Meet Goncalo Feio, the fiery Legia Warsaw coach facing Chelsea: ‘The big guy was Mourinho'

New York Times

10-04-2025

'In Poland, it's simple,' Goncalo Feio says. 'The hardest job is president of the country. The second-hardest job is coach of the national team. The third-hardest job… is me.'
The head coach of Legia Warsaw is smiling. 'I'm very thankful,' Feio says, even if this has been a 'sweet and sour season' for the biggest club in Polish football, Chelsea's opponents in the quarter-finals of the Conference League.
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Legia have not made it this far in a European competition for almost three decades. They are in the Polish Cup final. However, in the Ekstraklasa, Poland's top tier, they are fifth, which is not where they hoped to be. 'A horrible feeling,' Feio says. 'It hurts, it brings frustration.' They are also moving closer to what he calls 'a big dream', led by their 35-year-old Portuguese head coach who is making waves for his obsession, his thirst for success, the devotion he inspires and his intensity (something we will broach a little later).
Feio talks big picture and talks well — he is completely fluent in English and three other languages (Polish, Spanish and his native Portuguese), and not far off it in two more (French and Italian). He is articulate and charming but has a competitive streak that, since his earliest moments, has invited attention and, on occasion, brought repercussions. Given his nationality and who Legia are playing, it might just remind you of somebody.
Feio does not shy away from the influence. 'For me, the big guy was Jose Mourinho,' he says over a video call. Legia played the night before, but he is in his office, planning and preparing. 'He had a huge impact on my generation as a coach, the person — at least in Portugal — who brought coaching to a science, to a methodology, to leadership, to the holistic approach you need. He inspired so many people and opened so many doors.'
Over two spells at Stamford Bridge, Mourinho won three Premier League titles, an FA Cup and three League Cups. 'Because of that, Chelsea were always present in the thoughts of Portuguese football and in Portuguese people and in my football life,' Feio says. 'The Premier League is the best in the world and English football is the most representative of what football should be. So for us to play against Chelsea is huge.'
It also means a switch in mindset for Legia, the old Polish army side, who have won 15 league titles and 20 Polish Cups, more than any other club in the country. 'Normally, we are a team going out onto the pitch and from minute one it's a bad result because from minute one we are drawing and we can't draw games,' Feio says, laughing. 'So in most games we play, we are under huge pressure. It's good pressure because it's football pressure, a winning type of pressure, but we have a responsibility.
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'Against Chelsea, we don't have the same responsibility. To play for our dreams, not for our duty, is a good position. We have all the respect for Chelsea but even if we need to adapt a little more to the opponent, we need to make sure we don't lose our identity and what led us here.
'It's quite beautiful to arrive at this stage of the season and make history in all our lives, in the history of the club and Polish football. It's a very beautiful place to be when the only things driving us can be ambition and our dreams.'
Feio has a surfeit of both. He was born and brought up in Lisbon. His father was a Sporting CP fan and his grandmother supported Benfica. As a child, he 'realised quite early' he would not make it as a professional. 'But I was interested in the game,' he says. 'I'd been in locker rooms from a very, very early age and seen it from the inside. When I look back now, I realise I always had an impact on people around me, that I could be the guy setting a direction.
'Unlike some of my school friends, I was always was very clear about my future: university, sports science, get into football coaching. And then competitiveness; I always had that. I never said no to any competition, I always wanted to win and was always mad, even a little bit too mad, when I didn't. But then also, when somebody needed something, I was trying to be present. When something was unfair, I was trying change it, sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a bad way.'
This element of his life feels quite key.
While studying at the University of Lisbon, there was an internship at Benfica's academy. There was also a student exchange programme that took him to Warsaw in 2010. 'The plan was to be here for half a year, maybe a year,' he says. 'I came to the academy at Legia and said, 'I don't want money, just let me be close and let me see how you train'. After three months, there was a contract and I was saying, 'You're crazy, I'm going back to Lisbon'. Then it was, 'OK, one more year', then it was one more year, one more year, one more year…'
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He threw himself into the culture, the language, the history. 'Everybody who lives abroad must look at themselves first — you need to know who you are and to know your roots and to never lose it — but you need also to make the effort to adapt. That was the important part.
'The mentality of Polish people is still affected by recent stages of history. It has an impact. World War Two, the occupations, the uprisings, that for 123 years the country was (partitioned).'
This is not a typical football conversation.
Feio worked for Legia's senior setup as a data analyst and then as a coach. He moved on to other clubs and had a brief spell in Greece as an assistant coach, then returned to Poland. In September 2022, he took his first senior managerial role at Motor Lublin, bottom of the table in Poland's third tier. By the end of his first season, they were promoted. They are now back in the Ekstraklasa.
'I felt I was ready,' he says. 'In my first meeting with the owner, I talked about the things I wanted to implement, not just the tactics, but recovery stuff, the protocols, the path of development, the way of communication, the things I would like to bring in. It wasn't about bringing in new players, it was about changing their mentality, making fans believe more in the team, using the facilities better, and creating a new energy.
'There were many walls we needed to break there, which was sometimes energy-consuming, but the easiest part was working with the players, because they were so willing to learn and so open-minded. Some were thinking about finishing their careers back then and now they are playing in the first division for the first time. It's a beautiful story.'
