30/06/04 Beira-Mar are threatening to decline to play in the brand new Estádio Municipal de Aveiro, used at Euro 2004. The club claims that the municipal company in
charge of the management of the stadium (EMA) owes it 330,000 euros, and that EMA has assumed ownership of the executive boxes in the stadium, which effectively takes away a large slice of potential income for the club.
This, plus the increased costs of security for games, compared to the old Mário Duarte stadium, has made the club think twice about using the state-of-the-art venue. 24/06/04
The Italian Luigi del Neri. formerly of Chievo, was presented Thursday as FC Porto's new coach, taking over from José Mourinho, who has moved to Chelsea. 15/06/04 Former FC Porto
coach José Mourinho, now of Chelsea, has been suspended for ten days by the Liga's disciplinary committee following incidents in the Sporting v FC Porto Superliga
match at the end of January. Sporting accused Mourinho of ripping full back Rui Jorge's shirt and wishing that he had died on the pitch. 10/06/04 It's all change behind the scenes at Benfica
. Former president of the Professional Footballers' Union António Carraça becomes head of the football department while former player and star of the Benfica and Portugal teams of the 60s António Simões
steps down as Director of Football. 08/06/04 José Peseiro (see below) was officially announced as coach of Sporting
Monday. He takes over from Fernando Santos, sacked in this close season and possibly bound for Greece, where he has worked before. Vítor Oliveira will be the coach of Moreirense
in the coming season, taking over from Manuel Machado, who moves to Vitória de Guimarães. 06/06/04 Vítor Magalhães has been elected president of Vitória de Guimarães
for the next three years, taking over from Pimenta Machado, who stepped down recently after 24 years in charge. 05/06/04 Sporting will announce José Peseiro
as their new coach Monday, to replace the sacked Fernando Santos. Peseiro was assistant to Carlos Queiróz at Real Madrid last season and was previously at Nacional of Madeira. His contract will be for two years.
Queiróz is on his way back to Manchester United to be Alex Ferguson's assitant until June 2007. Italian Luigi del Neri will be FC Porto's coach for the next three years, from Chievo of
the Série A. FC Porto president Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa
walked the club's elections for president Friday. There was no opposition for the man who has been 22 years in the job. During that time the football team has won 13 Portuguese titles, eight Taças de Portugal, 12 Portuguese Supertaças, two European Cups, an UEFA Cup, a European Super Cup and an Intercontinental Cup. The new mandate will take Pinto da Costa through to 2007.
Benfica (with partners TBZ) opened the first of 50 projected Megastores, in Portugal and abroad, at the Estádio da Luz Thursday. The store has 600 square metres and cost 1 million euros to set up,
but hopes to make 3 million in the first year from its 1700 different items of merchandise with the Benfica mark. 03/06/04 Chelsea's new coach, José Mourinho
, has claimed that there were threats
made against him and his family in the week before the CL Final against Mónaco. The trouble was apparently caused by the feeding frenzy of agents trying to get a piece of the action on Mourinho's move to the London club. The coach said Thursday that in the space of four days, eight agents contacted him claiming they were representing Chelsea chairman Roman Abramovich. The deal was handled by agent Jorge Mendes.
02/06/04 José Mourinho is to be presented as Chelsea's new coach in a press conference Wenesday. He has rescinded contract with FC Porto. Negotiations will follow for
the signing of some of the 'jewels' in Porto's crown, like Deco (who admitted contacts Tuesday), Costinha and Paulo Ferreira Sporting have sacked coach Fernando Santos. Sporting lost three of their last
four games of the season and let themselves be overtaken by arch rivals Benfica into Second spot in the SuperLiga, thus losing out on a Champions League place. Jesualdo Ferreira
has extended his contract as coach with Sporting Braga for one more season. FC Porto 'keeper Vítor Baía took advantage of the World Children's Day to present his idea for the
'Fundação Vítor Baía 99', which will help deprived kids, especially in the area of sport. 01/06/04 FC Porto coach José Mourinho had meetings with Chelsea
Chairman Roman Abramovich
on the latter's yacht in the South of France at the weekend. Former Chelsea coach Claudio Ranieri has been sacked by the club. Mourinho still has two years left on his contract at Porto, and Chelsea are yet to approach the club to negotiate the coach's rescission, but it seems clear that Mourinho will sign sooner or later, and will probably take some players with him, Costinha, Deco and Paulo Ferreira the most talked about.
Mourinho will make 6 million euros a year at Chelsea, who will have to pay Porto 1.5 million in compensation. Porto have apparently contacted former Real Madrid coach Vincente del Bosque
to take over from Mourinho. |
