Ahead of their FIFA Intercontinental Cup clash with AFC Champions League Elite winners Al-Ahli this week in Saudi Arabia, aleagues.com.au sat down with new Auckland FC Head Coach, Pedro Moreira, in a bid to learn more about the man tasked with replacing Steve Corica.
Aged 19, Pedro Moreira had a choice to make: pursue a career in professional football or give up the game altogether in favour of a move into academia and, ultimately, a more fulfilling and lucrative life.
In his own words, any playing career he would have had would have been at a ‘low-level’, but Moreira’s idea of studying for a life away from football still essentially left the door open to a return to the beautiful game.
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“I played football when I was young and I play in a good level until 19,” Moreira said when sitting down to chat with A-Leagues Senior Reporter, James Dodd.
“Okay, I was a good player in the past, but after that I have two choices: I become a low-level player in football, or I become an academic, and I chose academia in that moment.
“So I started to study sports science, I became a physical education teacher and in that moment I became a new coach.”
At the same time Moreira was exploring the possibility of forging a career in football that wasn’t shaped by being an ex-player, a raft of top level Portuguese coaches were already beginning to shine in Europe’s biggest leagues.
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Jose Mourinho whilst coach of FC Porto
One of those coaches was a certain Jose Mourinho, a man Moreira says inspired plenty of young men and women in Portugal by showing them that you didn’t need to be a top level ex-player to be a top level coach.
“That was the moment when in Portugal we have Carlos Queiroz and the beginning of Jose Mourinho. So those were the main coaches and the main guys who create a road for us as coaches.
“Nowadays you know there’s a lot of Portuguese coaches everywhere. It’s Portuguese coaches, it’s Portuguese CEOs. We are everywhere! So in this case, I tried to play until that moment then I choose the academic road.
“I understood that I was technical but I was not going to be a great player. I put all of my effort in all of the time I played and now I want to share that with my team, with our supporters now.
“I’m a hard worker every time, everywhere, and I want to share that with this team.”
As a boy, Moreira honed his football on the streets of Belem – a suburb of the great footballing city that is Lisbon, a city that houses two of European football’s great clubs in Sporting CP and Benfica.
But Moreira is quick to point out that his little corner of Portugal is also famous for something that really is appreciated by everyone around the world, regardless of whether you like football or not.
Belem Tower
A variation of the Portuguese custard tart
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“It’s the city where they created “Pastels de Belem’ – the famous Custard Portuguese Tart that we have in Portugal!” Moreira laughs, as talk moved to his childhood and development as a player in the academy of local side Belenenses.
Despite opting to pursue a career that wasn’t in football, Moreira quickly found himself back involved in the game in 1998, working within the youth setup at Carcavelos, oweing largely to his decision to become a PE teacher. Similar roles at the likes of Oeiras, Olivais Moscavide and Farense then followed before his big break came whilst working for Lisbon giants Sporting CP.
It’s here, operating as a youth team coach, that Moreira met Paulo Fonseca – the man currently in charge of French giants Lyon and formerly the head coach of teams such as Porto, AC Milan, AS Roma and Shakhtar Donetsk.
It would prove to be a relationship that changed Moreira’s life.
Paulo Fonseca, Head Coach of Olympique De Lyon
“I worked in the youth (systems) for a lot of years,” he explains. “I worked in different environments, like as technical coordinator, as a youth coach, assistant coach and even fitness coach.
“But my ideas as a main coach, first of all, come from what I did when I was assistant coach with Paulo Fonseca. I was his assistant coach for nine years, and probably my main ideas came there.
“To play the kind of football that allows us to be protagonists in the game, positional play with the ball and a possession game. A game where we can control the opponents instead of just the moments that we have the ball.
“In the same way, the moments that we don’t have the ball we can create a situation where it can be possible to recover (it) as soon as possible, create a pressing moment or be aggressive to put the opponent team in a one space that makes it possible to press.
“It’s really important to be even in the way that we can be aggressive, stylish, with quality, with goals, with attacking football. But we must be balanced.”
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Asked specifically how he sees his new Auckland team playing this season, Moreira was steadfast in his belief that you can’t just have a side built to play one way. Instead, he works with the skillset of the players at his disposal while moulding them to fit into an overarching style of play.
