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15/08/09
Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa, the institution that runs the pools and various lotteries in Portugal, has filed an injunction to suspend the contracts that 11 Liga clubs
have with the Internet gambling company BetClick. Nacional, Académica, Sporting de Braga, Vitória de Guimarães, Naval, Rio Ave, Paços de Ferreira, Olhanense and União de Leiria have all signed publicity
contracts with BetClick for the coming season.
10/08/09
FC Porto won the SuperTaça Cândido de Oliveira on Sunday, beating Paços de Ferreira 2-0
in front of just 15,722 at the Aveiro Municipal Stadium (capacity 30,000). It was a tight but scrappy game, with Porto having most possession but Paços getting near the goal on several occasions, notably via their best forward, Cristiano. It took a terrible mistake by Paços 'keeper
Cássio to break the deadlock on the hour: he took a back-pass and instead of clearing tried to dribble round Farías, got caught up, and the Argentinian striker stole the ball and slotted it home. Paços
were still in it, however, until a minute from time when a corner from the left by Raul Meireles was met by captain Bruno Alves, jumping high above everyone else to crash in a header at the back post.
F.C. Porto: Helton, Fucile, Rolando, Bruno Alves, Álvaro Pereira, Fernando, Raul Meireles (Guarín 90), Belluschi (Farias 46), Mariano, Hulk, Varela (Tomás Costa 74).
Paços de Ferreira: Cássio, Filipe Anunciação (Carlitos 64), Ricardo, Ozeia (J. Coelho 82), Kelly, Jorginho, Leonel Olímpio, Pedrinha (William 68), Baiano, Romeu Torres, Cristiano.
At the end of the game, Porto's 'keeper Hélton ran to Cássio
to commiserate with him: "He came up to me when the game finished," said Cássio, "and gave me his jersey. I thought that he wanted to swap, but he told me to keep my own, too ... so that in the future I would remember and every time I looked at it I would know that I'd been one of the best players on the pitch that night."
The SuperTaça is played at the beginning of every season between the winner of the Liga and of the Taça de Portugal
. As Porto won both last season, they had to play against the losing finalists of the Taça: Paços.
06/08/09
The Council of Justice of the FPF (Portuguese Football Federation) has rejected the appeals of Vizela and Gondomar, relegated to the second division (third tier) in the Golden
Whistle/ Final Whistle process. Carregado and Penafiel have takaen their places in the Liga de Honra (second tier).
Portsmouth players David Nugent and Marc Wilson were involved in a scrap at the club's hotel in Guimarães after losing 4-0 to Benfica
at the weekend. The players were sent home and docked two weeks' wages.
05/08/09
Nine top tier clubs (Académica, Olhanense, Nacional, , Sporting Braga, Vitória de Guimarães, Naval, Rio Ave, Paços de Ferreira and União de Leiria) will be sponsored
by London-based on-line betting site Betclic. The company is in negotiations to secure contracts with four other clubs. Betclic's logo will appear on the sleeves of the teams' shirts.
Real Madrid have insured Cristiano Ronaldo's legs for 100 million euros.
02/08/09
The Portuguese Football Federation has announced the five stadiums that will be used in the Portugal/Spain bid for the 2018 World Cup: Porto (Dragão), Lisbon (Luz and Alvalade), Braga and
Algarve. The last two will need to be enlarged from their current 30,000 capacity to be in line with FIFA demands: 44,000. From the ten stadiums built or re-modelled for Euro 2004, Guimarães, Bessa (Boavista),
Aveiro (Beira-Mar), Coimbra (Académica) and Leiria will be left out.
Spain has a reported 23 stadiums in mind, from which will be chosen five, six or seven to be included in the Iberian bid.
01/08/09
English coach Bobby Robson has died, aged 76. He was well-known and liked in Portugal for his service to Sporting and FC Porto.
He arrived at Sporting
in 1992 and was sacked in December 1994 by the then president of the club Sousa Cintra after the team were knocked out of the UEFA Cup by Casino Salzburg; Sporting were top of the Portuguese league at the time. His assistant/translator at Sporting was one José
Mourinho, who would follow him to Porto and Barcelona.
(Bobby Robson with 'translator' José Mourinho, Sporting president Sousa Cintra and assistant coach Manuel Fernandes - photo Maisfutebol)
He joined FC Porto and won two league titles in 1995 and 1996, the first two of Porto's Penta (five on the trot). He left Porto for Barcelona and more success.
The Polícia de Segurança Pública (PSP), the force responsible for policing matches, has threatened to boycott games if a total debt of 7,757 euros
is not paid to it. The sum is owed by four clubs: Nacional, Belenenses, Vitória de Setúbal and Santa Clara, the latter of the Liga de Honra
(second tier). The professional clubs reportedly paid a total of 800 thousand euros to the PSP last season for providing agentes, who are each paid 28 euros for four hours' work. The Liga president,
Herminio Loureiro, pointed out that the clubs paid the taxman 75 million euros this year, but that the Liga has been owed 100 thousand euros by the State for a number of years.
The Players' Union published on Thursday a study into the nationalities of players used last season. In the top division, Estrela da Amadora, Rio Ave, Trofense, Leixões and Sporting used more
Portuguese players than foreigners. All the other clubs in the top flight, except for Paços de Ferreria (50/50), including FC Porto and Benfica, used foreigners more. Portugal was the second country in
Europe, after England, with the highest percentage of foreign players.
1. Engand 59 %
2. Portugal 53.7 %
3. Belgium 51.9 %
4. Germany 51.7 %
5. Greece 51.2 %
Arsenal were the 'top' club in Europe in the use of foreign players (91.7%), while Belenenses were Portuguese 'champions' (11th in Europe with 72%).
11. Belenenses 72 %
13. Benfica 70.4 %
24. Sporting Braga 66.7%
26. F.C. Porto 65.4 %
31. Nacional da Madeira 64 %
35. Vitória de Setúbal 63.6 %
Players registered in the top two divisions last season were as follows:
Liga Sagres: 268 Portuguese, 277 foreigners
Liga Vitalis: 300 Portuguese, 159 foreigners
(source: Maisfutebol)
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