Cardinal, the Porto fan who skipped Sporting training for his boyhood club | OneFootball

The announcement of Fernando Cardinal’s return to competition surprised the futsal world this Thursday. The former player came out of retirement and was unveiled as a new signing for FC Porto, who are competing this season in the National Third Division Championship.

The experienced pivot, 41, will be the captain of the Porto side, after bringing his career to an end in 2024. Cardinal made a particular name for himself at Sporting, the club he represented for seven seasons across two spells: between 2009 and 2011 and later from 2017 to 2022.

Although he is considered one of the great figures in the history of Sporting futsal, Cardinal never hid his connection to the blue-and-white club. He even missed two Sporting training sessions to attend an FC Porto football match.

The incident took place in May 2011, when the futsal player, a member of the Super Dragões supporters’ group, travelled to Dublin to support the team managed by André Villas-Boas in the Europa League final against SC Braga. The trip caused him to miss two training sessions with the team then coached by Orlando Duarte.

The previous month, Cardinal had already been at the centre of another similar controversy after admitting he had not behaved in the best way when attending Benfica vs FC Porto right at the front of the stand reserved for the visiting supporters.

“I’ve never hidden that I’m an FC Porto supporter, as Sporting fans know well. That does not mean I will stop being a good professional. By exposing myself too much at last Sunday’s match, I acknowledge that I did not behave in the best way, but it was never my intention to harm Sporting,” he said at the time, as quoted by the official website of the Lions of Alvalade.

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