Fernando Couto leaves Braga and heads for the new India Premier League

Fernando Couto is no longer manager of SC Braga. The former Portuguese international and SC Braga board decided today to end a connection that began on June 19, 2010, when Couto was officially announced as successor to Carlos Freitas (note: current Sporting CP manager).

The future of Fernando Couto is now created by the Premier Soccer League (PLS), the professional football league in India, which officially starts on the 25th February, and will coach one of the teams of Calcutta.

The former manager of SC Braga will be part of a batch of elite coaches, which include Peter Reid, John Barnes and Colin Todd (England), Samson Siasia (Nigeria), Marco Etcheverry (Bolivia), Teitur Thodarson (Iceland) and Milos Rus (Slovakia).

The PLS is a million dollar project designed to make soccer main sport in India - cricket is the sport in the country - and which announces the arrival of world class players and well known to the general public, as Sorin, Crespo, Robert Pires, Cannavaro and Robbie Fowler. The Portuguese player Maniche also have on hand a tempting proposal to move to India.

Between May and June, Fernando Couto took the IV level in the UEFA Professional trainers course which enables him to guide any team or selection. As manager of SC Braga, Fernando Couto has always marched to conduct a discreet shadow as working in the right hand of President Antonio Salvador. It was he who suggested the signing of goalkeeper Artur to Rome, at no cost, in what has been his best player discovery.

SC Braga in the group stage of Champions League and reaching the final of the Europa League in Dublin, were the most gratifying moments in the passage of Couto by SC Braga.