Sergio Conceicao has been named the new manager of AC Milan, the Serie A team announced Monday, following the departure of Paulo Fonseca.
According to a statement from the club, the Portuguese coach has agreed to a contract that will expire on June 30, 2026.
Fonseca was fired by Milan earlier Monday after just six months in charge, as the team’s poor performance left them in ninth place in the Italian top division.
Milan, who have only won two of their past seven league games, drew 1-1 at home against struggling AS Roma on Sunday.
The 19-time Italian champions are currently 14 points behind leaders Atalanta and eight points outside the top four with one game remaining.
“AC Milan announces that Paulo Fonseca has been relieved of his duties as head coach of the men’s first team,” Milan said in a statement.
Conceicao, 50, had signed a four-year contract extension just two months prior, but he has not had a team since departing Portuguese powerhouse Porto in June.
He led the team to three titles, four Portuguese Cups, a League Cup, and three Super Cups during his seven-year stint, making him the most successful coach in the club’s history.
Conceicao began his management career in 2010 as an assistant at Belgian top-flight team Standard Liege. During his playing career, he was a winger for Porto, Lazio, and Inter Milan.
Before taking over Braga in 2014, he managed Portugal’s Olhanense and Academica. He then had periods at Vitoria Guimaraes and Ligue 1 team Nantes before joining Porto in 2017.
Italian Stefano Pioli, who had led Milan to a solitary league championship in 2022 during his five-year tenure and finished second and 19 points behind champions Inter Milan in his final season, was replaced by Fonseca in June.
So, when former Roma coach Fonseca arrived following two seasons at Lille in French Ligue 1, expectations were going to be high right away.
However, Milan had a difficult start under the 51-year-old Portuguese, losing 2-1 to promoted Parma and drawing 2-2 with Torino and Lazio.
Before defeating rivals Inter 2-1, Fonseca guided Milan to their first victory of the season in mid-September, a 4-0 success against Venezia at home.
Following a similarly dismal start to their Champions League campaign, in which they lost to Bayer Leverkusen and Liverpool in back-to-back games, they went on a four-game winning streak, defeating champions Real Madrid in the process.
But in its 17 league games so far this season, Milan has only triumphed seven times.
Prior to this, Fonseca won three straight Ukrainian Premier League championships with Shakhtar Donetsk from 2017 to 2019, the Portuguese Super Cup with Porto in 2013, and the Portuguese Cup with Braga in 2015–16.
