Last Updated on September 17, 2026 by Siara Costa
Marc Dos Santos is a Portuguese-Canadian soccer coach and the head coach of Los Angeles FC in Major League Soccer. Born on May 26, 1977, in Montreal, Quebec, Dos Santos grew up in a football-loving Portuguese family whose influence can be seen throughout his coaching career.
His father was a footballer and coach who played in Mozambique before immigrating to Canada, while his younger brother, Phillip Dos Santos, also became a professional soccer coach. Marc has three children and was publicly documented for many years as being married to Marie, who accompanied him through several moves during the early stages of his coaching career.
Because recent official LAFC profiles do not discuss Marc’s current marital status, it is most accurate to say that Marie is the woman publicly documented as his wife in established sources from his earlier coaching career. No authoritative recent source reviewed confirms whether their marital status has changed.
Who Is Marc Dos Santos’s Wife?
Marie is the woman publicly documented as Marc Dos Santos’s wife in several established football sources.
Sporting Kansas City identified Marie as his wife when Marc became head coach of the Swope Park Rangers in 2016, while the San Francisco Deltas did the same when hiring him later that year. Both sources also confirmed that Marc and Marie had three children.
Marc himself spoke extensively about Marie in a 2015 interview about his family life and coaching journey. He described her as an enormously important source of support while his career required the family to move between different cities and countries.
He explained that coaching often creates instability for families because jobs can change quickly, but Marie was prepared to move with him whenever his work required it.
Are Marc Dos Santos and Marie Still Married?
The couple were publicly documented as married through at least 2016. However, recent authoritative sources do not clearly establish their current marital status.
Some secondary online biographies have used different descriptions of their relationship in later years, but those claims are not sufficiently supported by recent direct reporting.
For that reason, it is safer to describe Marie as Marc’s publicly documented wife from his established family history rather than make an unsupported statement about their present relationship.
How Marie Supported Marc Dos Santos’s Career
Marc has credited Marie with making his demanding coaching career possible.
During an extensive 2015 interview, he recalled that his first year of marriage coincided with his time building the Trois-Rivières Attak squad. The couple were living in a small apartment in Lachine, Quebec, while Marc worked through lists of potential players at their dining table.
As his reputation grew, the family’s life became increasingly mobile. Coaching jobs eventually took Dos Santos from Quebec to Ottawa, Kansas City and San Francisco, while other stages of his career involved work in Portugal and Brazil.
Marc said that one of the most important lessons for young coaches is finding a partner who understands the uncertainty associated with the profession.
He described Marie as someone who was willing to support another move whenever his career required it, even though travelling with children made each relocation much more complicated.
Does Marc Dos Santos Have Children?
Yes. Marc Dos Santos is the father of three children.
This has been directly confirmed by Sporting Kansas City, the San Francisco Deltas and Marc himself.
However, the names, ages and personal lives of his children have not been widely documented in reliable football sources.
Marc has generally discussed them collectively as his children rather than making them public figures through his coaching career.
What Has Marc Dos Santos Said About His Children?
Dos Santos has made clear that fatherhood is one of the most important parts of his life away from football.
In his 2015 interview, he described his life outside soccer as revolving around his wife, children and spending time together around the table as a family.
He also joked about the logistical difficulties of moving from one coaching job to another with three young children, describing the family as a large travelling group whenever they relocated.
Those comments reveal a side of Dos Santos that is less visible during matches. Despite spending much of his professional life analyzing football, training players and managing teams, he has consistently described family as one of the central pillars of his life.
What Are Marc Dos Santos’s Children’s Names?
The names of Marc Dos Santos’s three children have not been consistently published by authoritative football organizations or established media sources.
Because his children are private individuals, it would be inappropriate to identify names from personal social-media accounts or unverified biography websites.
The reliably established fact is that Marc has three children.
Who Are Marc Dos Santos’s Parents?
Marc Dos Santos was born in Canada to Portuguese parents.
Portuguese reporting has described him as the son of emigrants from the Aveiro region of Portugal. Marc was born in Montreal and lived there during the first part of his childhood before the family returned to Portugal when he was around nine years old.
His parents’ names have not been prominently documented in the reliable public sources reviewed.
His father, however, is particularly important to Marc’s football story because he was both a player and a coach.
Who Is Marc Dos Santos’s Father?
Marc Dos Santos has not widely publicized his father’s name, but he has spoken in considerable detail about his father’s football career and influence.
According to Marc, his father once played in the first division in Mozambique.
