Is that why you hired Dinamo? What Nuno Campos was saying 11 days ago

2025/2026 was the first full season in which Nuno Campos acted as head coach.

Before the Zalaegerszeg adventure, he had been A1 three times, but for short periods: two months at Santa Clara in 2021, 3 months at Tondela in 2022, 3 months at Flamengo's U20 team in 2025. For the rest, he was “second” to Paulo Fonseca, Lyon's current coach, for a long time.

The year spent in Hungary offers clues about Nuno Campos' style. Under his command, ZTE won 18 matches out of 39 played and achieved best post-promotion ranking in 2019, 5th place.

On May 26, just 11 days before he was introduced as Dinamo's coach, Campos gave an interview to ZTE's website. In his statements there is no indication that at that time he was considering a change of scenery this summer.

Dinamo's new coach, in the last interview with ZTE: “Calm and balance are extremely important”

“The biggest challenge was getting everyone to believe in this project. Not just the players, but absolutely everyone around the team. When you want to outline a clear football identity with such a young batch, you know there will be mistakes and difficult moments.

However, I have always believed that if the players get the idea and trust the process, the results will come sooner or later. In football, many only look at the immediate results, but we, on the inside, saw the progress much earlierand later the dots also started to appear. (…)

Every season teaches you something, but this season was especially important to me. It was an extremely intense time both emotionally and professionally, as it was the first time I was able to coordinate a complete project as a head coach over an entire season.

Looking back now, I see a team that has grown a lot mentally, tactically and humanly. We learned how to react together in difficult situations and how to represent the club with personality. For me, this is the biggest result”, said the Portuguese coach.

Nuno Campos: “Young people need someone to help them after they make a mistake, not someone to tear them down”

In his statements, Campos positioned himself as a patient coach, attentive to young footballers. It is very likely that this was a criterion based on which Dinamo turned to himconsidering that the red-and-whites rely heavily on perspective players.

“Passion is a part of football and it's also a part of my personality. On the sidelines, emotions often erupt more strongly, because we live every moment with a huge intensity. But in the dressing room, especially with young players, calmness and balance are extremely important.

Young people need self-confidence. They need someone to help them grow after they make a mistake, not by someone to tear them down emotionally. Of course, discipline and accountability are also important, but development also requires patience and understanding.

And to be honest, I think this is not only true for young teams. Modern football is more and more about the human side. (…)

Football is always teamwork. The coach has his ideas, the players have their talent, but the club also needs to create the right environment for a project to develop.

For me, however, the most important thing is that the club itself has received greater recognition and visibility. When people talk positively about football, the young players and the identity of our team, this is a reason for great satisfaction for all of us”, said the new coach of Dinamo.

• At Dinamo, Campos' goal will be ranking in the TOP 3. The Portuguese signed a contract valid for two seasons, until the summer of 2028.