“Our focus is on the Club World Cup”

STATEMENTS

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the inauguration ceremony for the Benfica Residential Academy in Tampa, Florida, President Rui Costa addressed various topics related to the Club's current affairs.

Regarding the Eagles' participation in the Club World Cup, Rui Costa assured that Bruno Lage's team is approaching the 1st edition of the FIFA tournament with “an ambition commensurate with Benfica” and has set its first goal as “advancing from the group stage,” adding that next Monday's opening game against Boca Juniors on June 16 will be “crucial” in the race for the top two spots in Group C.

Confronted with various market issues, the President of Benfica revealed that he is working to have the team “ready” for the start of the 2024/25 season, but at the moment, the focus must be “totally directed” towards the tournament that will take place in the United States of America.

The Eagles' top leader sent heartfelt condolences to the family of Artur Santos, an icon in the club's history who passed away on Friday, June 13.

"We would like to offer our condolences to the family of our Artur Santos. Another one of our own has left us, has passed away. He was a huge figure for our club. Until very recently, until he fell ill and was unable to be with us, he continued to watch Benfica's games assiduously. He was a Benfica fan through and through, and so, to the whole family, a big hug. He is another who will always be with us," he emphasized.

PRIDE IN THE GREATNESS OF THE PROJECT

"[Inauguration of the Benfica Residential Academy] It is of enormous importance to us, as you can imagine, as it is our first academy in the United States, and we are now represented in 32 countries in a variety of ways. This academy is different; it is an academy where we will be able to combine sports with academics for our athletes, and that is extremely important to us. I would like to thank Saint Leo University for the way they have welcomed us from the beginning, for believing in this project, which is now ready to start on August 15. As I had the opportunity to say, we have 100 athletes, five teams, four men's and one women's, we had 3,000 student applicants, and this demonstrates the greatness of this project, which is the first here, the first in the United States, and probably the first of this size in the world for any club, but we want it to be not the last, and we will work to make that happen, although we must first consolidate this project, which is a great responsibility. It is indeed a source of great pride, but it is also a great responsibility for us to have inaugurated this project here today, especially in this form. It fills us with pride. As we do in all our schools, and this is where it differs a little from many schools or many other European teams' fields, we will have Benfica's DNA, so we will always have our coaches in the technical management, that's what we do in our schools, and that's also what the university really liked, being able to have this support and soccer development from people who are used to doing this work and who are world leaders in training young people. Everything is in place for it to be a success, and we will obviously do everything we can to make it a world-class project."

BENFICA'S AMBITIONS FOR THE CLUB WORLD CUP

"Without straying from the question, as you can see, this inauguration is also happening at this moment to coincide with our presence here in the United States for the World Cup, and so we ended up combining the two things. The ambitions for the World Cup are the ambitions of a club of Benfica's stature. We will start with Boca Juniors, we know that they are also a world-class team, a top world team, but we have our ambitions and, of course, we want to get through the group stage, and to get through the group stage I fully believe that this is one of the decisive games. All of them will be, but this one, being the first, and with these two clubs of this size, also having Bayern Munich along the way, will determine much of what qualification may be."

LONG DISTANCE FOR JOÃO FÉLIX

"Yes, every year you have raised this issue with me, every year it has been discussed. It is clear, and you already know how I work, that if we can bring back players who came up through our youth system, who have the quality to play for Benfica, who have the talent of a player like João, we would all like that, all Benfica fans would like that. Now, we have to understand two things that are involved here. One is that players are not free to be signed; they have contracts with clubs, and very high contracts with clubs, and transfer fees are also very high. Therefore, when people start talking about these transfers and they don't happen, it's usually because the amounts involved, whether transfer fees or player salaries, are naturally very high, and that has to be respected. Now, Benfica obviously wants all the great players, and João is an excellent player, but there is still a long way to go before we can bring João to Benfica, so I can't say much more than that at this point, because there is no indication that would lead me to believe that it is possible."

