Salvador announces 50 million to renew stadium Sp. Braga

O bracarense leader began his participation in the conference Portugal Football Summit to mark the differences between his arrival in the presidency of the club minhoto, in 2003, with counterparts like Pinto da Costa, Valentim Loureiro, João Bartolomeu, Aprígio Santos and Carlos Pereira, for the present day.

“ We were able to sit at the table and find great goals for Portuguese football. Today, clubs have been moving towards professionalism, with SAD, which does not mean it is bad, but in a General Assembly of the League I may not even know the presidents. It does not mean that it is negative, but what was achieved, in compromises, in the old days, today is more difficult ", pointed out.

At the age of 55, António Salvador has been the president for more years in clubs of national professional competitions, after having arrived in office for a two-year term in order to save the club.

“ I am the oldest president in Portuguese football, but I would like to be seen as the most modern, always wanting something more for the club (...). I don’t run for any brand, but for the goals and for what the partners want for the club, a better, more modern, more competitive club that can conquer something”, he said.

In this ‘travel’ for two decades, the leader recognizes that “Portuguese football is much better than it was in the past, at the level of players, coaches, infrastructure”.

“And we won a very strong projection”, he pointed out, pointing out the current coach of Real Madrid, José Mourinho, as “very responsible for the position of Portugal in the last 20 years”.

Salvador recalled the “four Portuguese clubs in European finals”, to defend a thought of the modality “for a decade”, using the example of the centralization of audiovisual rights to demonstrate the immediacy of national football.

“ Centralisation is now a reality, with all the approvals of recent times, and will be implemented for 2028, but it should have been years ago. The focus of centralization should not be how much we give the first ones, but when we are going to give the smallest ones more, to increase the competitiveness of Portuguese football”, he defended, considering that “in itself, it adds nothing”.

This is because, according to Salvador, despite recent European achievements by national clubs, “the financial imbalance is increasing”.

“What Sporting Braga achieved in the last season [was semifinalist of the Europa League, being eliminated by the Germans of Friburgo] and Sporting, in the ‘quarters’ of the Champions League, are made even more incredible, by the means we have. Being very difficult, we want very much to have finals in the coming times ", it finished.

Returning to Sporting Braga, and even without verbalizing the ambition to reach the title of national champion – “everyone knows what my goal is and the purpose to work every day” –, the Minhoto leader pointed to the urgent need to improve the stadium of Bracarense.

“It is a very symbolic stadium, architecturally, but it has not been prepared for today’s football, for what is needed for fans, in terms of hospitality, especially to get more revenue. In addition to being symbolic, it has to be welcoming and also a revenue capture factor. The remodeling of the stadium is under study ", assured, presenting a budget of 50 million euros (ME) for this intervention, after understanding with the Municipality of Braga.

This investment – five years after the purchase and consequent renewal of the former Stadium 1st May – will be added to the 80 ME already spent on infrastructure and improving working conditions, also highlighted today by Salvador.