Jorge Jesus becomes Portugal's oldest-ever coach

Jorge Jesus takes charge of Portugal for the first time on Thursday against Wales in Lisbon, and at 72 he becomes the oldest coach to sit on the national bench.

He turns 72 in July, days before his appointment was confirmed on 9 July. The record he passes belongs to Fernando Santos, who was 68 when he took Portugal into the 2022 World Cup quarter-final, a 1-0 defeat to Morocco that proved his last match in charge. Santos remains the man with the longest tenure, eight years and three months between September 2014 and December 2022, a spell that brought the Euro 2016 title and the 2019 Nations League.

Jesus's debut comes at Estádio José Alvalade, kick-off 19:45, in Group A4 of the Nations League. Portugal then face Denmark and Norway twice across the four fixtures.

He arrives from Al-Nassr, whom he left in May after retaining the Saudi title, a run in which Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 13 goals for the club since January. Ronaldo remains Portugal's leading scorer in World Cup qualifying too, with three goals as the side sit second with five points from three matches.

Asked about his age when he was unveiled, Jesus played it down.

Portugal have not fielded a coach this old before, and if Jesus stays in the post as long as Santos did, he would be managing into his eighties. For now the measure of his start will be Thursday's result against Wales.