Buriram United have announced the appointment of Mario Silva, the former FC Porto left-back and member of their European championship-winning team, as their new head coach, just days after parting ways with Mark Jackson.
The Portuguese coach traveled to watch the opening match of the BYD Sea Lions Six League One season, where Buriram United defeated Sukhothai FC 3-1 at Thale Luang Stadium, before being officially unveiled this evening.
Mario Silva's past is quite remarkable. He has traveled through almost every level of football, from youth player and professional footballer to European champion and then a key coach in developing young talents at FC Porto.
Importantly, his football journey didn't begin in a glamorous academy, but stemmed from playing football in his neighborhood.
Mario Silva was born on April 24, 1977, in Porto, Portugal, and grew up in the Bom Pastor neighborhood, an area deeply connected to football.
Mario started playing football with a team in the Bom Pastor area before catching the eye of scouts and being recruited into the Boavista youth system in 1988, at around the age of 11.
He was a left-back and spent several years in Boavista's youth system before breaking through to the first team in the 1995/96 season.
The Portuguese player is known for his outstanding defensive skills, gradually developing into a key player for the top team from Porto.
Between 1995 and 2000, he played for Boavista 88 in all competitions before deciding to seek experience abroad for the first time.
Mario moved to France to play for Nantes in 2000/01 and became a key player in helping the team win the French league title, participating in 20 league matches.
This success attracted the attention of major clubs in his homeland, such as FC Porto, who wanted to sign Mario.
In 2001, Mario decided to return to Portugal to play for FC Porto, marking a truly successful period for him. Importantly, he got to work with José Mourinho, a young and ambitious coach who was proving himself on his way to becoming a world-class head coach.
Mario was part of the historic 2003/04 UEFA Champions League-winning team and achieved numerous other successes with the club, both domestically and regionally.
After entering the twilight of his playing career, Mario decided to retire in 2009, with his last club being Doxa Katokopias, a club from the Cypriot league.
Later, Mario shifted his focus to coaching. He had developed an interest in tactics since his time working with José Mourinho at FC Porto and began analyzing both his own team and its opponents more extensively.
Mario began his coaching career as a youth coach for clubs that gave him opportunities, such as Boavista and Padroense, before moving to FC Porto, the club where he had achieved success as a player once again.
The 49-year-old coach previously coached the youth teams of João Félix, Vitinha, Diogo Costa, and Fábio Vieira, all of whom have represented Portugal at some point.
A significant achievement for Mario Silva as head coach of FC Porto's youth team came in the 2018/19 season, when he led the FC Porto youth team to victory in the UEFA Youth League, the European youth club championship, by defeating Chelsea 3-1.
FC Porto is now etched in history as the first Portuguese club to win the UEFA Youth League.
After accumulating seven years of experience at the youth level of FC Porto, the 49-year-old coach decided to start a new path by working with Almeria's youth team in Spain in 2020. He was then promoted to manage the first team at the end of the 2019/20 season and subsequently returned to manage his hometown clubs, Rio Ave and Santa Clara.
In 2024, Mario chose to seek a new challenge in Asia, taking the helm of Al Najma, a second-division club in Saudi Arabia. He successfully led the team to promotion to the top league by finishing second in the standings.
Before his departure from the desert region, he was recently signed by Buriram United, 11-time champions of BYD C-Lions Six League One, to manage the team in their pursuit of five titles in the 2026/27 season.
Mario is considered a highly skilled coach. It remains to be seen whether he can lead Buriram United to continued success. Stay tuned..