Francisco J. Marques slams Villas-Boas, reveals commission stats

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Portal dos Dragões

·24 November 2025

Francisco J. Marques slams Villas-Boas, reveals commission stats

The General Assembly of FC Porto, held last Saturday, once again exposed some internal tensions within the club. Among the participants was Francisco J. Marques, former communications director, who used the moment to criticize the actions of president André Villas-Boas (AVB) both in terms of internal cohesion and financial and sports management.

In a text published later, Francisco J. Marques detailed the arguments presented at the GA, accusing the current management of promoting “divisiveness” and omitting relevant data on commissions paid in transfers, despite having harshly criticized this type of expense in the past.

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Commissions: higher average per market with AVB

According to Francisco J. Marques, the numbers released by the management itself on the Transparency Portal and in the forensic audit show that AVB's FC Porto is paying more commissions than during the last term of Pinto da Costa (PdC).

Last term of PdC: According to the audit, the club paid 61.317 million euros in commissions over four years, corresponding to eight markets (summer and winter), averaging 7.6 million per market.
Current term of AVB: Based on the values published by the management, Francisco J. Marques points to a total of 28.117 million euros paid in commissions over three markets, resulting in an average of 9.37 million per market — an increase of 23% compared to the previous cycle.

The former director also mentions that the values related to the management commission for the first season are undervalued on the portal, claiming that the Porto team repeats this payment annually.

The analysis he conducted also compares the less than two years of AVB's term with the last two years of PdC's presidency:

An increase of more than 70%, considered by Francisco J. Marques as “a brutal leap.”

Sports performance: fewer titles and Benfica's dominance

The analysis also included the club's sports performance:

Last term of PdC: FC Porto won 7 out of 16 national titles in contention, equivalent to a 43% success rate, matching the titles of Benfica and Sporting combined.
Term of AVB: In five trophies already contested, only one was won (Super Cup 2024), translating to a 20% success rate.

Furthermore, Francisco J. Marques highlights a fact he describes as “very sad”:Since AVB took over the presidency, no FC Porto football team — A, B, Under-19, Under-17, or Under-15 — has beaten Benfica. In 11 games, the record is 3 draws and 8 losses, with 14 goals scored and 33 conceded.The last Porto victory over the rival occurred 630 days ago, in the 5-0 of March 2024.

Criticism of the current narrative

Francisco J. Marques concludes that the current management “pays more commissions and wins fewer trophies,” contradicting the narrative that the club's problem lay in the previous management.

The management of André Villas-Boas has not yet commented on the numbers and criticisms presented. However, several fans pointed out that commissions should be measured in percentage terms and not in absolute values, criticizing Francisco J. Marques's stance after leaving the club.

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