Rui Pedroto unveils FC Porto Foundation: another flame for the Dragon | OneFootball

On Saturday night, Rui Pedroto announced the creation of the FC Porto Foundation to Porto fans with "75 or more years of connection and love for the Club that they helped to magnify", qualifying it as "a flame that joins the Dragon's flame" and emphasizing that it will have "as its main purpose to promote the realization of citizens' fundamental rights, enshrined in the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic and its laws, and thus contributing to the development of Portuguese society".

After detailing the institutional nature of the new project, the vice-president described the foundation with its structural characteristics and listed other central purposes of the body, which include social objectives and proximity to the Club: "it is established exclusively in FC Porto and is therefore umbilically linked, with its own and inalienable assets, economically sustainable and with management autonomy, in communion of interests and full symbiosis with the founding Club", adding that the initiative aims, among other points, "to support the Club's sustainability and social responsibility strategy, designing and executing initiatives for its members, employees, athletes and former athletes, strengthening its connection to FC Porto and identification with its values, promoting the expansion of the Club's membership base and the articulation with its Houses, as well as projecting the FC Porto brand as the unifying, solidarity and sharing link, serving society and the communities where it projects its presence".

In an appeal addressed to the Porto community, Rui Pedroto invited everyone to contribute to this project and thanked the support of those who made the initiative possible: After challenging the "blue and white family" - "We count on everyone: members, fans, sympathizers, employees, leaders, sponsors and partners of our great Club, so that we can fulfill our mission" -, Rui Pedroto left "a deep gratitude to the FC Porto workers who helped make all this possible" and concluded the speech about "the youngest son" of the Porto nation with unifying words: "United we will be stronger. Long live FC Porto".

Diamond Values"First of all, I want to extend a very special greeting to those who are today distinguished with the Diamond Rosettes. They are 75 or more years of connection and love for the Club that they helped to magnify with their invaluable contribution and that make our FC Porto what it is today, a major symbol of our city, the North and the country, and that throughout its history has played an unwavering role in the projection and prestige of Portugal in the Concert of Nations. We have always been and will be an example of tenacity, perseverance, resistance to adversity, ambition and spirit of conquest in respect for the supreme values of sport: integrity, fair-play, respect for the other, where there are no enemies and only adversaries. Adversaries that we want to share with us this way of feeling and living sport."

The purpose of creating the Foundation"In this almost year and a half of exercise of functions of the new Social Organs of the Club, marked by a bold and transformative agenda, the time has now come to establish our Foundation, the FC Porto Foundation, thus honoring a design and an electoral commitment of our candidacy. The emergence of foundations originating from the sports universe, of which there are numerous examples in Europe and also in Portugal, is inscribed in a very clear trend line: that clubs can and should go further and be a true driving force at the service of the community, making a contribution to the well-being and quality of life of citizens, particularly the most vulnerable. FC Porto could not be on the sidelines of the great challenges of contemporaneity in a world that is so troubled in which we live. After being approved at the General Assembly of the Club and its Board, the act of constitution of the Foundation and its statutes will take place shortly. A Foundation that is established exclusively in FC Porto and is therefore umbilically linked, with its own and inalienable assets, economically sustainable and with management autonomy, in communion of interests and full symbiosis with the founding Club."

The challenges to be met"Its main purpose will be to promote the realization of citizens' fundamental rights, enshrined in the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic and its laws, and thus contributing to the development of Portuguese society. The FC Porto Foundation will also aim to support the Club's sustainability and social responsibility strategy, designing and executing initiatives for its members, employees, athletes and former athletes, strengthening its connection to FC Porto and identification with its values, promoting the expansion of the Club's membership base and the articulation with its Houses, as well as projecting the FC Porto brand as the unifying, solidarity and sharing link, serving society and the communities where it projects its presence. In the fields of social action, education, health and sport, culture, environment, on the international level, particularly in Portuguese-speaking countries, with our own projects and working with a wide range of partners and similar organizations, we will thus be at the service of Portugal and the Portuguese, the Portuguese who need us most, so that together we can contribute to a more just, cohesive and solidary society."

The appeal to the Porto family"We count on everyone: members, fans, sympathizers, employees, leaders, sponsors and partners of our great Club, so that we can fulfill our mission. I evoke here, allow me, the memory of my father, for the love of FC Porto and for the man he was. An example of rectitude, solidarity and respect for the other, values that I fully identify with and that I have tried to guide myself by throughout my life."

The motto for the future"Finally, a deep and heartfelt thanks to all those who allow us to be here today to celebrate this founding moment. To our President André Villas-Boas, to my colleagues on the Board, to the Presidents of the General Assembly and Fiscal and Disciplinary Council, António Tavares and Angelino Ferreira, to Fernando Freire de Sousa, Vice-President of the Superior Council and, in their persons, to all the other members of these Bodies, to the members of the SAD Administration and to the FC Porto workers, who helped us make all this possible. To the great blue and white family, its youngest son now joins, the FC Porto Foundation. It is another flash, it is another flame that joins the Dragon's flame. United we will be stronger. Long live FC Porto. Thank you very much."

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