Benfica keen to represent Portugal in Super League
By Tom Gott
Benfica have been touted as the next team to join the Super League plans, with a report suggesting they are pushing to be Portugal's first representatives.
At the minute, the Super League consists of 12 teams from England, Spain and Italy, but the plan is to find three more 'founding members' before kicking off the competition as soon as possible.
Monday brought us the fantastic troll story suggesting Schalke had joined up, but while that was obviously rubbish, Benfica's links to the competition are a little more confusing.
Firstly, Record state that Benfica are lobbying for a spot in the Super League, with conversations already underway.
But is that actually true?
After the Super League was announced, Lusa published a report stating that Benfica were against the idea of the competition, claiming that a member of the club's board had specifically stated they disapproved of the idea.
• Six clubs acting entirely in their own interests
— 90min (@90min_Football) April 20, 2021
• Six clubs tarnishing the reputation of our league
• Six clubs choosing to disrespect every other club with whom they sit around the Premier League table
• Six clubs taking for granted and betraying football supporters
? https://t.co/JZSiLq6mUa
Well, that's a little strange, but if we go back a few months to November 2020, we might find what's actually going on here.
Club executive Domingos Soares de Oliveira told Off the Pitch: "My opinion is that I'm against a Super League. Even if Benfica were to be one of the clubs to play in it.
"If it happens it's almost a no-brain decision [to join]. But I would prefer that not to happen."
So Benfica don't really want to be in the Super League, but because of the money and status that comes with it, they would find it impossible not to be involved. How nice.
"Of course, I can understand that some of the big clubs want to force this concept of a Super League," Soares de Oliveira continued. "But for our fans in terms of real competition it's always about what happens here in Portugal.
"100% of our stakeholders expect us to generate results on the pitch and not off the pitch. Every time we say we want to generate more revenue it's not because we want to be number one or two in the world in terms of revenue, it's because we want to have more means to invest on the pitch."