The national team A will play three games - one in September and two in October - at the Estádio Algarve, announced this Tuesday, 18 May, the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF), at a press conference held in Faro. The matches are “great news” for the region and there is a “great objective” already defined: to have a public in the stands.
The headquarters of the Football Association of the Algarve (AFA) received today Fernando Gomes, president of the FPF, for the announcement of these three meetings of Portugal, in the Algarve, in the space of a month and a half, something that is unprecedented.
The first game, qualifying for the 2022 World Cup, will be on 1 September, between Portugal and Ireland, at 19:45. This is followed, on 9 October, by a preparatory meeting against Qatar, a country that has the curiosity to organize the World Cup.
This tour of the selection will end on October 12th.
On that day, Portugal will face Luxembourg, in another qualifying game for the World Cup, which, like the friendly against Qatar, has yet to set a time.
Initially, it was only planned that the game with Ireland would be played in the Algarve, but Fernando Gomes explained that these three games want to help «a region that needs the recovery of the economy and tourism».
“The Federation cannot fail to help economic recovery and meet the needs of each region, each city. We chose the Algarve with great pleasure and it is a great pleasure to return to a region that so much needs good news», considered the president of the FPF.
This official also underlined a clear desire: "we hope that the situation of the pandemic is at another point and that it is possible for the games to have a public".
Speaking to journalists, Reinaldo Teixeira, president of the Algarve Football Association, even defined the presence of fans in the stands as "a great objective".
“I think there are reasons for this to happen. The stadiums are able, with the proper rules, to receive the public. We have already demonstrated that we are orderly people and I believe that there is this common sense and this openness of the General Directorate of Health», he considered.
In the opinion of the president of the AFA, the team's visit to the Algarve is "good news" and, even a possible denial by the health authorities in the face of the presence of the public, does not nip that feeling.
«With public not only the economic and motivation issue for the athletes and the color is incomparable. If there is no public, we don't want it, but let's admit it happens, just the fact that our region transmits an image across borders is already gratifying. Both Qatar, which is a major business center, and mainly Ireland and Luxembourg are important countries for tourism in the Algarve», he said.
The mayors of the two municipalities that manage the Algarve Stadium (Loulé and Faro) also attended the press conference for the presentation of this national team's game plan and both welcomed the Federation's choice.
“It is a great satisfaction to receive the national team and make available to the country high quality sports equipment, in an extraordinary region with a football-loving public,” said Vítor Aleixo, mayor of Loulé.
Rogério Bacalhau, president of the Chamber of Faro, confessed that it is a «joy to receive the Portuguese team on a road that is expected to be victorious towards the World Cup», with these games «also a prize for supporters, especially the younger ones».
And the truth is that the sporting season will start in the Algarve with three matches in Portugal, something that is unprecedented, as it is the first time that the selection of the corners will play three games in the region in such a short space of time.
Until now, as Reinaldo Teixeira stressed, the Estádio Algarve has been a talisman for Portugal: in 15 games, there were 10 Portuguese victories, 5 draws and no defeats.
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