“It’s the happiest day of my sporting life”, says Fernando Cardinal | OneFootball

Fernando Cardinal was presented as captain of FC Porto’s futsal team, at a moment the 41-year-old pivot places at the very top of his sporting life. On the court at Dragão Arena, he spoke about the responsibility of the armband, the ambition to win promotion to the Second Division right away, and a bond with the club that began long before he stepped onto the court. Emotional, he summed up the impact of the day and assured: “There are no words for this moment.”

The new Porto number 7 arrives as one of the pioneers of a new sport at the Club, carrying a personal story shaped by devotion to Porto, futsal, and perseverance. Fernando Cardinal introduced himself with a message that ran through the entire conversation: the pride of wearing blue and white does not lessen the demand to live up to the shirt.

The first impact of the presentation was openly emotional. Cardinal did not hide that the fulfilment of this moment goes beyond any expectation he may have nurtured throughout his career.

“It’s an indescribable feeling. This is, without any doubt, the happiest day of my sporting life,” he said. “I’m very emotional, very happy, I feel a pride that my chest can barely contain. I feel privileged to wear this shirt and to represent the club of my heart, to be one of the pioneers in this sport, and I’m eager to start training.”

The captain once again placed this moment above all the others he has experienced in futsal. The FC Porto shirt, he explained, gives the moment a different dimension.

“This is the best moment of my career, without any doubt. It’s at the top. This moment surpasses all the others, because wearing the FC Porto shirt and representing the club of my heart is a completely different feeling,” he described. “That’s the feeling I’m living right now, I’m speechless. I’m on cloud nine. Emotionally, I’m in the best moment of my career. I’m truly very happy and I can only thank FC Porto for the opportunity.”

It was not just a presentation, but the fulfilment of a long-held wish. Cardinal’s emotion comes precisely from that meeting point between a long career and the club he has always followed.

The day began with the anxiety typical of someone waiting to sign a contract and everything that it represents. After the medical exams, the focus quickly shifted to work.

“When I woke up this morning, I felt anxious for the moment of signing the contract, appearing on the Club’s social media, and doing the medical exams and, thank God, everything went well,” he explained. “Now the most important thing is to start training so I can prepare properly to live up to this Club, as always. Today is a special day and I’m going to sleep with the shirt on.”

The desire to get started does not hide the symbolic weight of every detail. Even the chosen number carries a particular memory from his international career.

“I’ve always liked the 9 and I played many years with it. The first time I went to the national team, in my first international appearance, I was number 7. That was a very special moment and with the national team I always wore 7, so I started to like 7,” he said. “Here I’ll continue with number 7, which I really like.”

Number 7 will therefore be the visible sign of a personal continuity in an entirely new chapter. But the deepest novelty lies in the very creation of an FC Porto senior futsal team.

Cardinal recalled that for years he heard about the possibility of the Club entering the sport, without the project ever moving forward. He even came to lose hope, but now sees this moment as an opportunity that he also considers important for Portuguese futsal.

“I never imagined this, because FC Porto didn’t have futsal. People talked about it year after year, but it never moved forward and I even lost hope. I kept working, I played for many clubs, I went through the best leagues in the world, through many different countries and cultures,” he acknowledged. “And honestly, I came to lose hope of being here today, but God is great and wonderful, and He gave me the opportunity to be here. I want to thank the FC Porto board for opening this sport, a very important step for the Club and for Portuguese futsal. Even at European level. For a Club with FC Porto’s history, it is important to have futsal.”

For the pivot, the creation of the team is a response to an absence that for a long time seemed definitive. It is also the chance to bring to the court a family feeling built since childhood.

Cardinal’s devotion to Porto was passed on to him by his parents and is tied to the first images he remembers of FC Porto. Speaking about that journey, he paid tribute to his family.

“It was my parents who passed Porto pride on to me. It’s a very strong feeling. My family were always Porto supporters, my father played here and my first images of FC Porto are of going to the stadium with him,” he recalled. “I know they are up there watching. My father, my mother and my brother are proud, absolutely certain, that I am living this moment and making my dream come true.”

The club memories that come to him are therefore linked to a childhood spent in the stands and to celebrations that remained engraved in his memory.

“I remember going with my father to the Estádio das Antas, I would stay in the grandstand with him. I remember being at the swimming pool and my mother coming to get me and saying we had become champions. We became champions at Luz, Timofte scored a goal, and we went to celebrate,” he said. “Those are the images I keep in my memory.”

