By Melody Gross 
António Miguel Cardoso, president of Vitoria, was one of the guests who spoke at the Think Football Summit, organized by the Portuguese League. The Guimarães FC Director highlighted the importance of sports rights and spoke about current affairs at FC Vitoria, recalling the defeat in the second qualifying round of the Conference League, against NK Celje.
“It was terrible. I know we can’t win every game, but we always have to have that desire. If we miss Saturday and Sunday and the rest of the week is ruined. There are still tremors inside me because of the match with NK Celje. I was in the Algarve and went back there after… The match, but I didn’t say anything in the following days. “It’s difficult, I always like to win,” he said.
The Victorian president also spoke about the departure of Pippa and Moreno and spoke about the arrival of Paulo Torra.
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“The departure of coaches appeared in different contexts. In the first case, there were clear differences in the mathematical projects. It was clear that our path was to move away from the older, more expensive players. Conduct in-depth recycling, mature the collection and make profit in the future. It was a new project, but when we have a coach who only wants mature and senior players and all the communications that were made were in that direction, with a weak rhetoric that there were only reinforcements for the B team, we clearly realized that there was no shot.
“Moreno is someone I really like and he did a great job. He understood the project and defended it with all his might, but being from Guimarães, the pressure is greater. The European competitions didn’t go well, it was a kick in the stomach, a huge disappointment. Moreno felt the need to leave. We tried to protect the coach, but we soon realized the wear and tear and that the road was the way out.
“Paolo Torra has leadership abilities and can handle pressure. He knows the club well because he played with Vitoria, so he knows what the environment is like and how to deal with emotional waves, plus he has a strong CV in several areas. When I talked to him, even though I realized it was a risky decision, I thought this was the way to go.
Antonio Miguel Cardoso also had an announcement regarding television rights.
“Portuguese football needs a different distribution of rights. It doesn’t make sense how things are now. The difference is very big compared to the big three. Vitoria needs more income. I spent an entire presidential term without receiving a single euro from TV royalties because the TV royalties had already been provided. In this context, financial monitoring of the university is essential. “The management cannot be allowed to forecast television revenues.”