 |
|
Portuguese football talent increasingly finding a home abroad [Thu Sep 15th, 2005]
Lisbon (AFP) - Portugal is known for its exports of cork, wine, and shoes - and increasingly of top football talent as well.
Over 20 Portuguese footballers signed with top-level European clubs before the end of the recent transfer period, bringing to at least 70 the number of players from Portugal currently playing at the top level in Europe.
Dynamo Moscow, owned by tycoon Alexei Fedorychev, alone now has seven Portuguese players, including Maniche who signed for the club from FC Porto for a Russian league record 16 million euros (US$20 million) in May.
The footballers, including big names such as Luis Figo, Deco and Cristiano Ronaldo, have been joined abroad by coaches such as Jose Mourinho of English champions Chelsea and Manuel Jose of Egyptian champions Ahly.
The national teams of East Timor and Cameroon both have head coaches from Portugal, while Greece, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Sweden and Paraguay all have first division clubs handled by a Portuguese manager.
Players and coaches say they are lured by the generous salaries offered abroad that cash-strapped clubs in football-mad Portugal can't match, as well as by the opportunity to prove themselves in more competitive leagues.
"I think it is going to continue to be like this. All of us have families and we all want what is best for them," Portuguese midfielder Rui Costa of Italy's AC Milan told daily Correio da Manha last month.
The rise in the number of high-profile players at foreign clubs has sparked interest in other European leagues in Portugal, which has three daily newspapers dedicated to football.
State-controlled television RTP now carry live broadcasts of key matches of London-based Chelsea, which Mourinho steered to their first league title for 50 years last season during his first year with the club.
Television advertisements for the matches, which draw top ratings, bill Chelsea as the "most Portuguese club in the English Premiership".
Chelsea defenders Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo Ferreira both hail from Portugal, as does midfielder Tiago, who the club sold to French champions Lyon last month.
But the flight of top talent abroad is also fanning fears from fans that their clubs are paying a price in terms of competitiveness.
Many FC Porto supporters were angered after the club in March became the first reigning European champions ever to fail to reach the quarter-finals of the tournament in the year following their title win.
Fans blamed the loss of Mourinho, as well as key players like Carvalho, Ferreira and Tiago, to Chelsea, and Deco who went to Barcelona, for the club's lacklustre performance since becoming European champions in 2004.
Last month Portuguese champions Benfica rejected a last minute offer of 12 million euros from Liverpool for their captain Simao Sabrosa due to fears of a fan backlash.
"We had an agreement with Benfica but when the story leaked, there was such a strong reaction they felt they couldn't sell," Liverpool chief executive, Rick Parry, told British media at the time.
It has not always been easy for Portuguese football players to go abroad.
In the 1960s Portuguese dictator Antonio Salazar declared Eusebio, the world's best player at the time, a "national treasure" and he forbid Benfica from accepting offers from Real Madrid and Juventus for the footballer.
The first big migration of Portuguese footballers abroad took place during the 1990s as members of the so-called "golden generation" - the crop of brilliant players which won the 1991 world under 21 title - went on to join Europe's top clubs.
Among those players was Figo, who joined Barcelona from Sporting, and Costa who joined Italy's Fiorentina from Benfica.
News headlines from around the world.