MADRID, 28 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The former Portuguese coach André Villas-Boas has been elected the new president of Porto until 2028, after his list in the elections for the club’s Board of Directors surpassed that of the until now maximum leader of the entity, Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa, who He will leave office after holding it for 42 years uninterruptedly.
Villas-Boas’ candidacy was the most voted in the club’s elections, held at the Estádio do Dragão, with 21,489 of the 26,876 votes cast, compared to 5,224 from Pinto da Costa’s list and 53 from Nuno Lobo’s. With this, he will become the 32nd president in the history of Porto.
“Because of the responsibility I have, I promise to give my life for FC Porto. We will need to maintain the courage to fight on and off the field to regain the place that belongs to us by destiny. We are one of the best clubs in the world, the bastion of Northern region, the best club in Portugal,” said Villas-Boas after his victory.
Born in Porto in 1977, Villas-Boas entered the world of coaching on the advice of Bobby Robson, then coach of the Portuguese club, and would debut as coach of the Virgin Islands when he was only 21 years old. Returning to Porto, where he coached in the youth categories, he joined José Mourinho’s coaching staff as an analyst, and contributed for five seasons to the conquest of several titles such as the 2002-03 UEFA Cup or the Champions League. 2003-04.
In 2008 he left with ‘The Special One’ for Inter Milan, but that same year he made the decision to start his career as a professional coach. After his time at Acadómica de Coimbra, he returned to Porto in 2010 as head coach, and during a prolific campaign he won the Europa League, the Portuguese league – without defeats -, the Portuguese Cup and the Portuguese Super Cup.
His successes with the Portuguese club led him to the benches of Chelsea (2011-12), Tottenham (2012-13), Zenit Saint Petersburg (2014-16, with which he won the Russian League, Cup and Super Cup ), the Shanghai SIPG (2016-17) and the Olympique de Marseille (2019-21).