Villas-Boas and what changed last season: “We chose a different path…” | OneFootball

Speaking on the Primeiro Toque podcast, André Villas-Boas addressed the change in FC Porto’s football strategy between 2024/25 and 2025/26, particularly the abolition of the sporting director role, held by Andoni Zubizarreta, while also highlighting the advantages of having previously been a coach.

“There have been very few coach-presidents… Beckenbauer and me. Then there are player-presidents, like Rui Costa and Beckenbauer as well. A coach-president has the ability to create a direct and unique line with his coach, which was something that did not exist at FC Porto in 2024/25, when it handed, in a way, the keys to its sporting management to one more person [Andoni Zubizarreta]. There were three people in the decision-making chain on the sporting side,” said the leader of the Dragons.

“FC Porto in 2025/26 decided to eliminate the sporting management figure. Now, there is a direct coach-president relationship and a much more fluid line. Decisions are made by these two people in agreement, of course, with football executive management and the executive committee, as well as the legal and financial side. The fact that I was a coach allows for a direct line and gives a competitive advantage that, probably, others do not have,” he added, before praising the Spaniard, with whom he had previously worked at Marseille.

“So, basically, we removed that person in the middle. Looking back at the 2024/25 season, that person was Andoni Zubizarreta, someone who left us with many deep emotional marks and exceptional human qualities, and with whom I worked at Marseille in perfect harmony. But at FC Porto in 2025/26, we chose to follow a different path, while recognizing all of his ability—that is not in question. We simply decided to make a different decision in terms of organization,” Villas-Boas concluded.

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