José Mourinho has been around so long, it is worthwhile to know why he is a legend. This 3-episode docuseries provides lots of player opinions, exciting game footage, and his own past and present answers to questions to establish what made him legendary.
Many players tell how Mourinho motivated his stars: Frank Lampard, John Terry, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Didier Drogba, Petr Cech, Samuel Eto’o, and Eden Hazard. These little stories are fantastic. José also gives explanations for some of his past controversial comments and incidents. Away from a press conference, his explanations make sense.
I knew that José was only a second division player, but I never thought about what it took for him to become a top-level manager. He labored as a translator, a scout, and assistant manager for 10 years before getting his first senior team manager position at Benefica at age 37. But during those early years, he assisted the best: Bobby Robson and then Louis van Gaal. Half of that time was at Barcelona, where he worked with the best players: Ronaldo, Stoichko, Luís Figo, Pep Guardiola. He also scouted the opposition and came up with strategies to win, strategies that many of the players say were flawless.
The first episode covers his success at Chelsea and then before that, winning the Champions League with Porto. In the 2nd episode, when Chelsea faltered after 2 seasons, and they weren’t winning anymore, Roman Abramovich pulled the plug. At this point, the show goes back in time to cover José’s early career path and see what motivates him.
Returning to post-Chelsea, there is an opening at Barcelona, but it goes to Pep Guardiola, who is 8 years younger and a former Barca star. José goes to Inter Milan, where he continues to do well, even though as he says, there were many old players with good contracts.
In the 3rd episode, José goes to Real Madrid, where his goal is to break Barca’s dominance and maybe exact a little revenge on Pep. Though he achieves his goals, in the 3rd year he conflicts with and benches Iker Casillas, which causes him to lose the locker room. He ends up returning to Chelsea and Roman, and they win the EPL, but by the 3rd season things fall apart (partially thanks to Jamie Vardy at Leicester). The last half of the 3rd episode snapshots the decline of José’s magic at successive teams, and then it ends with the Jun-2026 announcement that he is going back to Real Madrid.
In Conclusion
While I really loved the first 2 episodes of this series, the 3rd episode was a bit of a downer. The series felt much like José’s various teams, where the first 2 seasons progress according to his plan, and in the 3rd season it’s too hard to continue the magic. On Transfermarkt, José’s average term is 1.7 years.
But also, by the time José gets to Tottenham, he’s in his mid 50s. He’s been head coaching for 20 years. Once handsome and charming, he’s looking old and grumpy. The series doesn’t address this, but undoubtedly players have gone through generational change, and maybe José’s methods don’t work today. Maybe today’s players will never be willing to die or fight for their coach like John Terry and Frank Lampard were. Maybe it’s not José’s fault, and maybe he just finally needs a hobby.
Watch at least the first 2 episodes of this series to learn what it takes to be one of the most successful soccer coaches ever. Although he was certainly helped in having some of the best players in the world on his teams. I don’t know how many people have coached as many great players as José has. And a lot of those players seem to like him.
9 Soccer Movie Mom Rating = 9
Resources:
- Released: 2026-08-11 (Netflix)
- 3 episodes for a total of 2 hrs 52 mins
- IMDB
- Director: Joe Pearlman
- Stars: José Mourinho
- Watch the Trailer
