploiesti (sporting director) | ||
| 2012–2016 | Estoril (sporting director) | ||
| 2016–2018 | Hajduk Split (sporting director) | ||
| 2018–2020 | PAOK (sporting director) | ||
| 2020–2021 | Famalicão (sporting director) | ||
| 2022– | Fenerbahçe (sporting director) | ||
Career
editChief scout career (2004-2009)
editMario Branco started his non-staff career as a chief scout position and worked for Pontevedra in Spain, for Wisła Kraków and Zagłębie Lubin in Poland and also for Steaua București in Romania.[5]
Leixões (2009-2011)
editOn 1 July 2011 started his career with the club as sporting director and he was in office until 30 June 2011.
Astra Ploiesti (2011-2012)
editIt was announced that Comolli would return to Romania and been sporting director of the Romanian side Astra Ploiesti between 1 July 2011 and 30 June 2012.
Estoril (2012-2016)
editOn 1 July 2012, he joined Estoril and spent four seasons as a sporting director with overall responsibility for the medical, academy, scouting and club secretarial departments.
Hajduk Split (2016-2018)
editOn 1 July 2016, he appointed as sporting director at Hajduk Split. He played a leading role in the transfers of Nikola Vlašić to Everton (€10,80 million) which is the Hajduk Split record transfer[6][7] and Ante Palaversa to Manchester City (€7 million) instantly returning to Hajduk on loan.[8]
PAOK (2018-2020)
editOn 1 July 2018, he started his career in Greece as sporting director. Aleksandar Prijovic's Al-Ittihad transfer (€10 million) is his best office performance for the club.
Famalicão (2020-2021)
editOn 15 December 2020, he started to work as sporting director of the club and was the key person in sealing the transfer of Manuel Ugarte from CA Fénix (€9,10 million)[9] who transferred to Sporting CP six months later (€24,50 million).[10]
Fenerbahçe (2022-present)
editOn 14 June 2022, Mário Branco started his Fenerbahçe career as director of football.[11] He made an instant impact at Fenerbahçe as he was responsible for the signings of Diego Rossi, Joshua King, João Pedro, Michy Batshuayi and Jayden Oosterwolde for 2022-23 season.
On 1 July 2023, he appointment as sporting director with the club.[12][13] Since then, he also signed with Edin Džeko, Dušan Tadić, Dominik Livaković, Alexander Djiku, Sebastian Szymański, Rodrigo Becão, Fred, Leonardo Bonucci, Cengiz Ünder and Çağlar Söyüncü for 2023-24 season and Portuguese professional football manager José Mourinho,[14] footballers Cenk Tosun, Allan Saint-Maximin, Filip Kostić, Youssef En-Nesyri and Sofyan Amrabat for 2024-25 season.
Mário Branco also played a leading role in the transfers of Kim Min-jae to Napoli (€18,05 million),[15] Arda Güler to Real Madrid (€20 million),[16][17] Attila Szalai to Hoffenheim (€12.3 million)[18][19][20] and Ferdi Kadıoğlu to Brighton & Hove Albion (£25million with an additional £4,20 million in add-ons)[21]
External links
editReferences
edit- ^ "Mario Branco Profile". playmakerstats.com. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
- ^ "Mario Branco Profile". fussballzz.de (in German). Retrieved 12 September 2024.
- ^ "Mario Branco kimdir?". NtvSpor (in Turkish). 15 October 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
- ^ "Mario Branco kimdir?". Hürriyet (in Turkish). 3 June 2024. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
- ^ "Mario Branco'nun Fenerbahçe'nin yeni futbol direktörü olduğu iddia edildi". Ajans Spor (in Turkish). 10 June 2022. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
- ^ McNulty, Phil (31 August 2017). "Nikola Vlasic: Everton seal £10m deal for Hajduk Split forward". BBC Sport. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
- ^ "Blues Sign Vlasic". Everton FC. 31 August 2017. Archived from the original on 5 December 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
- ^ "Palaversa leti u Manchester na potpis ugovora, sutra se očekuje konačna potvrda" [Palaversa flying off to Manchester to sign a contract.]. Slobodan Dalmacija. 28 January 2019. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
- ^ "Tenho o sonho de jogar pela seleção principal do Uruguai". fcfamalicao.pt (in Portuguese). 30 December 2020. Retrieved 2024-09-12.
- ^ "Ugarte reforça Sporting CP". sporting.pt (in Portuguese). 9 August 2021. Retrieved 2024-09-12.
- ^ "Mario Branco kimdir?". Hürriyet (in Turkish). 3 June 2024. Retrieved 2024-09-12.
- ^ "Futbol Şubemiz Hakkında Bilgilendirme". Fenerbahce.org. 4 July 2023.
- ^ "Offiziell: Mario Branco wird neuer Sportdirektor von Fenerbahce". GazeteFutbol.de. 4 July 2023.
- ^ "Jose Mourinho Istanbul'da" (in Turkish). Fenerbahçe SK. 2 June 2024.
- ^ "Açıklama" (in Turkish). Fenerbahçe SK. 27 July 2022.
- ^ "Official Announcement: Arda Güler". Real Madrid C.F. 6 July 2023. Archived from the original on 8 July 2023. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
- ^ "Arda Güler becomes a Real Madrid player". Real Madrid. Archived from the original on 8 July 2023. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
- ^ "Yolun açık olsun Attila Szalai" (in Turkish). Fenerbahçe S.K. 24 July 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
- ^ "Futbolcumuz Attila Szalai'nin transferi hk" (in Turkish). KAP. 24 July 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
- ^ "There is a new SZALAI in town". YouTube (in German). TSG Hoffenheim. 24 July 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
- ^ "Ferdi Kadioglu: Brighton sign Turkey full-back from Fenerbahce for £25m". BBC Sport. 27 August 2024.