Born: 25 January 1974, São Tomé, Portuguese São Tomé and Príncipe

Nuno Espírito Santo was appointed as the 20th permanent manager/head coach in West Ham United history on 27 September 2025.

The experienced Portuguese arrived in east London after successful spells coaching in his home country with Rio Ave and FC Porto, Spain with Valencia, Saudi Arabia with Al-Ittihad and in England with Wolverhampton Wanderers, Tottenham Hotspur and Nottingham Forest.

Born in the Central African island country of São Tomé, Nuno previously had an 18-year playing career with stops at nine clubs in Portugal, Spain and Russia.

After six years with junior clubs, Nuno joined Vitória Guimarães in 1991 and spent five seasons at the club based in the north of Portugal, including a spell on loan at Vila Real.

In 1997, he moved across the border to join Deportivo La Coruña, where he was part of the club’s Copa del Rey success in 2002. He also spent time on loan at Mérida and Osasuna, playing over 100 league games combined for the two clubs.

In 2002, Nuno joined José Mourinho's Porto and was part of the club’s glorious period in the early to mid-2000s, during which they won the UEFA Champions League and Intercontinental Cup, with the goalkeeper starring in a penalty shootout win over Colombia’s Once Caldas in the latter.

After relatively short spells at Dinamo Moscow in Russia and Aves, he returned to Porto in 2007 and won the Taça de Portugal as a starter against Paços de Ferreira in 2009.

On retiring from playing, Nuno joined former Porto manager Jesualdo Ferreira as goalkeeper coach at Spanish side Málaga and Greek club Panathinaikos between 2010-12.

In May 2012, Nuno took his first head coaching job at Rio Ave, who he guided to runners-up in both Portuguese domestic cup competitions and into the UEFA Europa League for the first time in 2014. He returned to Spain in July 2014 and took Valencia to fourth place in La Liga in his single full season, then went home and led Porto to second in the Primeira Liga in 2016/17.

Nuno arrived in England in May 2017, when he was appointed as Wolverhampton Wanderers head coach. His first season ended with the EFL Championship title and promotion to the Premier League.

Wolves finished seventh in 2018/19 and qualified for the Europa League, where they reached the quarter-finals the following season, and again finished seventh in the Premier League table with a record points total of 59.

Nuno departed Molineux in summer 2021 and then had a short spell at Tottenham Hotspur before travelling to Saudi Arabia and winning the Saudi Super Cup and Pro League title with Al-Ittihad in 2022.

He returned to England in December 2023 as head coach of Nottingham Forest and initially led the Reds to Premier League safety, then to seventh place and the FA Cup semi-finals in 2024/25.

Away from the pitch, Nuno is a married father-of-three and a keen multi-sportsman and enjoys outdoor pursuits.