Varandas on Sporting's Duarte Gomes stance: don't toy with football | OneFootball

Frederico Varandas reacted to the controversial resignation of Duarte Gomes from his position at the Portuguese Football Federation. On the sidelines of the 2026/27 League calendar draw, the Sporting president admitted he was surprised by the case and demanded clear explanations regarding the accusations made by the former National Technical Director for Refereeing.

"Sporting is paying very close attention to what has happened over the last 24 hours. Sporting’s position regarding this matter is clear. We believe that the president of the Refereeing Council must be completely independent, autonomous, and free from any sphere of influence, whether from club presidents or internally within the FPF; that is the model we support," he began by saying.

The Sporting official also issued a warning about possible external influence in the refereeing sector. "If, for any reason, Luciano Gonçalves or anyone else allows himself to be influenced by the president of any club, Sporting believes that person should leave that very day. Sporting has a public stance on refereeing; I have never blamed our failures on referees," he continued.

Varandas stressed that Duarte Gomes’ statements are extremely serious and must be backed up with evidence. "Mr. Duarte Gomes’s statements are extremely serious; by doing this, he has to prove what happened, he must have evidence. Sporting was very surprised, and we tried to seek information," he said, before also recalling the Apito Dourado and email cases.

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