The race for Benfica’s presidency is heating up. Current candidates are many, some might say too many. Luís Filipe Vieira, a past club leader and a candidate himself for the October elections, sees a certain “frivolity” in it all. He remarked that he’s lost count of the hopefuls, suggesting there might be “eight or nine” in the running.
Vieira remembers a very different Benfica. He found the club “completely bankrupt” during his early days. It wasn’t growing; it was in deep trouble. “Others may have different ideas,” he told TSF in an interview this past Thursday. “But I lived what Benfica was, truly experienced it.” He implies that many current candidates might not understand the club’s struggles from the inside. He believes if he hadn’t seen it firsthand, his view might be as naive as some others.
He recalled his time as president. He learned a lot from a two-year period with Manuel Vilarinho. After that, his first priority was clear: “I’m going to professionalize Benfica,” he declared. For Vieira, this was the only way forward. He stated plainly that there is “no other way to manage that club.” If there isn’t a strong hand guiding the ship, he concluded, “it’s not worth it.”