FC Porto complete first phase of change with the title in sight | OneFootball

The change in leadership at FC Porto was much more than simply replacing one president with another. It was a change of direction that could hardly have happened without some turbulence. The early days — and even the atmosphere of the April 2024 election campaign — seemed to foreshadow more complicated scenarios, but the truth is that the national title the Dragons are set to regain in the coming days or weeks closes out a first cycle that ultimately turned out to be calm. With difficulties and controversies along the way, yes, but more tranquil than might have been expected.

Even after an inaugural season well below what is demanded of FC Porto, there was time and space, among the club’s blue-and-white critical mass, to understand that 40 years leave plenty of room to shape habits and structures, so it would have been almost impossible to find an immediate winning solution.

The first choices for head coach may not have been the happiest, but that did not divert André Villas-Boas from his goal: he wanted a manager with strong, well-defined ideas, but also someone capable of absorbing a very particular spirit of the club, the city, and the fans. It was necessary to absorb it and pass it on to the group. He got it absolutely right with Francesco Farioli.

In addition to the success in professional football — alongside the main title came the semi-finals of the Portuguese Cup and the quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa League — there has also been a financial recovery at the club and the SAD, or at least an escape from the abyss the accounts were in. Only the medium term will make it possible to confirm whether the chosen paths were the right ones, but the immediate effects — the most relevant on Porto’s horizon — were positive and are already showing results.

At the same time, FC Porto entered women’s football with force and is already in the Portuguese Cup final against Benfica. It is true that Portugal would be a better country with more supporters of clubs outside the usual big three, but reality is what it is and, in this context, the sport can only benefit from the greater media exposure of a match at Jamor.

Likewise, futsal will most likely benefit when FC Porto joins its old rivals in the fight for titles.

There is, however, one less positive point in these two years of AVB: the way he failed to avoid some spats with Frederico Varandas that went beyond what was reasonable, without forgetting that, in any case, we are always talking about institutions greater than any individual.

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