FC Porto complete first phase of change with the league title in sight | OneFootball

The change in leadership at FC Porto was much more than the simple replacement of one president with another. It was a change of direction that could hardly have been made without upheaval. The early period — and even the atmosphere of the April 2024 election campaign — seemed to foreshadow more complicated scenarios, but the truth is that the national title the Dragons will reclaim in the coming days or weeks closes out a first cycle that ended up being calm. With difficulties and controversies along the way, yes, but more peaceful than would have been expected.

Even after an inaugural season well below what is demanded of FC Porto, there was time and room, among the blue-and-white critical mass, to understand that 40 years leave plenty of room to shape habits and structures, so it would have been almost impossible to immediately find a winning solution.

The first choices for coach may not have been the happiest, but that did not divert André Villas-Boas from his goal: he wanted a manager with strong, well-defined ideas, but also one capable of absorbing a very particular spirit of the club, the city, and the fans. He needed to absorb it and transmit it to the group. He got it absolutely right with Francesco Farioli.

In addition to the success in professional football — alongside the main title came the Taça de Portugal semi-finals and the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals — there was also the financial recovery of the club and the SAD, or at least an escape from the abyss in which the accounts found themselves. Only the medium term will confirm whether the paths chosen were the right ones, but the immediate effects — the most relevant ones on FC Porto’s horizon — were positive and are already showing results.

At the same time, FC Porto made a strong entry into women’s football and is already in the Taça de Portugal final against Benfica. It is true that Portugal would be a better country with more supporters of clubs outside the usual trio, but reality is what it is and, in this context, the sport can only benefit from the greater media exposure of a match at Jamor.

Likewise, futsal will very likely benefit when FC Porto joins its old rivals in the fight for titles.

There is, however, one less positive point in these two years of AVB: the way he failed to avoid some unnecessary jabs at Frederico Varandas, without forgetting that, in any case, we are always talking about institutions bigger than any individual.

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