ANTF backs Rui Borges after Sporting coach called lacking intellect | OneFootball

The National Association of Football Coaches (ANTF) has issued a statement defending Rui Borges – who recently previewed the match against Santa Clara – following criticism directed at the Sporting coach. V+ commentator José Manuel Antunes recently stated that the coach "does not have the intellectual level to manage a big club."

"ANTF repudiates comments that affront the dignity of coach Rui Borges (...) The National Association of Football Coaches hereby expresses its repudiation of the comments recently made on a television channel against Sporting CP coach, Rui Borges, which seek to undermine his professional competence while simultaneously affronting the fundamental values of dignity and respect in our profession," they began by writing.

The coaches' association continues: "‘He is not exactly a tavern keeper, but he is someone who does not have the intellectual level to coach a big club’. This phrase, proclaimed on a specialized football commentary program on national television, follows similar remarks from various authors, and was made about a national champion coach with nearly ten years of career, who has gone through and respected all the specific training levels required for the practice of his profession."

"Such a statement, in our view, was made entirely gratuitously, curiously, in a week when the coach ended up being praised by Italian Luciano Spalletti: ‘Coach Rui Borges, despite being young, is competent and knows how to get the team playing very well’," they add, recalling the words of the Juventus coach.

ANTF concludes with the following: "The commentator in question is perhaps unaware that being a football coach involves working with people, managing emotions, and making decisions… under pressure, which requires a high level of intellectual and emotional capacity. Reducing the role of a coach to a lack of ‘intellectual capacity’ is disrespectful to an entire professional class, whose rigorous training process demands personal investment, knowledge, continuous study, and thorough research."

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