Villas-Boas on disciplinary case against Varandas, says comments were offensive | OneFootball

According to O Jogo, the Portuguese Football Federation’s Disciplinary Council has opened proceedings against Frederico Varandas after an FC Porto complaint over comments made following Sporting’s 4-1 win at V. Guimarães on 23 December 2025.

André Villas-Boas addressed the matter on Tuesday during Livraria Lello’s 120th anniversary, saying Porto waited to see the disciplinary bodies’ reaction to remarks he considered offensive to Porto’s good name, the credibility of Portuguese football and refereeing over decades.

He said Porto then wrote to APAF, the federation and the league condemning the comments, adding they also targeted the federation president, who was a referee at the time, which he described as serious.

Villas-Boas argued APAF should have acted but did not, calling it a second instance of leniency towards the Sporting president’s statements. He said Porto were surprised no case followed, so the club filed a complaint, welcoming the consequent disciplinary step and citing the most titled president in world football, Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa.

In the mixed zone at Estádio D. Afonso Henriques, Varandas had said refereeing was not independent for decades and belonged to Porto or Benfica. He referenced 40 years of fruit, wiretaps, masses and agents buying players to lose matches, and accepted there was no penalty on Hjulmand while arguing officials were not ready to acknowledge errors in Sporting’s favour.

Source: O Jogo