May 24 – Seven founding members, including Brazil and Portugal, have launched the Union of Portuguese-Speaking Football Federations to develop greater co-operation and shared goals between the countries.
Brazil, Portugal, Angola, Mozambique, Sao Tome, Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau met in Lisbon to establish the new body. Equatorial Guinea, East Timor and Macau will also be invited to join the ranks in the future. The aim is to share and provide opportunities for exchanges to improve football across all age groups.
“The whole is greater than the sum of the parts and Brazil can develop a lot with this Union,” said the president of the Brazilian Confederation of Football (CBF) Ednaldo Rodrigues. “Our objective is to unite experiences so that all Portuguese-speaking federations can strengthen ties and grow mutually. We are ready to work on creating new competitions, coach education, referee programs, and exchanges among other initiatives.”
The founding members were represented by the FA presidents, except for Sao Tome who sent their vice-president Adalberto Catembe. FIFA and UEFA representatives also attended the meeting.
“We thought it was opportune to start a process of integration between our federations so that, in this way, we can reduce the asymmetries that we have in terms of football in our countries,” said the president of the Federation of Angolan Football (FAF) Artur de Almeida e Silva, who was recently elected Cosafa president in controversial fashion.
“This feat will mark a new era of football and, with the experience of Portugal and Brazil, which are countries with a high level of quality, we will have the opportunity to reduce the asymmetries of football.”
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