João Henriques to be presented at Olimpija Ljubljana next week
Henriques will be officially presented next week, after the last game of the championship, scheduled for this Saturday, against Celje.
"The option of not coaching during this season was really for this, to be able to grab a project from the beginning, the right project for my career, a project that allows me to win titles, where I can have a higher percentage of wins than defeats and draws," he told Flashscore.
This is the project of João Henriques, who patiently waited and is now 99 per cent confirmed as the new coach of Olimpija Ljubljana.
"I can't disclose yet, because the championships are still going on," he said. "It is out of respect for those who are still working at the club. We have to wait for the last match-day and then it will be announced," confirmed Henriques, excited with the new step in his career after a break, having spent this season at Marítimo, where he played just 11 matches.
"It's what I expected," he said. "To continue in Europe, although in a secondary championship, but that will allow me to play in European competitions, will allow me to have a team that will fight for the title and have that so-called percentage of wins greater than defeats."
"It's a championship that I didn't know inside out," the Portuguese boss continued. "I got to know it when the project was presented to me.
"It is a championship that has very interesting players and a club that will give me that ability to play in European competitions. It is a very interesting project within what I had planned for my career," he explained, confirming he had other invitations, namely from Brazil.
"I didn't want to enter a project at this time, and I had that opportunity, in the Brazilian league and in the Middle East. But there was the risk that we all know in those championships, of doing two or three months and being fired, with or without reason, with little stability.
"That's not what I'm looking for at the moment in my career. I'm looking to do full seasons, consecutive seasons with the possibility of winning, as happened successfully and successfully in the two consecutive seasons at Santa Clara."
Henriques continued: "In Portugal, it would be complicated because we know that those teams, which allow us to be in European competitions and fight for titles, are the top three or four and, at this point in my career, that door was not at all open.
"I understood that the best way would be to leave and go in search of this path that fortunately appeared."
The ambition of European competitions
After Fátima, Leixões, Paços de Ferreira, Santa Clara, Vitória de Guimarães, Moreirense and Marítimo, João Henriques will travel abroad, something that is not a novelty in his career, since he passed by Al-Ahi Jeddah, of Saudi Arabia, in 2012/2013, as assistant, before heading to Al Wahda, of the United Arab Emirates, in 2014/2015.
His goals involve winning titles, but equally continuing with asset appreciation...
"That is one of the missions of coaches these days," he said. "Clubs also want to be reimbursed for their investments. Football business demands it, but then there is a lack of those real titles, those titles we all aspire to.
"We want to win more often than we lose. We look at our league ratio and the first four or five teams have more wins than losses. All the others lose more often than they win, or have a slight balance," he explained, lamenting the lack of recognition abroad of some of the work done in Portugal.
"No matter how much we explain, the data is there. A job like the one being done at Arouca, or at Chaves, is not valued abroad as it should be. And they are extraordinary jobs in Portugal.
"The level of the teams doesn't allow them to reach second or third places, or to win Portuguese Cups and League Cups. It's very difficult. So we're going to look for situations that allow us to have those opportunities to win titles," he said, without hiding his ambition to play in European competitions.
"It's one of my ambitions. I want to start this year and never let go of that situation again. It is an extraordinary showcase, a place where, if you are fortunate and competent to enter the group stage (there) are unique moments that all coaches and players aspire (for) in their career," said the soon-to-be Olimpija Ljubljana coach, who will enter the second qualifying round of the Champions League next season.
