Villas-Boas: We talked with Real Madrid about hosting the Spanish-Portuguese Cup; Jeddah United s nonsense is unethical

Hupu reported on October 10th that Porto Chairman Villas-Boas attended the Portuguese Football Summit and conducted a clear Q&A.

Talk about the pressure of running Porto

From a sports perspective, we aspired to win the championship, but our first year in charge was very difficult... Porto Football Club failed to achieve its goals; it went through some adjustments during the period, as well as a large-scale financial restructuring.

Porto Football Club has applied for a loan of approximately 450 million euros in market and financial transactions. That saved it.

The situation was dangerous; partners helped us with commercial paper, and then in a financial transaction (an approach copied by other big clubs) we issued 115 million euros in US bonds. As part of the restructuring, we sold 30% of our shares.

This capital injection saved Porto Football Club and allowed it to maintain its status as a members-only club. This is our biggest goal and we want to keep it that way.

Fortunately, I have found very organized and professional people who are fully committed to the future of FC Porto. They helped me arrive and execute my plan. In the absence of funds, we had to rely on partners, people who love FC Porto, who helped us raise 15 million euros from employees and players. I was in a critical situation.

Background work for your campaign is critical. To develop the market, we met with JP Morgan to understand the response to FC Porto's brand. The credibility of the banking industry was at stake at the time. We didn't want to get stuck and end up in third place. We won the Super Bowl and we can be proud of that, but ultimately, what we need is long-term stability.

Betting on internationalization

is a must. We are expanding our brand and international positioning, which requires Porto Football Club to show a new look in terms of positioning and brand building in the international market.

This is a huge challenge. This expansion must be combined with other aspects, such as new competitions and formats.

In other sports, there are various competitions, such as the Iberian Super Cup, cross-border leagues... Ten years later, football is developing in this direction. Together with Pedro Proenza and other good Portuguese and Spanish teams, I negotiated a cup called the Iberian Super Cup.

We all have our differences now, but the seeds of this innovation were sown when I took over and were warmly welcomed by Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Benfica, Sporting CP and the Portuguese Football Federation.

This new form of football is crucial. Let's wait and see Milan vs. Como in Australia and Villarreal vs. Barcelona in Miami. Can Portuguese football seize this opportunity?

For example, the stadium in Newark might already be full. FIFA has said this is a permitted exception and does not want to continue.

FIFA stated that leagues should be held in various countries, but the venues are open, and each football association should take action. These challenges are the responsibility of the Portuguese football community, of everyone: the clubs, the Portuguese Football Federation and the league. We need to be the first to create President’s Summits that are rich in content and have in-depth discussions, just like this one.

How important is it to keep Rodrigo Mora?

This is really a challenge. We received an offer of 50 million euros from Jeddah United, but unfortunately this club is used to playing tricks with Porto Football Club.

They said they had promised an offer of 63 million euros, but in the end they did not materialize. Porto Football Club will never sell Rodrigo Mora for less than 115 million euros in release clause.

However, in conversations with the athlete, we expressed our willingness to accept offers starting at €70 million. But the final offer failed to materialize and Jeddah United once again disappeared from the negotiating table with FC Porto.

Considering that group of people - and luckily now a Porto fan named Sergio Conceicao has gone to Saudi Arabia - perhaps the relationship between Jeddah United and FC Porto will change - the fact is that we were not satisfied with their performance in the negotiations.

Of course, they have the right to walk away from negotiations, but manipulating this kid and talking to him and his... agent is really unacceptable. As they have done, it goes against the transfer ethics and ethics code regulated by UEFA.