Although many people were surprised by the hiring of Jose Riveiro as the new coach of the Orlando Pirates because he is inexperienced and hasn’t won any awards, the Spaniard was reportedly well-liked in Finland, where he worked previously.
There is essentially no information available about the 46-year-old Riveiro in South Africa, and searches on the internet largely reveal that he has only been head coach of FC Inter Turku in Finland for three years, during which time he has not won any awards.
On good terms, the coach did, however, depart Turku, stating he was looking for a new challenge. In his 32-year tenure, he has guided the outmoded club—which has only won one top-tier Veikkausliiga championship—to second, second, and third place from 2019 to 2021.
Prior to that, while serving as manager of HJK Helsinki, Riveiro helped former Finnish international Mika Lehkosuo win two of his three Veikkausliiga championships (in 2017 and 2018).
While the majority of other online searches for information about Riveiro only reveal the most basic details, a 2019 interview with the Finnish tabloid Ilta-Sanomat luckily provided more detail.
In it, Riveiro discloses that in order to get to his first job as an assistant coach at FC Honka in 2014, he had to take a 73-hour bus ride from Spain to Finland due to his fear of flying. He was a supporter of Celta Vigo of Vigo, Spain, since he was a little boy, an adult season ticket holder, and eventually the club’s youth coach.
He wasn’t a particularly good player, the coach acknowledged.
Riveiro’s squad, Gran Peña, competed in the Spanish third division, which is comparable to Finland’s top division. No matter how hard I worked, I realized I would never be good,” he remarked.
But although he was still a young player, he began coaching an under-10 squad at the age of 17, and at 19, he was able to obtain his Uefa B-licence coaching qualification.
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