Sporting chairman Frederico Varandas on Monday expressed “concern” about the present and future of professional football in Portugal and lamented the budgets of clubs that are currently “constrained by the economic conditions of the country”.
“I am very concerned about the future of clubs, namely the Portuguese, who are responsible for keeping Portugal in the European rankings, and I am very concerned about the conditions we have to compete.”, the head of Sporting transmitted unreservedly to the press present at the Football Talks forum, held in Cidade do Futebol, in Oeiras.
Frederico Varandas took part in the debates held at the event, addressing the growing difficulties in producing competitive budgets compared to other European realities, another issue that worries the Sporting president.
“A lot has been said about player sales and I invite everyone to analyze it carefully (…) and you will see that if it weren’t for the extraordinary income from player sales, these three teams would never have [Sporting, Benfica e FC Porto] could afford the budget to participate in a competition like the Champions League”, emphasizes.
According to the leader of the “lions”, budgets are “limited by the economic conditions of the country”.
“We have a country, unfortunately increasingly marginal in Europe, with little purchasing power, with a very high tax regime and in which the sum of all revenues will always be a much lower value compared to the other competitions,” he lamented, resigning with the economic conditions in football and in the country in general, which he finds meager.
Frederico Varandas is particularly proud of Sporting.
“Sporting today is a much more structured, prepared, sustainable and competitive club. When I say competitive I mean fighting for all titles in domestic competitions,” he condemns, pleased with the work carried out in his mandate at the club ‘Leonino’ .
Source: DN
