23/11/05 FC Porto issued a press release Wednesday criticising the Liga's disciplinary department for not suspending Benfica striker Nuno Gomes
for a gesture during Sporting Braga's defeat of Benfica at the weekend. Just after Braga scored their winner, Gomes simulated an injection into his forearm, suggesting that the Braga players were doped
up. The press release also criticised Braga for not defending its dignity more actively. Middlesborough utility player Abel Xavier, 32, has been suspended by UEFA for 18 months
following a positive doping test in September after an UEFA cup game against Greek club Xanthi. The former Portuguese international has three days to appeal the decision. 19/11/05 Sporting Clube
Farense, the 'biggest' club in the Algarve, in the south of Portugal, has announced that it will no longer have a professional team due to its inability to pay off debts of 500 thousand euros. The club was
founded in 1910. The players of Liga de Honra club Ovarense have threatened a strike for overdue wages. 13/11/05 Manuel José, who coached Benfica, Sporting and Boavista, among others, in
Portugal, has led top Egyptian side Al-Ahly to the African Champions League title, beating Tunisian side Étoile du Sahel 3-0 in the second leg of the Final. 11/11/05
José Peseiro, the coach sacked by Sporting last month, has won an award for Top Coach of the Year, presented by the Portuguese Sports Confederation at Estoril Casino Thursday. National coach
Luíz Felipe Scolari won the award for Top Footbal Personality of the Year. The Confederation gave the 'Top Prestige' award to Chelsea coach José Mourinho. His father, Félix
, who confessed that he can't watch his son's games, collected the award on his son's behalf and commented on his success: "I can't teach him anything any more. At one point I realised that he'd overtaken me ... His
arrogance isn't arrogance - it's professionalism! ... José Mourinho's mother can watch his games "from beginning to end". She told reporters that her son "wasn't
very naughty - he didn't give me a lot of trouble ... football helped to motivate him in his studies. I realised that from an early age, he had a passion for football ...
Arrogant and vain!? That makes me laugh. I know him very well and he's nothing like that. He's a great father, a great husband and a great son." 09/11/05
Following the problems faced by Vítoria de Setúbal in paying the club's players, it has been revealed that Liga de Honra (second division) club Estoril Praia are in
the same boat. If by Friday the board has not come up with at least one month's money from the three monthly pay packets currently in arrears, the squad has
threatened to proceed with a collective rescission of their labour contracts. António Figueiredo, Estoril's president, warned that Setúbal, Estoril and also Ovarense (of the Liga de Honra
) are not the only clubs in financial difficulties. "Before the start of next season, between 10 and 20 clubs from the Liga and Liga de Honra will close their doors," he predicts. Vítor Baía
launched his autobiography Tuesday. With a print run of 30,000, '99 - Vítor Baía' reveals that he was a benfiquista, (a Benfica fan) until he was ten. He also rounds on Filipe Scolari
, the national coach, for not picking him since the debacle of Korea 2002, despite his form being consistently good. He says he repsects the coach's decision but does not understand it. Profits from the book will
revert to the Fundação Vítor Baía, a charity to help underprivileged children. 99 is Baía's shirt number ... the year he returned to Porto from Barcelona. Benfica president Luís Filipe Vieira
has admitted that he will not be resigning his post, despite the fact that sales of the so-called 'Kit' to attract more associate members has not met with expectations. At the time of the launch of the 'Kit',
Vieira said he would resign if Benfica did not have 300,000 members by October. At the last count the club had an estimated 155,000. 05/11/05 The poor relationship between FC Porto coach
Co Adriaanse and the press hit new depths Friday with the moody Dutchman's almost monosyllabic press conference ahead of Sunday's game with Paços de Ferreira. Adriaanse is angry
about what he considers to have been a bad translation of his comments after the midweek defeat at Inter. The Portuguese press quoted him as saying that Raul Meireles
had been "sleeping" on the line and had thus failed to clear Júlio Cruz's headed winner, but Adriaanse claims he said the midfielder "slipped". In fact what
he said was that Meireles "was slipping" ... even so, a strange choice of tense ... 01/11/05 Cash strapped Vitória de Setúbal, with months of wages owing to their players,
are just "the tip of the iceberg", according to Players' Union president Joaquim Evangelista, with more clubs facing the same cash flow problems. "During the
months of July and August, last season's problems were not dealt with and they carried over to this season," he said. He also warned of an even more serious situation in the Liga de Honra
(second division): "At the moment there are clubs in the LH that have seven months'wages overdue - four from last season, and three from this. This year is going to be a dramatic one for Portuguese football."
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