José Morais is celebrating after leading South Koreans Jeonbuk Motors to a record eighth Korean K League 1 title on Sunday, making it back-to-back titles for the well-travelled Portuguese coach.
Jeonbuk beat Daegu 3-0 on the final day to wrap up the championship by maintaining their 3-point lead over rivals Ulsan, with the triumph representing Jeonbuk’s fourth successive crown.
Key to Jeonbuk’s glory has been their record against nearest challengers Ulsan. Morais’ has seen his team beat their competitors in all three meetings this season, including two away victories with the most recent coming last weekend as Jeonbuk won 1-0 in Ulsan to gain a huge advantage heading into the final day.
“Last year we needed a little help to win but this year we had it in our control,” said Morais, alluding to the 2019 final day on which Jeonbuk recovered from being three points behind to win the title on goal difference. “We were always confident that we would become champions and that mindset helped us through.”
Morais, who worked as José Mourinho’s assistant at Porto, Inter, Real Madrid and Chelsea, has travelled much of the world in his role as head coach, taking in spells in Germany, Portugal, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Tunisia, Turkey, Greece, England and Ukraine before landing in South Korea in January 2019 to take on the task of sustaining Jeonbuk’s dominance in the K League 1.
By Sean Gillen
