The Special One, Jose Mourinho, has returned to the club at which he made his managerial debut 25 years ago, even if few remember his initial foray into first-team management.

The earliest memory most football fans have of Mourinho is his ground-breaking success at Porto, where he won two league titles in a row, including a first season treble that included the UEFA Cup, and a second-season double that included the Champions League.

But his first stint at Benfica was actually the springboard for Mourinho’s success in Portugal – and then the rest of the world – despite only managing Benfica for 11 games.

The Making of a Legend

His short stint at Benfica didn’t end early due to bad performances – he lost just two games, while completely transforming a poor Benfica team which Mourinho described in his book as a “weak squad with no future and no ambition,” adding that the players were “used to losing, worked little”, and “didn’t really care.”

Mourinho made public examples of lazy, high-paid players in the first-team, and promoted hungry young players from the youth team – eventually transforming the entire culture at the club.

This was the first example of Mourinho’s ability to imprint his winning mentality on a team, and it included his trademark “us against them” tactic that also involved excluding board members from the first-team dressing room and earning the trust of his players.

His 11-game stint at Benfica ended because Mourinho’s primary supporter – the Benfica president João Vale e Azevedo – lost an election to Manuel Vilarinho, who wanted to replace Mourinho with former Benfica midfielder, Toni.

Later, Vilarinho would state his regret at not keeping Mourinho, who went on to manage União de Leiria, who he took to within six points of the league-leaders before Porto came calling.

Everyone knows what happened next. A legend was born, and soon Mourinho was plying his trade in the Premier League with Chelsea, where he laid the foundations of success for the next decade to come, despite only managing there for three years.

What followed was more success at Inter Milan and Real Madrid, followed by a return to Chelsea – where he added another league title to his trophy cabinet – and spells at Manchester United, Tottenham, Roma, and most recently, Fenerbahce.

Jose Mourinho – Market Mover?

It has now been a decade since Mourinho last won a league title, and the ‘special’ aura that once seemed to light up everything Mourinho touched has faded somewhat.

But not completely. After taking a massive pay-cut to join Benfica his impact was immediately felt in places beyond the football pitch.

On the day Mourinho’s appointment was announced at Benfica, the trade volume for the Benfica Fan Token ($BENFICA) jumped 141%.

Clearly there were some in the cryptocurrency market who found Mourinho’s appointment meaningful enough to pump hundreds of thousands of dollars into the club’s official supporter token.

Fan Tokens are a way for clubs to bring the supporters closer to their favourite teams, acting as the gateway through which fans get to make decisions regarding things like scarf designs, tifo placements, and to gain access to exclusive club events.

Ultimately, the Benfica Fan Token has been locked in a steady decline since going on a 422% surge between March and May of this year, when the token price climbed from $0.63 all the way up to $3.29.

Mourinho is unbeaten in the three matches he’s overseen for Benfica so far, and in the past week $BENFICA trade volume has increased by nearly ten-fold – from $50,000 to over $500,000.

Whether the Mourinho effect can raise the $BENFICA token’s fortunes to previous heights remains to be seen.

Can the man who moved so many football fans around the world also move crypto markets?