Last night he was lifting the Henri Delaunay trophy after Portugal were crowned champions of Europe in Paris.
But only five years, Griffin Park was the scene of Jose Fonte's celebrations as Southampton eased to a 3-0 victory over Nicky Forster's Brentford.
David Connolly, Oscar Gobern and future England international Adam Lallana, whose Euro 2016 experience was quite the opposite of Fonte's, scored the goals which put the Saints just a win away from a return to the Championship.
Lining up for Brentford that day were Simon Moore, Kevin O'Connor, Karleigh Osborne, Robbie Neilson, Marcus Bean, Sam Saunders, Sam Wood, Toumani Diagouraga, Adam Reed, Jeffrey Schlupp and Lewis Grabban, with Myles Weston and Nathan Byrne coming on as subs.
For the Bees, it was to prove to be the penultimate game in Forster's mixed temporary spell in charge, which had started with five games unbeaten, including three wins, after he took over from the axed Andy Scott.
But the revival took a downturn with three defeats from the next four, and although three consecutive wins followed, Brentford lost the Johnstone Paints Trophy final, widely seen as Forster's audition for the permanent job, 1-0 to Carlisle.
Soon after, the Bees' board handed the job to Uwe Rosler instead, and Forster drifted into non-league management with Dover Athletic and Staines Town.
Southampton went on to be promoted in second place behind champions Brighton, but in a season when they put four goals past Bristol Rovers, Dagenham & Redbridge, Peterborough (twice), Huddersfield, Exeter and Swindon, and six past Oldham, they didn't have it all their own way.
Four months before that Griffin Park demolition job, Brentford went down to St Mary's and won 2-0, with goals from Gary Alexander and Charlie MacDonald, in what proved to be Scott's penultimate win as manager.
Five years on, both clubs are in a better place, while Fonte is still at Southampton, where he has almost 250 games under his belt – along with a European Championship medal.
