“I am a candidate for the presidency of FC Porto,” said André Villas-Boas on the occasion of the presentation of his candidacy. The 46-year-old coach, without a club since his departure from OM in February 2021, has formalized his intention to run for the presidency of FC Porto which will be determined by a vote of the “socios”, probably next April.
The club from the north of Portugal has been managed since April 1982 by Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa, now 86 years old and whose career is intertwined with the rise to power of Porto and even a certain hegemony over its great rivals in Lusitanian football. , Benfica Lisbon and Sporting Portugal. A former disciple of José Mourinho, Villas-Boas coached his hometown club for just one season, in 2010-2011, but then won a Championship-Portuguese Cup-Europa League treble.
“AVB” also experienced the English Premier League with Chelsea and Tottenham, before winning the Russian champion with Zenit Saint Petersburg. Before joining Marseille, he made a one-year stopover in China, with Shanghai SIPG. His ambitions for FC Porto, which he had already publicly expressed, caused a stir within the club and its ultras, loyal to Pinto da Costa.
In November, Villas-Boas denounced “acts of intimidation, vandalism and violence” targeting one of his colleagues and his residence in Porto. After spending several years under the threat of UEFA sanctions for breaching the rules of financial fair play, FC Porto is still struggling to restore its accounts in a sustainable manner, having posted losses of 40.7 million euros in during the 2022/2023 season.
