When faced with Cristiano Ronaldo’s recent criticism, Pedro Proença highlighted the importance of creating a positive environment around football, asking for positivity from those involved.
The president of the Portuguese Professional Football League (LPFP) was “very satisfied” this Saturday with the second edition of the Thinking Football conference, at the summit that he considers to be “a proof of unity” of the sport in Portugal.
“I think it’s a unique event in Portugal, where football is thought about. We have the biggest clubs, both national and international, presidents of international leagues. We thought about what the business model is and what football will be in Portugal. We shared LPFP’s strategic plan for the next four years, so we leave here very satisfied”, said the leader.
When faced with Cristiano Ronaldo’s recent criticism, the president, who began his third term at the helm of the organization this year, highlighted the importance of creating a positive environment around football, asking for positivity from his stakeholders.
“I think we recognize that football in Portugal is much better. Today, within the LPFP, its true issues are discussed, so it is always with this objective that we conclude a journey like this. Talking about pettiness, no, I will always talk about positive football and what contributes to a positive dimension. Don’t count on me. There is a lot to improve, of course, but we have much better football than yesterday. These are growing pains and we are working”, he replied.
Proença recognizes that one of the weaknesses of Portuguese football is not being able to retain in the country the many talents trained in the clubs’ academies and that this will only be combatted with the increase in revenue achieved by measures such as the centralization of audiovisual rights.
“This is a problem, the ability that we have to retain our talent, that we create in our academies, we have been warning about. It is obvious that football has to do its job, but at the cost of context, the theme of centralization of (audiovisual) rights, a whole range of subjects debated here so that we have the capacity. We already have the creation of talent, we lack retention”, he said.
For the LPFP leader, despite the scenario he sees as positive, his work is still “incomplete” and he intends to fulfill his goals in his last term, asking for help from all those involved to create a positive environment.
“I am dissatisfied and I came for this third and final term because the work is not complete. I am dissatisfied because television rights are not yet centralized, because I would like stadiums to have more families. But I also believe that there is a generation that watches football in a positive way. It’s not irresponsible positive, but because Portuguese football has a margin of progression. Players, coaches, media, we all have to pull in that direction”, he concluded.
The second edition of the Thinking Football summit, an event organized by Liga Portugal, in Porto, with several discussion panels that encompass the various dimensions of the sport, ended today.
