Andre Villas-Boas, a former Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur manager, has been chosen president of Portuguese football powerhouse FC Porto, ending Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa’s 42-year rule.
Villas-Boas, 46, received 21,489 votes to only 5,224 for his 86-year-old competitor, who had previously won 15 consecutive elections to lead ‘The Dragons’.
“What a historic night…” “Our club is alive and has demonstrated its strength today,” Villas-Boas said in a statement provided by Porto.
Villas-Boas had his most successful management term at Porto.
He led them to the domestic double (champions without losing a game) as well as the Portuguese Cup and the Europa League in the 2010/11 season, at the age of 33.
The Europa League triumph over Portuguese rivals Braga made him, at 33 years and 213 days, the youngest coach to win a European club trophy.
Villas-Boas vowed during his campaign to employ former Spanish international goalkeeper Andoni Zubizareta, whom he met while managing Ligue 1 club Marseille, as sporting director.
He also promised to make former Portuguese international defender Jorge Costa the head of the football department.
Pinto da Costa, for his part, this week renewed the contract of current head coach Sergio Conceicao.
Since Pinto da Costa’s election in 1982, Porto has achieved extraordinary prize success, winning 23 league crowns as well as the European Cup in 1987 and its replacement, the Champions League in 2004.
However, this season has turned sour.
The club is plagued by financial issues off the pitch, and the team has suffered on it, sitting in third place in the league table, 18 points behind leaders Sporting, whom they will meet later on Sunday.
Villas-Boas will have a new task after retiring from coaching to focus on the presidential campaign, as his spell at Marseille ended acrimoniously in 2021.
Unlike his compatriot and former Porto coach, Jose Mourinho, he failed to deliver on his early promise despite high-profile positions at Chelsea and Tottenham.
He spent less than a season at Chelsea and slightly over a year at Tottenham.
He subsequently went on to play in Russia, where he led Zenit St Petersburg to a league triumph (2015) and a Russian Cup victory (2016), China, and an ill-fated stint with Marseille.
AFP