He later immigrated to Canada during the 1970s and became involved with the Portuguese football community in Montreal.
After arriving in Canada, Marc’s father coached LusoStar of Mont-Royal, a team associated with Montreal’s Portuguese community.
This meant Marc was exposed to organized football from a remarkably young age.
Marc Dos Santos’s Father’s Connection to Mozambique
One of the more interesting aspects of the Dos Santos family history is the family’s football connection to Mozambique.
Marc has said his father played first-division football there before moving to Canada.
At the time, Mozambique had strong historical connections with Portugal, and many Portuguese footballers and families lived in the country during that period.
The experience gave Marc’s father a significant football background before he later became involved in coaching in Montreal.
Marc himself would also later have professional football experience connected to Mozambique during his playing and early coaching journey.
How Marc Dos Santos’s Father Introduced Him to Football
Marc has described his father as the person who first immersed him in the world of football.
As a young child in Montreal, Marc regularly accompanied his father to LusoStar training sessions.
Rather than simply watching from the stands, he was allowed to stay near the pitch, sometimes collecting balls that went behind the goal.
More importantly, Marc paid attention to how his father interacted with players.
He later explained that he remembered observing his father’s behaviour in the dressing room, how he managed players and even how the emotions of matches affected him after returning home.
Those experiences became an early education in coaching years before Marc formally decided to make management his profession.
Marc Dos Santos Grew Up Around Montreal’s Immigrant Football Community
Marc’s childhood coincided with a period when Montreal had highly competitive football clubs connected to immigrant communities.
Portuguese, Italian, Greek and other communities maintained teams that attracted significant local support.
Marc has recalled attending matches involving his father’s Portuguese club and seeing thousands of supporters at games.
That environment helped make football much more than simply a sport inside the Dos Santos household. It was also a connection to Portuguese culture and community.
Who Is Marc Dos Santos’s Mother?
Marc Dos Santos’s mother is Portuguese, but her name and personal background have not been widely documented in reliable public football coverage.
Portuguese sources describe Marc as the son of a Portuguese couple who emigrated to Canada before later returning to Portugal with their children.
Because Marc has spoken publicly much more frequently about his father’s football influence, considerably less information is available about his mother.
There is no reason to speculate about her identity or occupation without a reliable source.
Why Did Marc Dos Santos’s Family Move to Portugal?
Marc spent his early childhood in Montreal before his family relocated to Portugal when he was approximately nine years old.
The move was transformational for both Marc and his younger brother Phillip.
Marc became immersed in Portuguese football and joined the youth system of SC Beira-Mar. He later played in Portugal’s lower professional divisions.
His brother Phillip similarly developed as a player in Portugal before eventually entering coaching.
The family lived in the Aveiro and Porto region, an area whose football culture had an enormous effect on both brothers.
Marc Dos Santos’s Portuguese Heritage
Although born in Canada, Marc strongly identifies with his Portuguese roots.
He holds both Canadian and Portuguese citizenship and speaks Portuguese fluently alongside English, French and Spanish.
Marc has publicly said that Portugal is a country to which he feels particularly close because of his childhood, cultural background and football education.
His family’s support for FC Porto also formed part of his early football memories. Before moving back to Portugal, the family would attempt to follow Porto matches from Canada.
Once living in Portugal, Marc became even more deeply connected with the sport.
Does Marc Dos Santos Have Siblings?
Yes. Marc Dos Santos has a younger brother named Phillip Dos Santos.
Phillip is also a professional soccer coach and has spent much of his career working in Canada and the United States.
The brothers were born only a little more than a year apart. Marc was born in May 1977, while Phillip was born on August 13, 1978.
Both were born in Montreal before moving with their family to Portugal as children.
Who Is Marc Dos Santos’s Brother, Phillip Dos Santos?
Phillip Dos Santos is Marc’s younger brother and a professional soccer coach.
Like Marc, Phillip grew up between Canada and Portugal and played football before moving into coaching.
Canada Soccer confirms that Phillip was born in Montreal and moved with his family to Aveiro when he was around 10 years old.
He speaks English, French, Portuguese and Spanish and has earned advanced UEFA coaching qualifications.
Phillip has worked with a long list of clubs and national-team programs during his coaching career.
Marc and Phillip Dos Santos Worked Together
The brothers’ relationship is particularly unusual because they have worked together professionally at several clubs.
Phillip joined Marc at Ottawa Fury, where Marc was head coach and Phillip served in technical and assistant-coaching roles.
