Talented linguist and football expert: Assistant coach Moreira

On and off the pitch, the German-Portuguese is shows ambition and drive and he is always prepared to get the best out of each individual player in tandem with his fellow coaches. He pursued the same ambition in his own career. Miguel Moreira continually wants to improve. Both in terms of sport and languages.

The Werkself squad has players from 14 different countries. Moreira can communicate fluently with all of them and without any language barriers. Moreira is called into action when things have to be done quickly and the team around head coach Hannes Wolf want to communicate new new ideas or directions during training or in matches. "In situations like that, it's about helping Hannes and the particular player immediately. If a player doesn't fully understand instructions then that could have a negative effect on our game. To that extent, I somehow have a reflex or automatic reaction to provide immediate help and support," explained the 37-year-old.

In times of globalisation, which has long affected football, it is definitely an advantage to combine sporting and language qualifications. Moreira adopts a similar view: "The ability to speak several languages is becoming more and more important in professional football. The squads are becoming more and more international. Players from all over the world come together. Here at Bayer 04, we can communicate with everybody – whether that's Edmond Tapsoba, who played in Portugal, the South Americans like Aránguiz and Palacios plus Moussa Diaby in French. I can speak German or English to all the others."

School and family: Educated as a talented linguist

Anybody who has looked into learning a foreign language in depth may well have discovered that it really isn't an easy task. How can Moreira, who has already worked in youth and first-team football for ten years in spite of his young age, succeed in achieving the ability to speak four languages in addition to German?

The Werkself assistant coach grew up knowing Portuguese. His parents, who he says come from the "middle of nowhere" in Portugal, emigrated to Germany in the 1970s. Miguel talked a lot in Portuguese from being small. "That language was gifted to me," said the man from Dortmund. He picked up the fine details of grammar and spelling at the Max Planck Grammar School in Dortmund, which enabled him to take Portuguese as an A-level subject.

At that school specialising in foreign languages, Moreira laid the foundations for his excellent English (nine years) and French (three years). "My knowledge of French has been extended thanks to the different players during my previous coaching jobs. In the U17s at BVB, I had players from Belgium who I spoke to in French. At VfB Stuttgart there was Benjamin Pavard and Orel Mangala for example. That enabled me to polish up my knowledge over time," explained Moreira.

“Learning by doing” – soon in Italian too?

The fact that Moreira is not only extremely ambitious in his actions but also has a decent portion of talent is shown by the acquisition of his knowledge in language number five: "With Spanish there is a similarity to Portuguese. Everything else was "learning by doing." I've always been really interested in languages. I find it easy to learn foreign languages."

The language ace has not exhausted his ability to learn. Moreira already has his sights fixed on his next target – and perhaps the Argentine-Italian and current Werkself player Lucas Alario can help him with that project. "Italian is an incredibly beautiful language, also due to its melody," he enthused and added: "There are now various apps, which are wonderful for being able to learn new languages. Of course, I've secured a lifetime subscription and I'll give it a real go."

In addition to his talent for languages, Moreira also stands out with his expertise as a football coach. At the age of 37, he is still one of the younger coaches in professional football but he is already highly valued for his analytical and content-related ability both on and off the pitch. Moreira: "People like Hannes or Peter (assistant coach Peter Hermann, ed.) know: I'm primarily a football coach and everything else is 'on top'."

Wolf and Moreira: Part of the romanticism of football

Hannes Wolf has known the current Leverkusen assistant coach for decades. The origins of the coaching duo of Wolf/Moreira could easily be seen as a story reflecting the romanticism of football: As children, the duo played on shale pitches for the same club in Dortmund in the heart of the Ruhr region. Their paths crossed again in 2006 when ASC 09 Dortmund engaged Wolf as a coach at the age of 25 and the two-years younger Moreira was nominated captain of the team. The partnership of Wolf/Moreira was born.

When Hannes Wolf became a youth coach at Borussia Dortmund in 2009, Moreira initially stayed at ASC 09. The separation of the two was not permanent. "In 2013 there was a vacancy as assistant coach on Hannes’ coaching staff because the current BVB coach Edin Terzic had the opportunity to take over the newly created U16 side at Borussia Dortmund. Hannes then had the idea of bringing me in as assistant coach. That was the start of our joint adventure as coaches."

Together they had a number of successful years at the Black and Yellow academy. The current Bayer 04 coaches were able to win the German youth league title three times with the BVB U17s (twice) and U19s. That was followed by working with first teams at VfB Stuttgart and the Belgian top-flight club KRC Genk – and now the job at the Werkself.

From physio to first-team coach

The step up to professional football, according to Moreira, represented a big change as he was then primarily working as a physiotherapist: "I had a full-time job then. My work at the BVB academy was part-time up to then."

Moreira had set himself up as a physiotherapist and he had a small practice with his wife who is still working in that profession. The drastic change from part-time youth coach to assistant coach at a well-known club like VfB Stuttgart was not only jumping into the deep end for Moreira but it also surprised many of his clients: "I called up my last patient from Stuttgart to tell them that I wouldn't be coming back for the time being."

After working together with Hannes Wolf at VfB Stuttgart, the now 37-year-old gave up his job as coach and professional football for two years – in no way to relax or take a break from everything but instead to develop both professionally as well as personally. There followed coaching experience at Benfica aimed at extending his horizons in the game. In addition, Moreira attended football conferences and language courses. And there was also positive news on a personal front: His second child was born. "There was a lot to do," said Moreira in his usual lively and open way.

"The best job in the world"

Of course, he also used that time to reflect on whether the world of professional football is an area he wanted to continue to work in or whether he wanted to return to the academy. Moreira is currently on loan at Bayer 04 from the U17 team at Borussia Dortmund. The 37 year-old keeps his answer to the question relating to his personal future in general terms: "Let's be under no illusion: It's the best job in the world – at least for me. It's a privilege to be a coach. Working together with players every day and sitting in the coach's office with colleagues. It's the thing I can do best and I'd like to carry on doing it for many years."