The Rui Vitória's management

"Has a structure behind which manages a machine of profitability of Football’s young talents and wants to reach the amount of 350 million in revenues. Trains in a 20 million “campus” and has the exigence of millions fervent supports on its shoulders. The pressure and the daily exigence do not take the sleep away, on the contrary, it transmits the strength to fly higher and to draw, with mastery, the future of its heart".

The Forbes magazine presents, this way, on its front page (July/August) … the Sport Lisboa e Benfica's coach, Rui Vitória.

With the headline “Fazedor de Campeões” (The Champions Maker), the publication presents a wide work about the Club, highlighting the Youth Training, as a consequence of a careful management and top facilities and emphasizing the Caixa Futebol Campus, “the cradle of millions”.

Nine pages with the Tetracampeões' receipt. The front page is clear: "Rui Vitória - Never doubt him". In two years, he turned Benfica into a "tetracampeão" (four times champion in a row), he bet on the Academy, earning more than 100 million only with the selling of young players”. 

The commitment with the Youth Training, the detection and exponentiation of young talents, the same is to say, all the work done at Seixal, are pointed as the basis of a work of merit which, year after year, keeps growing, bearing fruit… and millions!

"Portugal is on a mid-assembly line. We understand it perfectly and we have to fight with all we got. We know that we work better than some of the richest clubs, as they can buy mature players just like that. We have to find them, create them and work”, said Rui Vitória to Forbes.

The potentiation of the Benfica's brand, the valorization of the institution as a reference of credibility, intelligence and the "avant-garde" have been determinant.

“Rui has vision and preoccupation about the Youth Training”, says Domingos Soares de Oliveira… and Rui Vitória explains: “It has been an image that sticks to my role as a coach, the opportunities to young players, it's not a slogan. I do it with conviction ", said the coach.

In the magazine's 19^th edition, we can even read about the Rui Vitória's personal side. His origins, his path, the titles and his personality above all.

“Sometimes we are completely consumed on the inside, but it's very rare for a player to not see focused forward and on the next match. I use to say that we are punched, we stay dizzy for one day, but on the following day the energy comes back in order to face the next match", he said and added "sometimes, being a coach is a job of total isolation."

When talking about his players... "I use to say to my players that I know what they are thinking just looking into their eyes. Sometimes people confuse this when they think that "we should be best friends and go out to have dinner'. It's not that. What I need to have is the knowledge. (...) We know the family unit, how is the life of each one of the players. We are not spies, but it's important to understand their familiar context. If our babies don't let us sleep, does the same happen with the players?", he asked.

At the end of the interview a clear sentence: "I've never had the opportunity to impose my leadership at Benfica. Merit to the players."

SA