He goes on to give a quick example.
“Let’s say I like the characteristics of the winger. Sometimes I’d like to play with the wingers inside, but if the characteristic of the player is that he likes to play one-on-one on the wing, why will I put him inside if I’m losing the best qualities of my player in that position?
“So we can adapt the way that we attack. We can play differently on the right and on the left but the guy must believe in our ideas, and they will.
“But I’m not strictly (wedded to one style). That’s very important to understand. We don’t have a chance nowadays to be strictly and completely one way.”
Following stints as a Head Coach at second division side Torreense and then relegation-threatened top flight side Casa Pia in his native Portugal, Moreira then stepped out of his comfort zone and took the reigns at Uzbekistan’s most successful club, Pakhtakor.
Pedro Moreira as Head Coach of Pakhtakor
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A disappointing season in charge saw Moreira leave by mutual consent after just one campaign, but despite his struggles in Uzbekistan his name still appeared on Auckland FC’s database when it came to a possible new Head Coach to replace club legend Steve Corica, with the Portuguese revealing his style of play and approach to games was the main reason he’s now preparing to mastermind an Auckland FC title defence.
“My teams in the past were recognised for the way that they play,” he says. “but also the main results came from the goals that we didn’t concede.
“Every time that we suffer, goals become a problem. So I think the most important situation is the way that we defend, the way that we are prepared when we have the ball, and we are prepared to not allow the transitions of the opponents.
“It’s important when we recover the ball, we have main goals and references to create a transition moment. When we have the ball, we will try to use the weaknesses of the opponents.
“Even in the moment that we circulate the ball, we will look for the spaces in the pitch that could be or could give us a chance and opportunities to score goals.”
Steve Corica (C) celebrates after winning the A-League championship with Auckland FC
Preparing to enter their third season in existence, Auckland FC have enjoyed a stunning start to life in the A-Leagues. A dominant Premiership win in season one was followed by a Championship win in season 2025/26, and Moreira says it’s important to not just tear things up and start again just for the sake of doing so.
“First of all, we cannot forget that I’m arriving in a winning team. I’m arriving in a Champions team.
“So we must understand first of all what happened in the past and all of the things that they did well.
“The team is different from the last season, completely. We lost a few players, and we must create the same demands in these same players. There’s a few of them who were not the first choice (last season) and now they have a chance to show everyone the quality that they have, to show everyone that they are good players.
“I think it’s the biggest demand for a coach. Use use their own ideas and create that as an opportunity and a chance to improve the players. Not only to become better players, but also to increase the quality of the team.”
Pedro Moreira
After a recent pre-season friendly with Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur Moreira’s new-look Auckland FC will soon travel to Saudi Arabia to face AFC Champions League Elite winners Al-Ahli in the first round of the 2026 FIFA Intercontinental Cup.
Gaining entry to the tournament after the Black Knights won the inaugural edition of the OFC Pro League earlier this year, Moreira’s side will look to cause a shock against one of Saudi Arabia’s biggest clubs.
“It’s an amazing game,” Moreira said when asked about the upcoming game in Jeddah.
“It’s a way to share the name of the club with all the world. It’s important to me. It’s the first image that we will give for all of our fans. We will try to fight hard.
“But we must also understand. There’s a big gap between this team and our team also, but we must fight for what we believe.
“We must be organised. We must show a face of a team that demands, that we represent the present and the future also.
“But we will play against the champions of the Asian Champions League – they recently bought a Portuguese player (Francisco Trincao) in this market and this player alone would be the budget for our club in three seasons!
“So we must understand that. But this is football, and we must show our faith and we must show our our ambition, our organisation.”
Should the Black Knights progress past Al-Ahli they’ll then take on African powerhouse Mamelodi Sundowns. Beat them and Auckland will then meet the winner of the clash between Mexican side Toluca and this year’s Copa Libertadores champions, with the eventual winner then playing French Champions and current UEFA Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain in the final at a later date.
First up for Moreira and Co in the Isuzu UTE A-League though is a clash with Melbourne City on Saturday, October 17 and Go Media Stadium.
