The National Football Team will return to the Algarve Stadium, on the 14th of November, for the clash against Lithuania for the qualifying phase of the 2020 European Championship.
It will be the National Team's tenth game at this stadium, the first since the preparation game against the Croatia (1-1), played on September 6, 2018.
The last official game held at this venue was on 13 November 2016, between Portugal and Latvia, with a 4-1 victory for the formation guided by Fernando Santos.
Reinaldo Teixeira, president of the Algarve Football Association (AFA), cited by the Portuguese Football Federation, says that this is “a choice that greatly honors us, on the part of Dr. Fernando Gomes and his team and is a consequence of practice followed by current federative officials, taking major events to various parts of the country, with the purpose of promoting football in areas farther away from the main cities, in a demonstration of the organizational capacity and vision of the entity that manages the sport».
For Reinaldo Teixeira, «the recognized quality of the sports equipment existing in the region, namely the Algarve Stadium, the excellence of the hotel park and the modern access roads that serve the stadium were also factors that were certainly considered by the FPF».
For the AFA president, the option “represents a huge prize for football fans residing in the region, especially for the younger ones, who have few opportunities to witness the matches of their idols, the great players of the Portuguese national team, live. if so also a relevant social mission».
«It is also a benefit for a significant list of economic activities, in particular those linked to the tourism and hotel sectors, and which has greater significance as the game takes place in November, in the so-called low season, thus contributing to alleviate the effects of seasonality'.
Rogério Bacalhau, president of the Chamber of Faro, says that «it is with great pleasure and honor that the Association of Municipalities Loulé-Faro and the entire region once again opens the doors of the Algarve Stadium to the Portuguese Football Team. We hope that the journey to Euro 2020 will have a decisive boost here, as we are certain that the place of the "team of us all" is in the world football galarin, disputing titles and filling all the millions of Portuguese who are scattered around with pride. for the seven matches of the world».
The leader of the municipality of Faro wants the Algarve Stadium «to be a talisman, as it has been on previous occasions, such as in November 2014, when the National Team here faced Armenia, on the glorious route to the title of Euro 2016».Ro
Rogério Bacalhau guarantees that the Quinas team will have “the unconditional support and the patriotic fervor of all the Algarveans and everyone who visits us. Best wishes for a good game and… let's go to victory!”
Vítor Aleixo, mayor of Loulé, also welcomes the presence of the National Team in the Algarve and says that it will be “a huge party to be able to count on a game of such importance being held in his region, so I'm sure no one will want to miss this event of national importance, and thus give all its moral support to the players, so that they can prove once again that Portugal is at the highest level in European and world sport».
The Loulé mayor reiterates "the full support and expectation for the realization of the game in question at the Estádio Algarve and I hope that it will be a great sporting event with a victory for Portugal".
The National Team is included, in the qualifying phase, in group B, along with Ukraine, Luxembourg, Serbia and the Lithuanians.
The first two classified in each group qualify directly for the European Championship, with the remaining four positions being allocated to the winner of the play-offs.
Portugal, with the victory in the League of Nations, has already guaranteed that, in case they do not qualify in the group, they have already guaranteed their presence in the play-off.
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