Benfica News - May 14th, 2008

Benfica is scheduled to officially introduce Rui Costa as their new Sporting Director today at 8pm(local time).

The Champions League might be a reality for Benfica after all.

Benfica prepares for trip to Angola.

Leo's contract renewal should happen this week.

Eriksson option now fading.

3 Benfica players on Scolari's Euro List


Click below to read more about these topics.



Benfica is scheduled to officially introduce Rui Costa as their new Sporting Director today at 8pm(local time). Rui Costa has already started working under his new functions and currently has several issues that he is dealing with.
The first issue is obviously finding a coach.
The second issue will deal with players whose contracts and/or loan periods are expiring(Leo and Rodriguez)


The Champions League might be a reality for Benfica after all. According to UEFA's rule book, namely 1.04 line D, any club found guilty of match fixing/correuption or attempt to match fix/corrupt will not be eligible to participate in European competition. As you may recall, Porto was recently found guilty of attempting to match fix, by the Portuguese Disciplinary Commitee, and were sanctioned with the loss of 6 points, these points were deducted off this season, with no significant impact to Porto, as they had a 20+ point lead to second. The decision came as the result of the "Golden Whistle" case. This UEFA law, is a fairly new law which was put in place at the time of the famous "Calcio Chaos" case. At the time Milan entered European competition, despite being heavily penalized by the Calcio Ruling Body, because there was no legislation by UEFA to prevent Milan from competing in Europe. UEFA was then prompted to insert that law, however, the law states that the "match fixing/corruption or attempt to match fix/corrupt" has to take place during the season in which the team earned an European berth, so a loophole.
Benfica has requested that the Portuguese Futebol Federation submit the results of the "Golden Whistle" case to the UEFA.
If UEFA does in fact get this report and sanctions Porto's ineligibility,both Guimaraes and Sporting would have direct access to the group stages of the Champion's League, while Benfica would have to play a pre-qualifier.


Benfica prepares for trip to Angola.
Benfica will travel to Africa, namely Angola, to play an exhibition match against Angola's national team, a team which was present in the last World Cup. The trip will take place between the 19th and the 23rd of May, the match will be played on the 21st. Trip roster should be announced sometime this week. In the mean time, both Yu Dabao and Pedro Correia were at practice today. Both players were on loan and are now back with the main team. Dabao was on loan at Desportivo das Aves, while Correia was on loan at Portimonense. Butt, Zoro and Katsouranis were not present in today's training session, no formal explanation was given by Benfica.
Rodriguez whose loan period ends in July will be part of the Angola trip.


Leo's contract renewal should happen this week.
Leo's representative arrived in Lisbon today, with the purpose of resolving Leo's future at Benfica. Leo has stated that he would not like to make the trip to Angola if his future is not decided before then, claiming an injury might affect any chances of him being picked by another club. Leo's situation is at the top of the list of Rui Costa's "to do" list, and it can very well be the first decision as the Sporting Director.


Eriksson option now fading
Apparently Eriksson is fading quick as an option for next year's coach. Benfica had initially approached Eriksson with an offer, but Eriksson had not heard anything from City president Thaksin Shinawatra as far as his future goes, and travelled with the team to Malaysia for an end of year tour. Shinawatra ordered Eriksson to get on the plane with the team, as he is still under contract, Eriksson wanted to stay in England to take care of his future.
Man City will return from Malaysia on the 23rd, a time which Benfica considers to be too late to name a coach, as finding and signing a coach is Benfica's top priority this week. Eriksson's agent has also revealed that the Swede has received a very attractive offer that he is considering. The offer and the offerer are unknown, but reports have surfaced that the Mexican Federation is interested in Eriksson's services. Friend blog - Starting 11 had previously explored the possibility of Eriksson coming to Benfica and how Benfica could be used as a bargaining chip.



3 Benfica players on Scolari's Euro List
Quim, Petit and Nuno Gomes, were named in Scolari's list of 23 players that will represent Portugal in Euro 08. Quim had a great year and fully deserves a shot at a starting job. Petit and Nuno Gomes had a year much like Benfica. Petit was affected by many injuries and wasn't able to play at 100% consistently. Nuno Gomes, was also affected by injuries, but his form never really reached anything significant. Scolari remains confident that both these players can bring a lot to the National team, claiming that Petit will be fully rehabilitated by the time Euro comes around.