Rio Ave join Porto in slamming Liga Portugal over farcical situation | OneFootball

The Portugal League has changed the schedules for the 7th round: the Famalicão x Rio Ave match, initially scheduled for September 29 at 8:15 pm, was brought forward to 8:30 pm on September 28, in a swap with Arouca x FC Porto. After FC Porto released a statement about the situation - motivated by the Harvest Fair in Arouca - Rio Ave also spoke out, criticizing the change that takes away a day of preparation.

Here is Rio Ave's statement in full: «Rio Ave Futebol Clube - Futebol, SAD has been confronted with a unilateral change in the scheduling of the Famalicão vs Rio Ave FC match, from the 7th round of the Portugal Betclic League, originally scheduled for September 29, it is important to clarify the following:

1. Rio Ave FC, under the regulation of protection for Portuguese teams participating in European competitions, had seen its 1st round match, with SL Benfica, at Luz, postponed to September 23, a Tuesday, something that created a microcycle of three games in just over a week, since the 6th round is fulfilled on September 19, against FC Porto, and the 7th round, against FC Famalicão, on September 29.

2. This schedule was finalized and communicated by the Portugal League on September 5 and 6, through game scheduling and time confirmation notices, with numbers 53 and 55, respectively.

3. On September 16, Rio Ave FC SAD was informed by the League of the intention to change the date of the 7th round match, bringing it forward to Sunday, September 28, with the argument of an exceptional regime that forced the postponement of the FC Arouca vs FC Porto match, to Monday.

4. The exceptionality pointed out by the League, and allegedly supported by nr. 3 of Article 44 of the Competition Regulations, refers to the supposed lack of safety conditions for the FC Arouca vs FC Porto match, since, on the same day, the Arouca Harvest Fair takes place, an annual event integrated into the city's festivities and held since 1944, near the stadium. This event, it should be noted, has been announced for several months and for several years has been a matter of attention, regarding the scheduling of FC Arouca's home games.

5. Rio Ave FC SAD, immediately, and directly to the President of the Portugal League, Reinaldo Teixeira, expressed total and complete disagreement with the proposed change. A new change to the previously defined schedule is clearly detrimental to our sports plan, as we are ten days away from the match in question and an already tight microcycle is even more aggravated, as we now play three games in 9 days, two of them away, consecutive, with unequal circumstances compared to our opponent. On the other hand, Rio Ave FC SAD believes that we are not facing any exceptionality, but rather the inability of the Portugal League to, given the data that is known to everyone, for several years, regarding this Fair and the consequences of it on the scheduling of games in Arouca, anticipate the problem and schedule the rounds with the necessary and required care.

6. There was no willingness, either from the Portugal League or from the television operator, to, for example, play the two games in question on Monday, September 29, using the time slots properly provided for in the regulations.

7. It is up to the Portugal League to assume its responsibilities for such a caricature situation, by exposing an industry of such large size to the fragility of being conditioned by the holding of a Fair, planned in time and space, long enough for all this to be deeply avoidable. Rio Ave FC SAD hopes that, in the future, the Portugal League will turn words into actions and actually implement the values it claims to defend, particularly that of credibility, so that we can, in fact, have excellent competitions and that episodes like this, with clear damage to sports societies, do not repeat themselves».

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