João Tamagnini de Sousa Barbosa

He died during the presidency

When there were conditions to pacify the club, Benfica was touched by misfortune, with the president’s death.
President of the Assembly in 1946/47, he was decisive to the club’s serenity after the previous elections, in 1946. He moved on with the necessary measures to build the next stadium, urgently, because of the low Campo Grande’s field capacity. With 15 thousand members, no more were accepted. Military engineer and an active politician since the end of the monarchy, he was a minister during the 1st Republic (three decades earlier), reaching the head of government after the murder of Sidónio Pais. He was re-elected on the 30th of January 1948, but he did not manage to conclude his mandate, as he passed away on the 15th of December.