- Luís Filipe Vieira
Luís Filipe Vieira (full name Luís Filipe Ferreira Orelhas Vieira), born
22 June 1949 , is the chairman of Portuguesesports club Sport Lisboa e Benfica . He was previously chairman ofAlverca FC .Chairmanship of Alverca FC
Vieira was the president of
Alverca F.C. for a couple of years, at a time when the Angolan playerPedro Mantorras was a rising young star at the Alverca side, and Alverca F.C. an affiliated satellite football club for parent club S.L. Benfica.Chairmanship of SL Benfica
In November third of 2003 he was elected by Benfica's associate members the 33rd President of the club. He was committed to bring
S.L. Benfica back to itsEurope an glory. In the 2004-05 football season the club won theSuperLiga , with the ItalianGiovanni Trapattoni as a coach. In the 2005-06SuperLiga season, he hiredRonald Koeman , a Dutch international and former Ajax coach as Manager. He guidedS.L. Benfica to the Quarter-Finals of the UEFA Champion's league withSL Benfica managerRonald Koeman after knocking out the European championship league holdersLiverpool FC . He also sent scouts toAustralia where he signed young footballerKaz Patafta . He also set up a soccer school inRio de Janeiro ,Brazil . Under his management SL Benfica reached over 160,000 associate members in 2006, and was recognized by the "Guinness World Records " as the largest sports club in the world by number of registered paying associates. [ [http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/gwrday/portugal_teameffort.aspx "Guinness Book of Records" - S.L. Benfica] ] . The Benfica cycling team was reactivated, women'striathlon starVanessa Fernandes signed with the club, and theSL Benfica B reserve football team was closed. For the 2006-07 season, Benfica's chairman Vieira, hired the Portuguese manager Fernando Santos as the new coach for the football team. The team signed also with veteran footballerRui Costa , who wished back to its loved Benfica since a long time ago after many years playing in the ItalianSerie A . Vieira is also responsible for player trades and loans for the club, a very important part in the modern professional sports financial management.During is term as chairman of Benfica, in May 2007, the Sport Lisboa e Benfica - Futebol, S.A.D. (the professional football department sports company) was listed on the Portuguese
stock exchange Euronext Lisbon . Vieira and former Benfica's chairman Manuel Vilarinho have a large share of the Benfica's stock, and are among the largeststockholder s of the sportspublicly held company .On the other hand, other than in 2004-2005, Benfica hasn't succeeded in winning any Portuguese Major title competitions, a fact that, allied with the team's blackluster ending in 2007-2008 - 4th place - has discretited the club in front of the fans and made thousands of them demand Luís Filipe Vieria's dismission.
It was announced on
August 7 ,2008 that Viera has been suspended for 2 months due to offenses against refereeLucílio Baptista and thePortuguese Football Federation .Benfica's youth
Luís Filipe Vieira is also active in Benfica's youth squad. Vieira has played a major role in development with the signing of home-grown talent such as
Nicolas Canales ,Bijou Davidson ,Manuel Henriques Tavares Fernandes ,Kaz Patafta among others.References
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