How Porto won their 31st title: Villas-Boas backs Farioli, Dragons reign | 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.

Thus, the 31st championship in the blue-and-white club’s history was not just the result of a string of victories, but of a profound transformation at a club that realized it would have 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 his bets on Vítor Bruno and later on Martín Anselmi, Villas-Boas concluded that FC Porto needed a more serious break. It was not enough to simply change coaches. 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 a few weeks after experiencing one of the most traumatic collapses in recent Dutch football. Ajax had thrown away a nine-point lead with five matches left and handed the title to PSV. In Amsterdam, the image that remained was 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 with Rádio Renascença’s podcast “O Código Farioli,” he had already been following the Italian coach for some time, essentially 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 views football as a rational, aesthetic, and emotional construction all at once.

For him, the system never was and is not the center of the discussion. The essentials lie in the principles: dominate the game, control the tempo, react quickly when possession is lost, and press in a coordinated way. Ultimately, force the opponent to feel uncomfortable. And above all, turn 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 in. He realized that the club needed to regain the emotional aggressiveness it had lost. He absorbed the Dragão’s competitive spirit, got involved in a few “war of words,” took on several institutional battles, and embraced the historic idea of “together against everyone” that has so often defined the club. Without copying anyone, but understanding the setting perfectly.

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

Then came January, which ended up being decisive. While their rivals showed signs of wear, FC Porto strengthened even further. Thiago Silva arrived, pure experience for a young dressing room; Seko Fofana, muscle and intensity to give the midfield more energy; Terem Moffi, an option to cover injuries in attack; and Oskar Pietuszewski, the irreverent Polish teenager who came in to shake up matches and unsettle defenders one-on-one.

All of these signings were finishing touches that completed an already functional squad. The result was a balanced team, direct when necessary, solid when the situation demanded it, with real alternatives in every area and enough depth never to depend on a single player. Farioli had a squad, and in long, demanding competitions that makes all the difference (to give an idea, 33 was the number of players crowned champions under 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 much more than a director. He represented a living link to FC Porto at its fiercest, most competitive, and most visceral.

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

The connection to the title goes beyond the date. In the team’s presentation match for the club 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 convey.

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