COMPETITIVE FOCUS PUTS MARKEK ON HOLD

"[Have there been any approaches for Álvaro Carreras? Can you guarantee that he will stay at Benfica after the World Cup?] There have been approaches by the player, you know that, it has already been reported, but we have not yet reached an agreement with Real Madrid, and he is playing in the World Cup with us and for now he is a Benfica player. Then we will see what happens with the whole market, not just with Álvaro, with the whole market, but at the moment he is focused on playing in the World Cup for Benfica, and that is what he will do. [Proposals not appealing?] No, there have been proposals that we didn't like, but so far we haven't received any proposals that we did like. Not even for Álvaro... I'll go ahead and say this now, not even for Álvaro, nor for any of the other players. You will ask about Benfica players one by one, and I'll take this opportunity to say that it's already clear that it's not for Álvaro, nor for any other player. And right now, that's not our concern. Our focus is on the World Cup, which is why we're all here, and it's with that ambition that we came to the United States, to do well, and so, in terms of the market, right now, it's at a standstill, there's no movement in the market, either for departures or arrivals. now our focus has to be on the Club World Cup, which starts on Monday and is a source of great pride for us. It is the first Club World Cup to be held, Benfica is there on merit, for what it has done in European terms, and therefore we have to enjoy this moment with the responsibility of playing in a shirt that requires us to always give our best for it, and that is what I ask of the players, that is what I have been asking of everyone, at the end of a tiring season. No club was used to this situation, but the demands of playing for this club, the demands of representing this club, mean that right now the focus has to be entirely on the Club World Cup."

RE-APPLICATION FOR PRESIDENCY

"It is not a question of clarifying or not clarifying, it is a question of respect for all members. It is my job, it is my obligation to respect all members, and I have been, I believe, consistent with what I said a few months ago, that only at the end of the season would I announce whether I would run for office. I am not going to stray from that now. I still have a season to finish, I have another to prepare for, and what I said at Benfica's General Assembly, before Benfica's members, was that before the start of next season I would announce whether I would be a candidate.. I'm not here playing games or pulling tricks, it's just the way I am, and my focus right now is to finish the season in the best possible way. [And that depends on...] No, it doesn't depend on anything. If it did, I wouldn't say when I would or wouldn't do it, because, as you understand, after the season starts, Benfica still has a Super Cup, still has a preliminary round in the Champions League, still has several rounds until the elections, and so if I wanted to juggle things around, I would wait for that moment, and that's not what I said."

OTAMENDI'S CONTRACT RENEWAL

"The Otamendi case is ongoing, and Benfica's intention is to keep Nico for at least another year. I can't say much more than that, as negotiations are still underway."

DI MARÍA'S INDELIBLE MARK

"Di María left an indelible mark; he was one of the best players to play for Benfica in the modern era. Above all, I think we should—and here allow me to say this as a former player—think carefully about what Di María did for Benfica or tried to do for Benfica over the last two years. Di María was a player who, when he came to Benfica, was still very much in demand, and, as you know, today there are emerging markets that pay much more than what is possible in Portugal. And Di María had a respect and affection for Benfica that should be applauded.

Not only what he did on the pitch and what he tried to do on the pitch for us, but also his attitude in returning to the Club, staying for two years, despite having other, much more advantageous options available to him for financial reasons. Therefore, as President and as a Benfica fan, I am grateful for what Di María did for Benfica.

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TEAM WILL BE READY ON THE 1ST DAY OF 2025/26

"[Could there be new signings during the World Cup?] I doubt there will be, at the moment they can't even be registered, so I doubt that in this period, in the next few days, there will be. I don't know if there will be or not by the end of the World Cup, because we're working, of course, time doesn't stand still. Don't forget that, because we're playing the World Cup, we'll have a pre-season almost all together, that is, we'll finish the season and start the season, we'll have the Super Cup, we'll have the Champions League qualifying round, so there'll be very little time to prepare, very little time off, and we obviously want to arrive on the first day of next season with the team already prepared, because there won't be much time to work before the Super Cup and before the qualifying round, so let's make sure it's ready for that."

AMDOUNI'S EXEMPLARY BEHAVIOR

"[Amdouni's farewell message] Only he can talk about himself. I think the players here, if there's one thing they have, it's that they're treated well. He came on loan, therefore, with an option to buy. We decided, given the price, not to exercise the option to buy, for that reason alone. Otherwise, I have nothing more to say about Amdouni. He's behaved in an exemplary way with us, he's tried to do his best and we're grateful for what he's done for us."