Machines are already moving in FC Porto’s new gym. “It’s unstoppable”, says Pinto da Costa | FC Porto

On the day he completed 42 years at the helm of FC Porto, Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa opened the gates of the land in Maia that will one day house the new “dragons” academy. After the club held 14 hectares belonging to the municipality at public auction for 3.4 million euros, it now adds nine hectares belonging to the construction company Alexandre Barbosa Borges (ABB) – and the amount the club will pay for these plots is not yet known. . Visibly happy and in a good mood, Pinto da Costa says that this work will be one of the legacies of the more than four decades of his presidency.

“I think it is the most necessary work at the moment. The training has been successful, as we saw recently. We have players trained at FC Porto playing in team A, we have others aged 16 in team B. I think that with these conditions, [a formação] it could be much better and have more quality”, Pinto da Costa began by saying, once again targeting those who called the work a “utopia”, a criticism directed at the electoral competitor, André Villas-Boas.

Tractors, trucks and other machines were working on the land visited this Tuesday by the media. Earthworks are underway, the first phase of a project that Porto officials expect will last a year and a half and cost 40 million euros. Fernando Gomes, financial administrator of SAD, highlighted that the works are being monitored by those responsible whose objective is to safeguard the archaeological heritage, in order to avoid interruptions in the construction of the new academy. Access will also be subject to renewal, confirms the person responsible.

“The Maia City Council has a new accessibility plan, for which the competition will be open. To the point that, when the academy is finished, these accessibilities will all be ready. As you can see, the route to get here is not easy. But, when the FC Porto decided to build the academy with the support of the municipality, which will build [acessos]”, said Fernando Gomes. From “Dragão” to the Academy, always on main roads, the new route will only last 15 minutes, says the SAD administrator.

Ten football fields

The infrastructure will feature ten football pitches and a mini-stadium with a capacity of around 2000 seats. It will also have 72 double rooms to house displaced young people from training. In total, the “dragons” academy will occupy an area of ​​23 hectares. The intention is to move the training levels to Maia, keeping the main team at the current Olival training center. Architect Manuel Salgado, responsible for the design of Estádio do Dragão, also took charge of planning the new academy.

FC Porto is just four days away from elections, with André Villas-Boas challenging Pinto da Costa’s hegemony as president of the club. The Porto president says that this is a work that goes beyond the electoral act, an “eternally” infrastructure of FC Porto and that the club needed.

“This is an old dream that I had. It’s not for me, I don’t come here to train because I’m not old enough. It’s a dream for FC Porto and will forever belong to the club, whoever it is [o presidente]”, he said. The fact that it might not be the man to inaugurate this work does not bring sadness, he guarantees. “Who is here or who is not [na inauguração] It’s a vanity fair. What interests me is that this work is ready to serve the youth and FC Porto”, he asserts.

Vice-president Vitor Baía also attended the presentation of the works on the academy’s grounds, as well as António Oliveira, former player and one of the candidates presented by Pinto da Costa to assume the club’s vice-presidency. General director Luís Gonçalves was another person present, on a walk closely monitored by ABB engineers. Despite staying away from next Saturday’s elections, Pinto da Costa did not hide some sadness at the accusations made by André Villas-Boas’ candidacy about the project, saying that it was rushed by the possible threat of “torn up contracts”, an act that would compromise the academy.

“If I were here commenting on what the other candidate said, I would have to regret what he said about this being a utopia and a stream of lies. After what he said and what you see here, if he really had character, he would have publicly apologized for the offenses he caused me and for not believing this was possible. Work is underway, as you can see. This is unstoppable“, he concluded.