Portuguese look to bury Mickey Mouse tag

David Shonfield

Portugal still has the reputation of being a Mickey Mouse league.
Yet if it’s a cartoon comparison you want then the mouse of choice has to be Jerry not Mickey. Portuguese clubs have been successfully embarrassing bigger opponents for several years.
It was a milestone when the Portuguese had three of the last four in the Europa League last season. It would be no great surprise now if after puncturing the European hopes of the two Manchester clubs they were to make it a hat-trick against Chelsea. Over the past three seasons the record of Portuguese sides against English opposition is five wins in 12 matches, with two draws, 18 goals scored, 19 conceded.
That partly reflects the decline of the Premier League, but it is still remarkable that Portuguese clubs should be maintaining and even strengthening their challenge when the country is experiencing a financial and business crisis that is even more severe than in Ireland. Football often seems to play by a different set of rules, but in Portugal it seems to have thrived while the rest of the economy has nose-dived.
Benfica’s crowds have fallen. Two seasons ago they averaged 50,000, so far this season that’s down to 43,300. But crowds at Lisbon’s other big club, Sporting, have risen by even more to compensate. Porto’s crowds have stayed much the same, and the other two popular clubs, Braga and Guimaraes, are both pulling in most of their fans.
Ticket prices are a lot lower than in the Premier League: as low as €12.50 for league games if you’re a Benfica member (between €17.50 and €50 for tonight’s game). Costs are lower, and players’ wages are a lot lower, but that still means TV revenues are crucial to the big clubs, and they still have the advantage of being able to negotiate individually with the broadcasters.
Just as in Spain this gives a permanent advantage to the rich and powerful, although the size of the pot is obviously a lot smaller. The big three currently secure around half the money, estimated at €75m a year. This cosy arrangement is now being challenged by the league, the LPFP, who at a meeting earlier this month announced they would be complaining to the European authorities with the aim of securing a collective agreement. The LPFP has also approved a controversial expansion of the league from 16 to 18 clubs at the end of the season, which would allow the two relegated clubs to stay in the top flight.
Changing the distribution of the TV money might help some of the smaller clubs from going under – their operating margins are very small indeed – but they cannot hope to compete with Benfica, Sporting and Porto when it comes to players and above all financing transfer deals through third party ownership.
Third party ownership has been banned in England since the row over the Carlos Tevez transfer from West Ham to Manchester Utd. Not so in Portugal where it has now become institutionalised through arrangements such as the Benfica Stars Fund. Investment in players was pioneered by Porto, the idea being that clubs can raise funds to buy players by giving outside investors a stake in their future transfer value.
It has worked very well for Benfica (and for their anonymous investors), for example with the sale of Ramires to Chelsea.
But Benfica have now also invested heavily in developing their own players. Until five years ago Sporting was the centre of excellence in Lisbon, with a string of successful graduates to their name, including Luis Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo. Benfica’s academy is now working overtime to catch up, focusing on developing local talent rather than relying on imports as previously.
All the top clubs still have a lot of foreigners in their first-team squads – the extreme case is Braga with 13 Brazilians in a squad of 27. Benfica have five out of 25, with another 10 on loan. Only eight of the current squad are Portuguese. But the vast majority of trainees are local – 74, compared to four foreigners – and the first potential star has just emerged.
Striker Nelson Oliveira spent last year on loan up north at Pacos de Ferreira – by coincidence playing a few games alongside Ireland’s Padraig Amond – but has now been promoted to the first-team, making his European debut and scoring his first goal in the last round against Zenit St Petersburg.
“He has so much ability it is frightening,” said Amond last week. The Portuguese, and Benfica especially, are hoping to have unearthed the striker who will bury that Mickey Mouse tag forever.

Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/BcR_nZNK0CE/post.aspx

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