FC Porto consider legal action if Nacional centralisation plan goes ahead | OneFootball

André Villas-Boas spoke this Thursday about the centralization of television rights and made it clear that FC Porto will take the matter to court if the proposal put forward by Nacional is approved.

“Centralization is increasingly under threat from Nacional da Madeira, with an idea that, to me, could blow up Portuguese football. And I say this with complete sincerity in front of the League president. So, we worked for two years on a distribution key — and rightly so — within the League’s board. As you know, FC Porto did not support Reinaldo [Teixeira]’s candidacy. Just the other day I wrote to congratulate him on his great work in fulfilling his term, especially in the area of league centralization. At other times, I made my criticisms, to which he will respond if he sees fit,” began the president of the Dragons.

“80% or 90% of the fan demographic in domestic football is concentrated in the Big Three, who are, in reality, the great economic engine of Portuguese football, with no disrespect to the others and to the different clubs and sports companies. That is the reality: Sporting, FC Porto and Benfica dominate the membership demographic of Portuguese football. Whether it is 90% or 80%, you may disagree with me on that point, but it will certainly be at least 80%. And that means the Portuguese giants are the economic drivers of Portuguese football and deserve respect. In the FC Porto-Sporting alignment, we already agreed to lose money with centralization so that there would be more money for the other clubs…,” he continued.

“Now, we cannot lose everything at once, because we have to keep earning our place in the European ranking, we have to keep competing. We have this very specific membership demographic and, with all due respect, Nacional da Madeira, even with matches involving the Big Three, has its stadium occupied in 50% of matches, which translates into an average of 2,500 people watching per game..,” he continued, before concluding.

“I do not know Sporting’s position, but I think it will be the same as FC Porto’s, which will take legal action if Nacional’s proposal is approved at the League General Assembly. Therefore, we will not collaborate in any way with any operator regarding our assets, extra broadcast hours, etc. Proper framing is needed. There is a first cycle to be fulfilled that is fair to everyone, while the Big Three are already losing money. There are clubs here, it is true, that come out highly valued by this new distribution key. SC Braga, Vitória de Guimarães and Famalicão see their audiovisual rights highly valued. All the others do as well, but there needs to be a little common sense and awareness. First cycle, yes — FC Porto will collaborate as long as this distribution key, which we worked on for two years, is approved. If any other is approved, FC Porto will take legal action against it,” he concluded.

It should be recalled that Rui Alves, president of Nacional, accused the League of Clubs of violating Decree-Law no. 22-B/2021, which determines ownership of the broadcasting rights for the Liga and Liga 2 football championships and sets out rules regarding their commercialization.

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