They later reunited with the San Francisco Deltas, helping the team win the 2017 NASL Championship.
The brothers worked together again at Vancouver Whitecaps FC after Marc became the club’s head coach ahead of the 2019 MLS season.
Vancouver officially described Marc as Phillip’s older brother when announcing its coaching staff.
Why Marc and Phillip Work Well Together
Phillip has explained that he and Marc share similar ideas because they received much of the same football education.
They grew up in the same household, experienced Portuguese football together and later developed coaching careers built around many of the same tactical and leadership principles.
That shared background made working together relatively natural.
At the same time, Phillip has emphasized that their professional relationship required respect and an understanding that family and business could not always be treated in the same way.
Where Is Phillip Dos Santos Now?
As of now, Phillip Dos Santos is an assistant coach with Detroit City FC.
Detroit City announced his appointment in January 2026 after Phillip spent several seasons as the general manager and head coach of Canadian Premier League side Valour FC.
Marc, meanwhile, is leading LAFC in Major League Soccer, meaning the two brothers remain active coaches in North American professional football.
Marc Dos Santos’s Family Influence on His Coaching Philosophy
Marc has described three major pillars that shaped his life: family, faith and football.
All three can be traced back to his upbringing.
His father’s coaching career introduced him to dressing-room leadership. His Portuguese family identity exposed him to an intense football culture. His relationship with Phillip gave him a brother who understood the profession from the same perspective.
Later, Marie and their three children became the family unit that travelled with him as coaching opportunities took him across North America and beyond.
Marc Dos Santos’s Coaching Journey
After developing as a player in Portugal, Dos Santos decided relatively early that coaching rather than playing would become his long-term career.
He gained coaching experience and completed internships within Portuguese football before returning to Canada.
His first major opportunity came with Trois-Rivières Attak, Montreal Impact’s reserve side. Success there eventually led him to the Montreal first-team coaching staff.
Dos Santos later led Montreal, Ottawa Fury, Swope Park Rangers, San Francisco Deltas and Vancouver Whitecaps while also spending time working in Brazilian football.
Marc Dos Santos and LAFC
Dos Santos initially joined LAFC’s technical staff during the club’s early years and later returned as an assistant coach in 2022.
From 2022 through 2025, he worked under Steve Cherundolo and helped LAFC win the 2022 MLS Cup, 2022 Supporters’ Shield and 2024 U.S. Open Cup.
LAFC appointed Dos Santos as its new head coach in December 2025.
The promotion made him the third head coach in club history and represented another major milestone in a coaching career that began decades earlier through the influence of his father’s football life in Montreal.
Frequently Asked Questions About Marc Dos Santos’s Family
Who is Marc Dos Santos’s wife?
Marie is publicly documented as Marc Dos Santos’s wife in established sources from his earlier coaching career. Recent official sources do not clearly state their current marital status.
Does Marc Dos Santos have children?
Yes. Marc Dos Santos is the father of three children.
What are Marc Dos Santos’s children’s names?
The names of his children have not been consistently documented in authoritative public football sources, and Marc has generally kept them outside the spotlight.
Who are Marc Dos Santos’s parents?
Marc was born to Portuguese parents from the Aveiro region. Their names have not been prominently published in reliable football profiles.
Who is Marc Dos Santos’s father?
Marc’s father was a footballer and coach. He played first-division football in Mozambique before moving to Canada in the 1970s, where he later coached LusoStar of Mont-Royal.
Who is Marc Dos Santos’s mother?
His mother is Portuguese, but her name and professional background have remained private in reliable public sources.
Does Marc Dos Santos have a brother?
Yes. His younger brother is professional soccer coach Phillip Dos Santos.
Who is Phillip Dos Santos?
Phillip Dos Santos is Marc’s younger brother. He has worked as a coach for several clubs in Canada and the United States and is currently an assistant coach with Detroit City FC.
Did Marc Dos Santos’s father play soccer?
Yes. Marc has said his father played in Mozambique’s first division before later becoming a coach in Montreal.
Is Marc Dos Santos Portuguese?
Marc was born in Canada to Portuguese parents and holds both Canadian and Portuguese citizenship. He moved to Portugal at around nine years old and spent much of his youth there.
Where was Marc Dos Santos born?
He was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on May 26, 1977.
Who does Marc Dos Santos coach now?
As of now, Marc Dos Santos is the head coach of Los Angeles FC in Major League Soccer.
Siara Costa is a football editor and writer covering both European men’s and women’s football, with a focus on league competitions, match coverage, and in-depth storytelling.
