Villas-Boas and the near-impossible FC Porto situation that “alarmed” | OneFootball

André Villas-Boas once again recalled the enormous difficulties the Board had to face in order to restore FC Porto’s financial balance, highlighting the situation he found when he took over the presidency.

“The reality was very difficult, almost an impossible battle, to the point that it was quite frightening. Since I took office on April 27, 2024, FC Porto had liabilities of 16 million euros to pay within a month and had no way of meeting them. So, we were saved by club members, who allowed us an immediate capital injection so we could meet those obligations, which included payments to suppliers, clubs, staff salaries, and players from the different sports, all of which were overdue. And if it hadn’t been for the generosity of those people, whom we carry in our hearts today and who have helped us, we would have entered a very difficult situation,” began the Dragons’ top leader, in an interview on the Primeiro Toque podcast.

“There are many people, like us, who are connected by total love for FC Porto and who did not hesitate to deposit their own money into the club’s accounts. FC Porto managed to repay that money by December 2024, thanks to the completion of the Porto StadeCo project, which allowed us to raise 115 million euros in US private placement bonds, that is, bonds in the American market,” he continued.

“From that point on, as a continuation of that project, part of Porto StadeCo was also sold to Ithaka, therefore building on a deal that had already come from the previous administration. That brought our total capital to around 180 million euros. And then, in January 2025, the sales of Nico González and Galeno allowed a capital injection of 110 million euros,” Villas-Boas recalled.

“All these operations were absolutely fundamental to the club’s sustainability, at least in the short term, to solving a huge number of problems and to making FC Porto a credible club with banks, suppliers, staff, and players. And then, as a continuation of that, it allowed us to invest in the 2025/26 squad. At the moment, by a small margin, FC Porto does not currently have the most valuable squad in Portuguese football, because Sporting’s is still valued higher. But it is very close, with a gap of 10 million euros,” he added.

“A profound transformation, many headaches, many scares, and a lot of shame as well, because when you are facing someone and have to say that we are unable to pay something we are obliged to pay, it hurts, because those people also have responsibilities of their own. And, ultimately, that was the great victory of our management team,” he concluded.

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