|
29/11/03
Lisbon's Parque das Nações will host a nine day football fair, starting on Saturday. ALLFOOTBALL has been arranged to coincide with the draw of groups for the final stage of the EURO 2004 tournament, to be held in Lisbon on Sunday (See official Euro 2004 Website)
27/11/03
Luís Campos has taken over from Ruca as coach at Gil Vicente. Ruca lasted just one game as chief coach and was replaced after a home defeat at the hands of Sanjoanense in the Taça. Ruca had replaced Mário Reis.
25/11/03
FC Porto's midfield maestro Deco has been suspended for three games by the Liga following the boot-throwing incident in the recent Boavista-Porto derby. Deco was sent off by referee
Paulo Paraty
for a second yellow after kicking the ball without a boot on (he had just been fouled and had lost his boot). He promptly threw the boot at (or was it 'to'?) the referee, and the sentence has now been handed down. A side-issue scandal is the fact that the sports press knew about the suspension on Friday, but the club only got official confirmation on Monday. Valentim Loureiro, president of the Liga,
has said they will be looking into the leak.
Manuel José has left Belenenses. The coach is heading for the Middle East (Al-Ahly of Egypt) and will be replaced by the Serb Bogicevic. Manuel José leaves under a cloud after breaking his
contract.
Former Portugal, Benfica and FC Porto coach Artur Jorge has been appointed coach of CSKA Moscow, taking with him as assitant Raúl Águas.
Former Benfica star and recently assistant coach at Benfica and Paços de Ferreira, Fernando Chalana, has been named first team coach at Oriental of the Segunda B, his first time at the helm of a club.
21/11/03
Benfica full-back, the Portuguese international Miguel, 23, has extended his contract with the club for another four years.
18/11/03
União de Leiria will after all get to use the newly built Municipal Stadium, one of those to be used at Euro 2004. The club will receive up to 1.25 million euros for the privilege, while the local
council will be responsible for the costs of running the stadium, organising games and paying off depreciation, all of which will amount to over 1.5 million euros a year. The council-linked company responsible for
the administration of the stadium will retain rights including advertising space for all non-televised games, advertising for four televised games, executive boxes, season tickets sales and the exploitation of the
bars and restaurants in the stadium. The stadium will be inaugurated Wednesday with a friendly between Portugal and Kuwait.
Belenenses coach Manuel José is wanted by Egyptian club Al-Ahly after another Portuguese, the former Benfica coach Toni, was sacked. Manuel José (who would be returning to the Egyptian club) is
apparently demanding 500,000 euros a year to do the job (A Bola). Toni in turn is set to receive 120,000 euros compensation for the dismissal.
Sporting are to take their former player Simão Sabrosa (currently at Benfica) to court to demand the payment of three million dollars. Sporting sold Simão to Barcelona
at the end of the 90s and he was bought by Benfica at the beginning of the 2001/2002 season, but Sporting apparently had first refusal on the player should he be transferred back into Portugal, and they did not get it.
União de Madeira of the Divisão de Honra beat Marítimo of the SuperLiga on penalties to win the Taça da Madeira Sunday. The game had finished 1-1 with goals from
Laguna for União and Joel Santos for Marítimo.
There were two heavy goleadas (thrashings) in the lower divisions at the weekend: In the Divisão de Honra, Santa Clara of the Azores beat Desportivo de Chaves 6-0
(which may force the dismissal of Chaves coach José Alberto Costa) and in the Segunda B, Freamunde beat Leça 8-0.
17/11/03
FC Porto inaugurated Sunday their Estádio do Dragão, which will be the venue for the opening game of EURO 2004, with a friendly against Barcelona, which they won 2-0.
Derlei was the first to score in the new stadium, a penalty on 55 minutes after a foul on the same player. Hugo Almeida, on as sub, headed the second on 68.
The evening was marked by a feat of magic at the end of the game, Portuguese magician Luís de Matos
unlocking a safe that contained his prediction for the final score of the game. He did, of course, get it right. He did not, however, predict that the pitch would be in such a bad condition - it was like a battlefield by the end of the game. The club will want to put his right before it is used in competition.
11/11/03
Portuguese players Figo (Real Madrid), Pauleta (PSG) and Deco (FC Porto) are on the 'short' list of 50 to win this year's Golden Ball
for the best player in Europe, awarded by French magazine France Football.
England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson was in Lisbon Wednesday finalizing the squad's accommodation for Euro 2004, which will be the Hotel Amazona
near the Estádio Nacional. He took advantage of the visit to confirm that he will be taking Benfica to court for money owing him from his time in charge at the club more than a decade ago: 460,000 euros
.
08/11/03
The eagle that flew so gracefully at the inauguration of Benfica's new Luz Stadium recently was apprehended Friday and its owner arrested for trafficking in protected animals. They were in Faro
in the Algarve at the time to perform at a fair. The eagle, whose name is 'Vitória', originates from the Russian Steppes.
Fernando Brassard, who was Portugal's 'keeper when they won two U-20 World Cups (with João Pinto, Figo, Rui Costa, Paulo Sousa, et al) has won a case against an insurance company
Desporto Seguro, which went all the way to the Supreme Court of Justice. In his last club, Vitória de Setúbal, Brassard broke a bone in his hand in training during the 2000/2001 season, which caused him to cut
short his career at the age of 29. The Supreme Court finally awarded him a lifetime pension of over 46,000 euros a year. The case is sure to set a precedent and may imply an increase in insurance premiums and
increased costs for clubs.
FC Porto's South African striker Benni McCarthy
has said that he's prepared to put club before country ahead of a possible call-up for the African Nations Cup in January. If he had to attend for the entire call-up period, he would be away from the club for a month and might miss important Champions League games (if Porto qualify)
06/11/03
Former Vitória de Setúbal and Varzim coach Luís Campos may be on his way to Bordeaux, where Portuguese players Caneira, Bruno Basto and Paulo Costa play.
05/11/03
Sporting's players have all passed a doping test following the discovery of used syringes in a hotel room used by them on their recent trip to Malmö
for a UEFA cup match.The test was done by the National Anti-Doping Council in Portugal.
04/11/03
João Alves was dismissed Monday as coach of Estrela da Amadora, who Alves had brought up from the Segunda Liga. Estrela are currently rock bottom of the SuperLiga with just four points from ten games.
01/11/03
Benfica club members voted in Luís Filipe Vieira as their new president
Friday, replacing Manuel Vilarinho, who introduced Vieira into the club three years ago. Vieira was previously president of Alverca and has been until now president of Benfica plc. According to exit polls, he won over 90% of the votes, the other two candidates getting 5 and 1%.
|
