PRETORIA, South Africa -- Regardless of the outcome of the CAF Champions League final second leg between AS FAR and Mamelodi Sundowns in Rabat on May 24, Portugal will have its second African champion coach.
But according to Sundowns' Miguel Cardoso and AS FAR's Alexandre Santos, that achievement is not being widely celebrated in their home country, never mind in Europe, as they feel people underestimate the challenge of coaching in Africa.
Cardoso said in response to ESPN on Friday: "I think that the international football [community] in Europe - I can speak especially about Portugal - doesn't really understand the level of what the CAF Champions League is.
"It's a shame for my country that it doesn't really understand the dimension of the achievements that some Portuguese coaches have been doing in Africa."
The most successful coach in the history of the CAF Champions League - Manuel José, who led Egypt's Al Ahly to four titles - is Portuguese. Cardoso has twice been a runner-up - once with Tunisia's Espérance de Tunis and once with South Africa's Sundowns, who he is leading in a second successive final against an opposing coach for whom he has expressed great admiration.
Cardoso continued: "Even Manuel José is not recognised for the level of the work he did here, and it's an absolute shame. I speak about my own country -- my own people -- but they prefer to recognise a guy who is able to sustain a team in Spain, France or England rather than to understand the dimension of the achievements in African football.
"I really tell you that I feel very proud to be a Portuguese coach in African football [because of] the experiences that African football has been giving to me, making me grow a lot as a coach, as a human being, as a person that really likes life and appreciates so much the different contexts, the diversity, the culture, the climate, the nature.
"I feel so privileged to be in Africa."
In fairness, José did receive a Globos de Ouro award for Best Portuguese Football Manager in 2009 in honour of his work at Al Ahly. Four years afterwards, he was awarded a Medal of Merit from his home city of Vila Real de Santo António.
However, Cardoso is not alone in believing that the likes of José are not celebrated enough in Portugal. Santos echoed Cardoso's words when he came into the press conference room - although he believes the media is beginning to take note of a new generation of Portuguese coaches.
Santos said on Sunday after the first leg of the final: "Sometimes, we don't have very many approaches from the media in our country."
"In the last few years, some people from Portugal tried to give attention. When I was at Petro [de Luanda] and I played against Sundowns, we did a very good job."
Petro beat Sundowns under Santos in the quarter-finals of the 2021-22 CAF Champions League, but lost to the same opponents in the quarter-finals of a different tournament in 2023-24 - the African Football League. Cardoso then took charge of Sundowns in December 2024.
"In this case, one of us will be sad, but it's football - it's life. It's a pleasure to play against [Cardoso]," Santos continued.
Sundowns lead the tie 1-0 after Sunday's first leg win at Loftus Versfeld, courtesy of an Aubrey Modiba free-kick.
AS FAR failed to secure what would have been a vital away goal at Loftus, but Sundowns missed several chances to extend their aggregate lead.
As a result, Cardoso and Santos head into Sunday's second leg with both of their teams still very much in with a chance of clinching what will be a second African title for the winner, and an historic moment for Portuguese football either way.
