[4] His managerial career highlights include an undefeated 2010–11 season in the Primeira Liga with Porto, winning four trophies and becoming the youngest manager to win a European title in the process;[5][6] guiding Tottenham Hotspur to a then-record tally of 72 points in the Premier League during the 2012–13 season (the most points by a team finishing outside the top four at the time);[7] and three trophies during his spell with Zenit Saint Petersburg, including the club's fifth Russian Premier League title.

[8] On 27 April 2024, he won the club elections with 80% of the votes, defeating incumbent president Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa, who had been in office for 42 years.

[14][15] Villas-Boas had a short stint as technical director of the British Virgin Islands national team at the age of 21,[16][17][18] before he moved on to a career as an assistant coach at Porto under José Mourinho.

[17] At the start of the 2009–10 season, Villas-Boas left Mourinho's team to pursue a career as a manager, and he soon found a job in the Primeira Liga with Académica de Coimbra, filling a vacancy created by Rogério Gonçalves' resignation in October 2009.

[17][19] At the time of his appointment, Académica was at the bottom of the league and still without any wins, but the team's luck started to change as he introduced a new style, leading them to a safe 11th place, ten points clear of the relegation zone.

In addition to that, Académica also reached the 2009–10 Portuguese League Cup semi-finals, losing against Porto at the Estádio do Dragão to a late goal from Mariano González.

His impact at Académica was immediate, not only because of solid results, but also because of the attractive football displayed by the team, which led to intense media speculation linking him with the vacant jobs at Sporting CP and Porto in the summer of 2010.

Villas-Boas went on to follow up this success by leading Porto to win both the Portuguese Cup and the UEFA Europa League, thus completing a treble in his first season in charge.

Villas-Boas responded by cancelling his squad's day off and called them in for an inquest, which provoked several senior players to question his tactics in front of owner Roman Abramovich.

[26] On 21 February 2012, during a Champions League match against Napoli, Villas-Boas left Frank Lampard, Michael Essien and Ashley Cole on the bench.

[27] On 4 March 2012, following a 1–0 league defeat against West Brom which left Chelsea three points adrift of Arsenal in the battle for fourth place in the Premier League, Villas-Boas was relieved of his managerial duties by Chelsea, with assistant manager Roberto Di Matteo being appointed as caretaker manager on an interim basis until the end of the season.

"[28] On 3 July 2012, it was announced that Villas-Boas had been named Tottenham Hotspur head coach after successful talks with the club, replacing Harry Redknapp and signing a three-year deal with the North London football team.

[29][30] Villas-Boas' first competitive game in charge of Tottenham came on 18 August 2012 in the opening day of the Premier League season, losing 2–1 to Newcastle United away from home.

In February 2013, he guided Tottenham to the last 16 of the Europa League after a last minute goal from Mousa Dembélé, securing a 1–1 draw against Lyon at the Stade Gerland.

[37] Following the sale of star player Gareth Bale to Real Madrid for a world record fee of £85.3 million,[38] Villas-Boas was active in the transfer market before the start of the 2013–14 Premier League season.

[41] On 18 March 2014, Villas-Boas signed a two-year deal with Zenit Saint Petersburg, replacing Luciano Spalletti, and took the reins the day after the club's Champions League round of 16 second leg against Borussia Dortmund.

In the 2014–15 season, Zenit qualified for the UEFA Champions League group stage by beating AEL Limassol in the third round qualification and Standard Liège in the playoffs.

Bolstered by the talents of Brazilians Hulk and Oscar as well as star Chinese attacker Wu Lei, his only season at the helm saw SIPG finish second in the league, losing to rivals Shanghai Shenhua in the final of the Chinese FA cup, as well as reaching the semi-finals of the Asian Champions League, the club's best result in the competition to date (as of November 2019).

[57] In the elections held on 27 April 2024, he defeated the sitting president, Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa, who left office after holding the position for 42 consecutive years.

[58] On 29 November 2017 it was announced that Villas-Boas would compete in the 2018 Dakar Rally driving a Toyota Hilux and co-driven by former motorcycle class frontrunner Ruben Faria.

[1][65][66] He speaks English fluently, having been taught by his paternal grandmother Margaret Kendall, whose mother moved to Portugal from Cheadle, Stockport, England, to start a wine business.