Motor's results were extraordinary. When the Polish media discusses Feio — and they do, a lot — they typically reference his tactical discipline and innovation and how players 'would follow him into the fire'. Within this context, his appointment at Legia had supreme logic. Feio already had a body of work there and the team, which according to Przeglad Sportowy, Poland's sports daily, was 'on the verge of disaster', needed his kind of shock therapy.
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Yet his arrival on a one-year contract — it is uncertain what will happen this summer — was greeted with shock. Przeglad Sportowy referenced a 'controversial and explosive character that has given him many opponents'. And here is the other side of his story. At Motor, a dispute with a director finally led to allegations of a physical confrontation and a desk tray being thrown. Feio received a two-year ban, suspended for a year, from the Polish Football Association (the club's owner sided with Feio).
There had been previous, less explosive, incidents and there was another in August last year, after Legia had successfully negotiated a tie against Brondby in the third qualifying round of the Conference League, when Feio aimed both middle fingers at the Danish club's supporters, later claiming to have been 'provoked' by their lack of 'respect'. He apologised two days later and UEFA banned him for a game, also suspended for a year.
As it happens, we are talking at the end of a week when Mourinho, now at Fenerbahce, has been banned for three matches for pinching the nose of Okan Buruk, the Galatasaray coach. 'Football is definitely much more than a job, it's a significant part of my life,' Feio says. 'It's a passion. The will to succeed and to leave a legacy at the clubs I represent, with all the emotions connected to football, can lead to mistakes.
'It was a huge moment for us to eliminate Brondby, a very tough opponent, and I made a mistake for myself and the team. I have no problem accepting that and regret it, because this is the only way to learn. It is a great learning moment, finding a balance between living football like that but also controlling my emotions. It's baggage I bring with me, but it's OK to regret things if you learn from them and never repeat them.
'But, to be honest, this is why I can impact other people. Football is not just tactics and training methodology, who needs to be where and when. It is passion. If you only play with your head, you will not win as much as if you play with your head and with your heart. That's important to bring out the best in the people around you. The moment I don't feel passion any more, I will need to leave (football) because I will not be able to inspire people.'
This is pure, distilled Mourinho, but Feio has always been like this, just as he has always pored over data, read football books and sucked up information. 'I remember once I came back from playing a game as a young kid and I was all dirty because the pitch had no grass, it was only sand and I came back crying and saying, 'It's not possible, it's not possible',' he says. 'So my grandmother banned me from watching football for some time because she was not happy.
'Another time at primary school, we were playing a tournament and my team got into the final. Our physical education coach was the referee and we felt some decisions were wrong. We went away and were talking about how we cannot accept this. So we have these white shirts and we write on them, 'It's us or this teacher', and of course we were punished. But I always felt good taking care of people, understanding them, being able to make them go on a certain path.'
In many ways, he would be well-suited to English football. He had a brief taste of it at Wayne Rooney's Birmingham City in the 2023-24 season when he was studying for his UEFA Pro Licence. 'It was short,' he says. 'I found a very open-minded culture with Wayne, John O'Shea, Ashley Cole and all the staff members. It was confirmation of what I know and think about England and levels of competitiveness it's not hard to fall in love with.
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'What I loved is that whether it's the security guard who opens the door, the lady that welcomes newcomers to the club or the people in the kitchen, they all feel responsible for the club. When it's a match day, it's not just a match day for the team, it's a match day for everybody. It was not an easy time for Birmingham, but the best teams in the world sometimes struggle and it's part of the job to survive hard moments. I'm thankful I could see things from the inside.'
Feio wants his Legia, his style, to have an English twang. 'It's my favourite club football and so I'm influenced by that,' he says. 'I want to be a positive coach. I like intense football, where we do everything to play closer to the opponent's box than our own, where we are the dominant side on the ball, high pressure, if you lose the ball win it back as soon as possible. In Europe, our philosophy doesn't change, but sometimes we need to be more pragmatic.'
Chelsea will be a test, but Legia, who have played 14 games to reach this point, including a 1-0 league-phase win at home to Real Betis, will be a test for Chelsea. So will the atmosphere in the Polish Army Stadium. In 2023, Legia's fans were banned from attending five European away games after disturbances and clashes with police before a match at Aston Villa. Feio promises, 'All-the-time chanting, continued chants. It doesn't matter so much what is happening on the pitch.'
Feio is not just their feisty, inspirational leader. He points to 'eight academy players making their official debuts this season and a couple of them playing quite regularly,' to Bartosz Kapustka, the 28-year-old midfielder, returning to the Poland team after eight years, to Maxi Oyedele, the Salford-born Manchester United academy graduate, who joined Legia in August, also playing for Poland. He is 'a young kid with amazing potential,' Feio says.
These things, he says, are 'like small victories'. He adds: 'This is where we are right now. We've done some good work for the best future of the club and the good part is that everything is still in our hands, legs and heads to make it a great, great story.
'I remember my first words to the players on our first day of pre-season when I talked about how we would work — but first of all, we had to be a team, not just a bunch of guys wearing the same shirt. There were a couple of key sentences, when I said this might be a special season, we just need to believe in it every day.' Feio still believes.
It is not hard to picture him following Mourinho to England, although he has far too much respect for Legia to say this directly. 'I'm honestly so thankful for the job I have,' he says. 'It's the biggest club in the country, the hottest job in Polish football. It's huge to represent so many people and I want more special European nights like this. English football is the benchmark, but you only arrive there through work and helping people achieve their goals.'