The Portuguese Football Federation has parted ways with coach Fernando Santos after the quarter-final exit at the World Cup in Qatar.

Both sides agreed to end their cooperation, the federation announced on Thursday evening. It was now the right moment to start a new cycle, the federation wrote in its statement. The 68-year-old’s contract would have run until the 2024 European Championship. The federation said it would now start the process to find a successor.

Portugal had surprisingly failed in the quarter-finals of the World Cup against outsiders Morocco. Santos subsequently announced that he wanted to talk to the association about his future. The Portuguese coach took over the team around superstar Cristiano Ronaldo in 2014 and led it to the European Championship title in 2016.

As the Portuguese newspapers “Record” and “A Bola” reported, the Portuguese coaching icon José Mourinho is said to be the favoured solution of federation head Fernando Gomes for Santos’ successor. Mourinho, 59, has been coaching Serie A club AS Roma since 2021. There had also been speculation in Portugal about U21 coach Rui Jorge, former Wolverhampton coach Bruno Lage and current Fenerbahçe coach Jorge Jesus as other candidates.

Santos was criticised in his homeland, especially after the 1-0 defeat to Morocco, when Portugal made too little of their superiority and were eliminated after conceding an unfortunate goal against the supposed outsiders. The coach also came under fire for his handling of captain Cristiano Ronaldo. After poor performances in the preliminary round, he had twice benched his superstar early on in the knockout phase.