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In the usual Christmas message, Fernando Gomes, president of the Portuguese Football Federation, highlighted the role of the body in helping those who need it most, in a year indelibly marked by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Message from Fernando Gomes:
The Portuguese Football Federation experienced in 2020 the greatest challenges of its 106-year history.
In a year marked by the emergence of the pandemic, victories and defeats, joys and sorrows, for the first time in our history, cannot be measured by the results of the teams or by the achievements on the field.
Our success in 2020, let’s be clear, went far beyond our ability to serve those who really needed help or who sacrificed the most to help the country and the world find a window of hope in the darkest days.
We tried to give a hand to the world of football, but mainly to civil society, offering our know-how, our economic and human resources and, fundamentally, our good will and total availability to help those who really needed us.
Without a doubt, we would prefer to look back at last year and proudly remember the qualifications for the 2020 European Football Championship and the Under-21 European Championship, the classification of the futsal team for the World Cup or, among many other results, the title. . European beach soccer.
We would rather celebrate the birth of the Casa dos Atletas, the growth of the Portugal Soccer School, the certification work of soccer schools or the increase of our federative base, but we know that this year was not the same as the others. We know that we had to find the wisdom within ourselves to put football on the back burner and focus, when necessary, on helping the patients, doctors, nurses, hospital staff, police, firefighters or simply our compatriots who faced and still faces hours of great difficulty.
We seek, as the aphorism says, with humility the greatness of being greater than our sporting successes. If we succeed, if we persist in doing it, it is only possible thanks to the extraordinary team of employees, collaborators, partners and sponsors that FPF has.
This year, much more than any other year, our management, our associations, our athletes, our coaches, coaches and clubs have also shown a capacity for cohesion adapted to the times we live in and reversed the sad reality of not being able to be physically together. I remember, this Christmas season, the signal that the National Team gave when it offered most of the economic prizes derived from qualifying for the European Championship to help amateur football. Our unity was revealed in deeds and not in mere words.
If we miss each other, it is because we are doing the right things. And if we want to celebrate this Christmas as in other years, in celebration, we also feel that our identity and our values do not allow us to celebrate that endanger everyone’s safety.
I would also like to leave a word of hope for the future. Portuguese football knew how to adapt, react and fight against all the adversities that stood in its way, but more than ever our gaze continues to look ahead. The “game” is still in the first half and we will have to continue to do our best in the context of an undeniable health and economic crisis. We assume the responsibility of doing everything possible to help the country and the Portuguese to overcome the challenges that arise.
Through our example and our commitment, we know that we can contribute to a society that is more supportive, positive and confident of its capabilities. And that is the main challenge of 2021: turn the page and build every day this truly traditional task that is the invention of the future.
I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
