The president of the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) considers that the future of the sport is not guaranteed and that it is time to start building a new path, following the effects of the dissemination of Covid-19.
In an opinion article published today in several newspapers, Fernando Gomes underlines that he believes that in the partial opening of society, one of the priorities of national football “will be to make its activity more solid”.
“We live in the time of the unthinkable. The present challenges us and when we look to the future we no longer achieve what once seemed right. The future of football, I am sorry to say, is not guaranteed. Football, for many years, seemed to be the center of life for many people, but let's not lighten the words, we all realized that it is not”, he said.
According to Fernando Gomes, facing an entirely new paradigm, football has to start building a new path.
“Football, like society itself, has lived in an economic and community model structurally based on the speed of interactions. We have been thinking too little about tomorrow”, he stressed.
Fernando Gomes considers it important to diversify funding sources in national football, stressing that club budgets cannot be dependent on participation in European competitions.
“The sale of the television rights of a strong and competitive league to other countries, which are currently financially inexpressive, could help us to find a balanced position. They sought to defend their sector, without forgetting the global difficulties of football”, he referred.
In the opinion of the FPF president, it is also necessary to "do more, build sportingly profitable, socially relevant and economically viable competitions", he said.
In the article, Fernando Gomes draws attention to the need to introduce more demanding criteria in the construction of sports projects.
“Choosing well sports directors, coaches, players. Once this extraordinary situation is overcome, we will have to avoid constant exchanges of human resources at the first sign that things are not going according to plan. Persistence, resilience and collective work give results”, he said.
Fernando Gomes recalled that there are two thousand clubs that compete in Portugal and a similar number of professional players.
“Football represents 0,25% of the Portuguese GDP according to a recent study. These are data and numbers that require serious and thoughtful reflection. Is Portuguese football, with the size that the country has, capable of guaranteeing players around two thousand quality jobs? We cannot allow illusions to be sold to young people. We have a duty to protect them, create mechanisms that allow them to make the best decisions and make the difference between professional and amateur obvious”, he said.
Fernando Gomes also highlights in the article that this season, Portugal will finish sixth in the UEFA ranking, which will allow the Portuguese presence in European competitions.
“I believe that in the coming weeks we will know how to earn the trust of the authorities and decide on our representatives in the field. In a virtuous circle, if we are competitive and continue to focus on excellence in the areas of training young people, international recognition will happen, economic revenues will increase and original bets will have even more chances of becoming the norm.
The I Liga, led by FC Porto with a point advantage over champions Benfica, was suspended on 12 March, after 24 rounds and will return from 30 and 31 May, as well as the final of the Portuguese Cup, between ' dragons' and 'eagles'.
The same does not apply to the II League, which is not covered by the measures, having, at the time of suspension, Nacional, with 50 points, and Farense, with 48, in rising places.
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