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27/12/06
Thursday was 'Fool's Day' in Spain, and Portugal national team coach Luíz Felipe Scolari was caught up in the 'fun'. The sports daily Marca, claiming that a mistake had been made and
that Zidane was World Player of the Year and not Cannavaro, published an 'interview' with the Brazilian in which he was alleged to have said: "It's time that FIFA realised the mistake it made. I voted for Zidane,
Cannavaro and Kaká, not Henry, Cannavaro and Kaká. Now justice has been done. But FIFA can't make mistakes like this." Scolari's representatives have slammed the report as being in very bad taste.
The Spanish press have also been reporting the story of the Atlético Madrid midfielder, the Portuguese international Maniche, caught driving over the limit in Lisbon at the weekend.
Manuel Cajuda was officially presented as Vitória de Guimarães coach Wednesday, replacing Luís Norton de Matos. Cajuda was recently sacked by Egyptian club Zamalek.
Mariano Barreto, former coach of Moscow Dynamo, has begun work at his new club, Naval, where he takes over from Rogério Gonçalves, who moved to Sporting Braga, and caretaker Fernando Mira.
The president of Académica, José Eduardo Simões, has been formally charged on eight counts of passive corruption (to do with property development), which could lead to a prison sentence of
up to eight years. 103,600 euros were found in a car belonging to the president of the Coimbra club.
23/12/06
Vitória de Setúbal will have to pay 450,000 euros to former player Velli Kassumov, the first player from Azerbaijan to play in the Portuguese league. Kassumov played for Vitória between 1997
and 1999, but terminated his contract with just cause because of overdue wage payment. Along with his employment contract, he also signed an image rights contract with the club to the value of 200,000, which the
club did not comply with. After various appeals by the club, the Supreme Court has now handed down the definitive judgement, which does not allow for any further appeal. The cash-strapped club will struggle to come
up with such a large sum of money, which will almost definitely mean the seizure of assets in lieu of payment: players' passes, the team bus and trophies could all be seized. Black days for the club of
José Mourinho's home town, which is also struggling against relegation and sacked its coach last week.
José Cachide, vice-president of the Liga's bottom club Beira-Mar, has complained about the club using the 30,000-capacity Aveiro Municipal Stadium, custom-built for the Euro
2004 championship but much too large for a small town club like Beira-Mar. "I'd prefer to have a Fiat 600 that goes to a Ferrari that's run out of petrol," says Cachide, recommending that the club return to its old
stadium, the Estádio Mário Duarte. Cachide believes that the players would receive more human warmth there because the stands are closer to the fans (the Municipal has a running track). More serious still are the financial losses incurred by using the Euro 2004 stadium: each game costs the club around 10,000 euros to put on, which means that all games make a loss except those against the Big Three (FC Porto, Sporting and Benfica, who take a lot of fans to away games). Cachide explains: "For the last but one home game, against Belenenses, gate receipts were 3,800 euros, with costs of 9,000 … Besides that, the new stadium costs 225,000 euros a year in maintenance … I'd prefer to have a Fiat 600 that goes to a Ferrari that's run out of petrol." Cachide says that he has offered to pay out of his own pocket for any necessary renovations to the Mário Duarte, if the team returns there.
Vitória de Guimarães of the Liga de Honra have sacked coach Luís Norton de Matos
after a 0-1 defeat at home to Gondomar on Sunday. Vitória are 7th, four points behind second club Leixões (two teams go up). Vitória, who may claim to be the fourth Grande in Portugal in terms of following, were relegated from the Liga last season.
17/12/06
Portuguese coach Manuel Cajuda has been sacked from top Egyptian club Zamalek
after nine months. He took the club to the African Champions League and the Egyptian Cup Final, where Zamalek lost to Al Ahly, coached by another Portuguese, Manuel José.
14/12/06
António Conceição ('Toni') has been sacked by poisoned chalice Vitória de Setúbal. He replaced Hélio after just two games at the beginning of the season. Carlos Cardoso
, already at the club, will be the replacement. Vitória are 14th in the Liga.
Mariano Barreto has been named as the new coach at Naval, replacing Fernando Mira, caretaker after Rogério Gonçalves left for Sporting Braga. Barreto was previously with Moscow Dynamo.
FC Porto's Ricardo Quaresma has been named the Players' Union Player of the Month for November.
FC Porto have issued debentures to the value of 31 million euros to cover a deficit of 30 million. The issue was over-subscribed by 100%.
The former partner of FC Porto president Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa, Carolina Salgado, has just had a book published ('I, Carolina') in which she alleges that Pinto da Costa was
involved in a series of corrupt practices, including those covered by the so-called 'Golden Whistle'
process involving the bribery of match officials. Pinto da Costa has said that he will only respond to the allegations in court. 'Golden Whistle' began its phase of 'instrução' Tuesday, in which the court
will decide whether there is enough evidence for the case to go to trial.
Académica president José Eduardo Simões
has been officially accused of corruption involving real estate interests when he was in the Coimbra City Council. Following full support from the club's board, Simões will be staying on as president.
Current president of the Portuguese Football Federation, Gilberto Madaíl, will be the only candidate at the next elections for the top posts, to be held on 6 January.
Five fans of Lixa, of the second division, have been banned
from entering any stadium for a year (4) and a year and a half (1), following incidents in a second division game in the 2004/05 season between Lixa and Vizela. The referee awarded a penalty to Vizela (who went on to win 1-0) and there was a pitch invasion. The banning orders are the first in Portugal under a law passed in 2004.
01/12/06
The Liga de Clubes approved this week the launch of a new competition in Portugal: the Taça da Liga. ('League Cup'), between teams of the Liga and the Liga de Honra (second division), which will have its first edition in the 2007-08 season.
FC Porto reported losses of 30.4 million euros in the tax year to June, compared to losses of 1.1 million the previous year.
A member of the Benfica claque (organised group of fans) No Name Boys was arrested Friday after raids on his house and the claque's office at the Estádio da Luz. The
operation, nicknamed 'Weed', uncovered drugs and illegal weapons.
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