Porto's 31st title: Villas-Boas gambles on Farioli, Dragons win | OneFootball

FC Porto won the national championship again at a time when there were still doubts about the club’s ability to recover the stability it had lost in recent years. More than just a trophy, the 31st title symbolized the deep rebuilding of a structure that seemed trapped by the wear and tear of the recent past, the pressure of a presidential change, and the urgent need to return to the highest competitive level.

In truth, what happened at the Dragão over the last ten months says a lot about football, leadership, renewal, and the difference between clubs that win and those that merely show up.

So, the 31st league title in the blue-and-white club’s history is not simply the result of a run of victories, but of a profound transformation by a club that understood it had to change almost everything in order to win again. And above all, it was born from the courage of André Villas-Boas in taking a risk at a moment when the next mistake could have had very serious consequences.

After a first season as president marked by instability, criticism, and clear failures in the appointments of Vítor Bruno and, later, Martín Anselmi, Villas-Boas concluded that FC Porto needed a more serious break from the past. Changing coaches was not enough. It was necessary to change the logic, the way of thinking, the structure, and the way a team was built. That was when Francesco Farioli emerged.

Francesco Farioli, the philosopher who found redemption at the Dragão

When Francesco Farioli landed at Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport on July 3, 2025, he carried with him a burden that was hard to ignore. The Italian arrived at FC Porto just weeks after experiencing one of the most traumatic collapses in recent Dutch football. Ajax had thrown away a nine-point lead with five rounds to go and handed the title to PSV. In Amsterdam, the image that remained was that of a young coach unable to handle the pressure of decisive moments.

At the Dragão, however, they looked beyond the scar. As Villas-Boas revealed in an interview on Rádio Renascença’s podcast “O Código Farioli,” he had already been following the Italian coach for some time, roughly since 2023/24, the season in which the transalpine manager led Nice to fifth place in Ligue 1, with the best defense in the competition, conceding only 29 goals.

The Porto president then saw in that 37-year-old coach something that fit the future he envisioned for the club. Not only because of his tactical ideas, but because of the almost obsessive way he approaches the game. A Philosophy graduate from the University of Florence, influenced by Roberto De Zerbi and deeply shaped by the Italian school, Farioli sees football as a rational, aesthetic, and emotional construction all at once.

For him, the system never was, and still is not, the center of the discussion. What matters are the principles: dominating the game, controlling the tempo, reacting quickly after losing the ball, and pressing in a coordinated way. In short, forcing the opponent to feel uncomfortable. And above all, turning a team into a collective organism capable of thinking as one.

At FC Porto he found fertile ground to apply those ideas, but Farioli also quickly understood the context he was stepping into. He realized the club needed to recover the emotional aggression it had lost. He absorbed the Dragão’s competitive spirit, got involved in a few verbal spats, took on several institutional battles, and embraced the historic “together against everyone” idea that has so often defined the club. Without copying anyone, but understanding the setting perfectly.

And, contrary to what many expected and hoped, the Ajax ghost never truly entered Porto’s dressing room.

Then came January, which proved decisive. While their rivals showed signs of wear, FC Porto strengthened even further. Thiago Silva arrived, bringing pure experience to a young dressing room; Seko Fofana, muscle and intensity to give the midfield more energy; Terem Moffi, an option to deal with injuries in attack; and Oskar Pietuszewski, the irreverent Polish teenager brought in to shake up games and make the difference one-on-one.

All of these signings were finishing touches that completed an already functional squad. The result was a balanced team, vertical when needed, solid when the situation demanded it, with real alternatives in every area and enough depth to never depend on a single player. Farioli had a squad, and in long and demanding competitions that makes all the difference (to give an idea, 33 players won the title with the blue-and-white badge).

Jorge Costa, Pinto da Costa, and the invisible soul of this title

No serious reading of this season can ignore the emotional dimension surrounding FC Porto.

Jorge Costa’s death deeply shook the club. The eternal captain, “Bicho,” was far more than an executive. He represented a living link to FC Porto at its fiercest, most competitive, and most visceral.

The title was won precisely on May 2. Jorge Costa’s number. Coincidence or not, for many fans it became impossible to separate the two things.

The connection to the title goes beyond the date. In the team’s presentation match to the members, in the 1-0 win over Atlético de Madrid, Jorge Costa had confided to Farioli that FC Porto once again had a team. The coach himself recounted that moment in an interview with Sport TV in January. A sentence spoken by someone who knew the club better than almost anyone, who lived through its most glorious moments as a player and captain, and who did not live to see those words confirmed.

The memory of Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa also hovered constantly over the season. The “President of Presidents” was no longer physically present, but his influence could still be felt in every reference to Porto’s mystique.

That spirit was therefore present throughout the entire season. A team that played with soul, commitment, and a sense of belonging that is hard to manufacture artificially and that, when it exists, can be felt in the stands and on the pitch in a way numbers can never fully translate.

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