One of the greatest football teams in the world, Porto, is facing a massive financial crisis. The existence of this club is endangered.
COVID-19 Creates Problems
Football, like every other sport, is suffering massive hits during this COVID-19 pandemics. The postponement of the competitions is not hurting just small teams, but the major one also, and that is what the Portuguese powerhouse Porto is.
According to the investigation made by Eurosport, one of the biggest, if not the biggest sports network in Europe, apparently, the Dragons are on the verge of the crisis, which threatens the normal function of the organization.
The same source claims that Porto’s system is not sustainable and that they have to do something to avoid problems in the near future.
They are hoping to see the resume of the championship on May 30, and for them, it is of the highest priority to get back on the pitch. Right now, the management is negotiating with the players about the salary cut. The media are speculating with 40% of the wage drop, in order for the team to finish the season.
At the same time, the management is also in talks with several creditors to reconstruct their €35 million debt. It is a credit from 2017, taken due to a constant lack of funds on Porto’s account. The team is trying to erase a debt made some ten years ago, which reached almost €250 million, and they were pretty much doing that solid, but Coronavirus pandemic is ruining everything.
In order to stabilize the situation, Porto needs to find €100 million until the end of June. That would be necessary also because of the UEFA Financial Fair Play rules. After hearing the news, numerous teams already started asking questions about several high-profile players from Dragao.
Some are suggesting that Alex Telles already agreed his terms with PSG and that the Saints accepted to pay €35 million to blue-white for the left-back. Porto always has talented youngsters, and they often end up in big clubs. The pandemic put them in a difficult situation, and the Dragons now have to sell their players below the planned price.
Danilo Pereira, Jesus Corona, Moussa Marega, Fabio Silva, all of them could change uniforms pretty soon.
Porto, European Giant
The team from Dragao won the Portuguese Primeira Liga 28 times, but just once in the last seven years. Right now, they are struggling to dethrone Benfica. Also, they have 7 international trophies, making them the best Portuguese club in that aspect.
Porto won the European title twice in 1987, and 2004. They also have two UEFA Cups in 2003 and 2011, and one UEFA Supr Cup. On both occasions, once they won the European title, they would take the Intercontinental Cup.
Trophies are not the only thing that makes this club big. The players that played here wrote the history of this game—Deco, Teofilo Cubillas, Vitor Baia, Quaresma, James Rodriguez, Hulk, etc.
We need to mention that Jose Mourinho led them to the 2004 UCL title, and that the Special one stated several times that he considers Porto his other house.