That bond did not remain stuck in the past. Cardinal describes himself as someone who followed FC Porto through its great triumphs and who intends to keep doing so whenever his duties as a player allow it.

“I’ve always been passionate about FC Porto. I don’t think I need to say much… it has been obvious throughout my whole life. For many years I followed FC Porto in many triumphs. The greatest joys of my life were given to me by FC Porto,” he stressed. “I was at the Champions League final, the UEFA Cup final and the Europa League final. I was present at FC Porto’s greatest triumphs, I always followed the Club and I will continue to do so when I don’t have training or matches, because I can’t miss training to go watch FC Porto. If it’s a European competition, I’ll speak to the board and the coach so they can give me permission. That’s easier.”

The new captain therefore speaks of moving from the stands to the court without giving up the perspective of a supporter. The club’s other sports are part of that relationship, now strengthened by his move into futsal.

“I follow the club’s other sports. Last season I was here watching roller hockey against Sporting and now I will certainly follow them much more,” he said.

It is at Dragão Arena that Cardinal is already picturing the scene he would like to find. His imagination is made of goals, a full arena, and concentration that will have to withstand emotion.

“I can only imagine a full arena at a futsal match with me scoring lots of goals. It will be hard not to sing during the game, but I have to control my emotions well and stay focused,” he admitted.

His enthusiasm does not take him away from high standards. At 41, Cardinal says he feels ready for the challenge and points to his physical care as one of the reasons he is still playing.

“I still feel ready and physically well, that’s why I never announced the end of my career. One thing would be if my body no longer allowed it, but as long as I’m prepared and my body holds up, I’ll stay calm,” he assured.

Asked about his age, he responded with confidence in his abilities and in the exams he underwent. Even so, he distinguished gym preparation from the specific demands of futsal.

“I usually say that age is just a number. I know my abilities, I know what I’m capable of and I’m physically well. The exams proved that I’m in great shape. I have a good heart, the doctor said he hadn’t seen a heart like this in a long time,” he explained. “I’m very happy, but I’ve always taken great care of myself. Still, gym training is different from futsal training. But I’m going to prepare myself to the maximum, I know I’m capable and I know I’ll live up to it.”

His physical confidence is matched by a no-nonsense competitive profile. Cardinal identifies ambition, goals, and refusal to give up as the traits he intends to place at FC Porto’s service.

“I’m a very ambitious player, I score a lot of goals and I never give up on a play. I have a lot of grit and I never quit, and I think that fits our Club perfectly,” he defined.

That idea of commitment extends to the way he sees every game. For the pivot, the shirt obliges you to seek victory, regardless of the scoreline.

“Commitment. We have a commitment to the Club and we have to take care of everything until the end. Whether it’s 0-0 or we’re winning, we have to be ambitious and always want more,” he summed up. “We know nobody wins all the time, but we always have to fight to win.”

Before reaching this moment, Cardinal also carried the mark of Bairro do Aleixo, where he was born and raised. He speaks about that place with pride, nostalgia and awareness of everything he lived through there.

“That neighbourhood taught me a lot. If I am who I am today, I can say I learned a lot there. I lived through many things there, the happiest and the saddest moments of my life. It made me grow because of everything I went through, because of what I saw,” he recalled. “It is an enormous source of pride to have been born and raised in Bairro do Aleixo, it will always stay in my memory. Unfortunately it no longer exists today, much to my sadness, but I was very happy there.”

His futsal path was, in his own words, a choice sustained by his love for the sport, by his grandmother and by his siblings. A journey he presents as the result of guidance and work.

“I usually say that God guided me down the right paths. Everyone knew Bairro do Aleixo and knows what happened there. I lost my parents very young, and my grandmother took care of me. I always had a passion for futsal, I started training at Miramar and they really liked me,” he explained. “I continued with futsal and I still had my friends. Whatever my friends did, I was with them, but I had no problems with that and they would never stop being my friends. Whatever they did, for me everything was always fine. What mattered was that I knew what I had to do and the path I had to follow if I wanted to become someone in life. Thank God, He guided me, with the help of my grandmother and my siblings.”

Aleixo is still present, even after the towers disappeared. Cardinal goes there often and makes a point of showing his children the place where he was born.

“It never left me, I go there many times. I showed my children, the younger ones, where I was born and raised. I’ve already shown them videos and I’ve taken photos there,” he said. “Now the towers are gone and when I go there it’s a very difficult moment, a great nostalgia. I start remembering things from the past, reliving the happy moments I had there. The school that no longer exists, the field that no longer exists… It is with great sadness that I go there, but I always make a point of going.”

