TerminalPortugal

February 2028 Things are beginning to get a little difficult in the league if we have designs on winning the league as a draw with Sporting Braga puts us a little further back from both FC Porto and Benfica. A return to the Champions League is looking very likely for us as we sit well ahead of the chasing pack for the final spot. We did exit the Champions League this year, but we gave Barcelona an almighty fright. We lost at the Nou Camp 3-1, but when we got them back to Evora we were far better than them and at one point we sat 4-0 up. However two late goals from Barcelona would force extra time and they would win the tie in extra time.

January 2028 This month could have been better. We lost this month to Chaves in what was a bit of a shock result and we drew against Maritimo right at the end of the month and that means we are now playing catch up with FC Porto with Benfica just on our tail. We also had the disappointment of losing in the Portuguese Cup to Sporting Braga in what was a pretty poor result for us. The Champions League went well as we won in the Netherlands against Ajax and beat RB Leipzig at home to qualify for the knockout rounds. However the draw has not been kind as we drew out Spanish giants Barcelona. So I expect an exit is on the cards there. We finished the recent refurbishments to the training facilities and I was at this point unable to convince the board to do any further work. We will try again when we can next time around.

December 2027 We had another good month as we managed to finish the month still with all things being equal a point ahead of everyone else. We did draw against Estoril which we could call the poor result in amongst the rest of the results, but beating Sporting more or less made up for that as I was expecting to draw or lose that one, especially after our opening day encounter. In the Champions League we faced off against Austria's RB Salzburg and beat them handsomely and that brought us up to 18th in the Champions League table which would see us through to the knockout round. We also made it through in the Portuguese Cup to the next round; beating Familicao. There was some other news to discuss. We could see that we are more or less filling the stadium every week so we petitioned the board to expand the stadium and they agreed so they are beginning that process that would take the stadium to a capacity of almost 13,000. We also had our youth intake preview and it looks extremely good. Obviously the investment may well be beginning to pay off when it comes to bringing in young talent to the club. Over the past few years we have also overhauled the youth coaching team, to make sure that they have the right characteristics to bring in the right youth talent.

November 2027 Another two wins in the league, puts us top of the league with a game in hand over second placed Benfica. We would lose narrowly to Arsenal in the Champions League but got another win at home to Lille which leaves us at the moment in one of the final qualification places for the knockout stage. We would also play in the cup and we got a measure of revenge against Casa Pia, who cost us the league title last year on the final day.

October 2027 It was a decent month in the league as we continued our good league form winning all our games apart from a very good draw away at Porto. In the Champions League we hosted Real Madrid and it did not go well as they took us apart, we are looking like we might struggle to qualify I believe. We are through in both domestic cups, so that was also a positive this month. The other news in the month is that we convinced the board to find another affiliate and they now allowed me to pick specifically my affiliate so I went for the best available club from Alentejo and that was Moura. Not sure as mentioned we can help them much at the moment but in the future it should be something we can do a lot more of with our youngsters. Although it should be noted that we sometimes have the youngsters reject them moves especially when Estrela Vendas Novas were in the District Leagues.

I know what you mean, technically Setubal is between the Tagus and the Guadiana Rivers and so it technically is by the loosest definition, but I bet people from Setubal don't think they are Alentjanos. Technically I am counting teams like Grandolense as Alentejo, but they are far south of the Setubal peninsula, even though modern day districts its in the Setubal district. I'm going more by the 1936 districts of the Estado Novo, which would have had Alto Alentejo and Baixo Alentejo as the following So by this Setubal would be out but Grandolense would be in. Obviously the borders of what is Alentejo where they would call themselves Alentjanos is a bit blurry now since they changes the districts around.

September 2027 A good month sees us top the league for now, although FC Porto can catch us with a good win in their game in hand. This season we have none of the advantages we had last season of Sporting and Porto fluffing their lines, they all seem to be performing well this season and it should be a real battle for the Champions League spots. In the Champions League we won one and lost one, as we smashed Legia of Poland but lost late to Nice in France. That leaves us middle of the pack at the moment. I don't expect us to do much in the Champions League, I am very happy when we win a game and get £2.5m in bonuses and that is really the goal. If we make it to the next round then it is a bonus this season. We also won in the League Cup group stage against Pacos de Ferreira, a narrow win in the end. We got the board to agree an upgrade in every area of the facilities and infrastructure which is great and really the goal of getting the Champions League money is to continue to upgrade this. Looking at other Portuguese clubs, we still have some way to go on the facilities side of things, but when it comes to Junior Coaching and Youth Recruitment we are already on par with FC Porto, who are the best at these and have exceptional in both. So if we can continue to improve these areas, we will have be the best in Portugal at them.

