In a happy holidays statement on the official FPF page, the leader started off by saying, “On a purely sporting basis, however, we cannot fail to highlight some of the achievements we had throughout a very rich year for the national teams.”

Fernando Gomes reported on football-related events all year long, including the co-organisation of the 2030 World Cup, Roberto Martínez's appointment as men's coach, and the women's World Cup, which was never covered before. He also covered futsal and beach football.

The director emphasised, among other things, the campaigns to qualify for the Futsal and Beach Football World Cups, the European Football Championship (with ten wins in the same number of games), and other competitions.

The senior director of Portuguese football summarised the message by highlighting the expansion of the base of the sport's pyramid, which now has over 1,200 clubs, accredited schools, and academies, and over 215,000 federated players.

“Construction of phase 3 of Cidade do Futebol, which will include the new Futsal Pavilion, the headquarters of Portugal Football Scholl, and the final installations of Canal 11,” he said, promised to bring about the future.

In conclusion, the FPF president reiterated that the organisation's principles, which include “transparency, the defence of the weakest and most vulnerable, the right to live in a world that respects the environment, feminism or the frontal and irreducible fight against all forms of discrimination,” will always go far beyond the four lines of play.

He went on to say, “We do not tolerate dishonesty, corruption, xenophobia, racism, homophobia, misogyny, or any other form of violence,” defending the FPF's need to publicly take up its social obligations as “Portugal's most recognisable identification element abroad.”

Author

A passionate Irish journalist with a love for cycling, politics and of course Portugal especially their sausage rolls.

Rory Mc Ginn