Competitive longevity, he believes, does not happen by chance. Cardinal left a message aimed at younger players, focused on diet, rest and the will to train.

“Getting to the top is not difficult, the difficult part is staying there. At 41 I feel very well, but it is all the result of my work over many years. My diet, my rest, my desire to train. That is not easy,” he analysed. “Nowadays, more and more, I think young people are not prepared, but they should be, in order to give longevity to their bodies. If they want to play for many years, they need to prepare themselves. Especially in diet, rest and training. If I’m here at 41, it is all the result of my work.”

His career has also left him with matches and goals he keeps as special. Among the episodes he recalled were moments with the national team, with ElPozo Murcia and in play-off finals.

“There were many, some of them were special. I can give the example of one at the World Cup in Colombia. We were losing 1-0 against Colombia, I equalised in the last second with 15,000 people in the stands. It was a unique moment to score in the last second at the World Cup for the national team,” he remembered. “At ElPozo Murcia we qualified for a final when I scored in the last second. When I won my first Champions…”

As for his favourite goals, he did not choose just one. He preferred to leave a collection of references that helps explain the weight of the memories he has built up.

“That is more difficult, because there were many. With the national team, we played a friendly against France, I really liked that goal. Against Brazil, also for the national team,” he said. “Then, in the play-off finals against Benfica, I liked the goals I scored at Luz. I have many special goals.”

The armband is the new symbol of the responsibility he assumes at FC Porto. Cardinal says he is ready, but refuses to reduce leadership to a band on the arm.

“It is a great pride and a great responsibility. I was very proud when I received the armband and I felt enormous satisfaction. I am prepared for this responsibility. Honestly, I think it makes perfect sense. It is a great pride to be the first captain of FC Porto futsal,” he assured. “It is an enormous pride and I am prepared for this moment. But I don’t need the armband to be a captain, a captain is someone who leads by example. I prefer to lead by example rather than demand from my teammates. That’s the way I’ll do it.”

Leadership, he explained, will be built on equality and mutual support. Experience is a resource he wants to share, but without losing sight of the fact that the path will be collective.

“I believe FC Porto will build a very competitive team to win and to achieve its objectives. I want my teammates to understand that I’m here to help them. I’m the same as them, I’m no different. Here we are all equal, we will all pull in the same direction and with the same goal,” he stressed. “I want them to understand that I’m here to help them with my experience, but I will also need them to help me. We all have to pull together, in the same direction, to be stronger.”

The first sporting objective is clearly defined, with no room for ambiguity. The ambition is to enter every game to win and to secure promotion to the Second Division immediately.

“The objectives are clear: whoever wears this shirt and represents the institution that is FC Porto has to go into every game to win. Naturally, the main objective is to win promotion to the Second Division right away,” he said.

Cardinal also wants to follow the youth setup, convinced that he can be useful to the Club’s younger players. It is a natural extension of the responsibility he takes on within the new structure.

“When I have time, I’ll follow the youth teams, because I think I can be an asset to the Club. I’ll keep a close eye on our young players and I’ll do it with great pleasure, of course,” he said.

The top is the horizon, but not a shortcut. The captain asks for steady steps, focus on training and matches, and confidence in the conditions he sees around the team.

“I think we can reach the top and that is our objective, that’s why FC Porto created futsal. But we have to go step by step, because we are still at the beginning. I usually say: first you start, then you improve,” he analysed. “With this structure, with everything I’ve seen around me here, I don’t think we will lack anything. The most important thing is to stay focused on training and playing so that we achieve our objectives. There are no limits to how far FC Porto can go.”

For the supporters, he left a direct invitation. Cardinal believes the new team will find a decisive strength in the stands.

“My message is clear. FC Porto supporters never fail and they will certainly be very happy about the creation of futsal. Many of them wanted this for many years. As a supporter and as a futsal player for our Club, I want to invite them to come to every game,” he urged. “They will be a great help to us and I’m sure they will always show up.”

The home debut already occupies space in the new captain’s imagination. And the dream, he guarantees, is bigger than what he can put into words.

“I’ve already imagined my first game, but nobody has any idea of what I’ve already imagined. That dream will definitely come true,” he said.

It is with that certainty that Fernando Cardinal closes a day he defines as one of the happiest of his sporting life. Between the emotion of joining FC Porto and the ambition to start playing, the captain does not hide the privilege he feels.

“This is one of the happiest days of my life in sporting terms, without any doubt. I’m very emotional, very happy, very proud. I feel privileged,” he concluded. “There are no words for this moment.”

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.