August 2027 It was an inauspicious start to the season as we got taught a footballing lesson by Sporting CP in the season opener in Lisbon, however we would recover for the rest of the month and win our remaining games to rise back up the table and we find ourselves in 3rd place in the league. We played a friendly tournament in a space I felt I had, as the Super Cup fixture had cancelled a previously organised tournament and I wanted the money from such an event. We have also now been paid our Champions League participation money so the finances have never looked so rosy. In terms of performances on the pitch Aouameur, who has spent a lot of his time at the club injured has started the season very well, as has on loan youngster Velarde. At the moment I am preferring Velarde and Cannavo up front, so it is nice to have options like Dietz and N'Diaye from the bench at the moment. So far this season we have almost all sellouts, which is great and I am hoping that perhaps in the near future we might think about expanding the stadium further.

July 2027 Transfers Gatot Nugroho Jose Luis Velarde Dragan Nikolic Jim Jenkins Frederik Winther Rodrigo Gomes We made a few transfers, although as mentioned we did not have the transfer budget to do very much. One signing I was able to make was a player I had now been looking and identified as a target for two years now and that was Dragan Nikolic. He seemed to have great potential, was pretty cheap and so could help us now, so we managed to spend a good chunk of our budget on him. The other players were more just players we picked up from scout reports and information we had in the transfer centre. We have sent quite a few loans on to Estrela Vendas Novas, but I am not sure they will make too much difference to them at the moment as we only got a few decent youngsters last intake and they are too young to be sending out on loan. We have now moved into our new stadium and have been playing friendly tournaments there to generate a bit of extra cash. The only competitive game we have played this season was the Super Cup, but we lost that to Benfica narrowly. The plan continues to be to improve club facilities with the money from the Champions League as much as possible.

Season 2026/27 Update SL Benfica won the league Juventude de Evora won the Portuguese cup FC Porto won the League Cup SL Benfica won the Super Cup No Portuguese club were involved in the European finals Honours Board Alentejo Update Juventude de Evora remained in the Premier League Campeonate de Portugal Serpa remain in the division Lusitano de Evora, Atletico Reguengos and Electrico were relegated to the District Leagues District Leagues Beja - Mineiro Aljusterlense were promoted as league champions Evora - Estrela Vendas Novas were promoted as league champions Portalegre - O Elvas were promoted as league champions

May 2027 We were a whisker away from winning the league. Benfica has drawn their penultimate game so they could only equal our points, and we just needed a point against Casa Pia, who needed to win to have any real chance of staying up, and what would you know they did just that, they beat us and Benfica won and because had a better head to head record they won the league on the final day. Had it been goal difference we would have won it by 1 goal. Heartbreaking after a season like that but we would get some measure of success that wouldn't make up for it but would add a plaster to the wound as we won the Portuguese Cup beating Vitoria de Guimaraes in the final 1-0, and bringing the first piece of silverware to the Alentejo. It's a great achievement and it is only marred by how close it could have been to a double. In other news the Under 19s were promoted to the top division which is good for us as we should face stiffer opposition next season which should help develop the youngsters better. Ultimately we qualified for the Champions League in our second season in the league and that is a real achievement.

April 2027 Starting off we managed to make it to the Portuguese Cup Final despite the loss to Benfica, making us the second club after Campomaiorense from the Alentejo to make it to such a final. In the league we lost to FC Porto, but managed to beat Sporting and all the subsequent clubs to essential be in real terms one point ahead of Benfica going into the league shootout. If we win both our remaining games we are champions. But any slip up and Benfica could jump over us right at the end. Another thing to take note of is that I am not too happy about, is that after our Champions league qualification our budget is extremely small, when it comes to the transfer budget. I was already spending the money in my mind but we will almost certainly have to rely on free transfers again this season. Perhaps we went too strong on the facility upgrades which have upgraded twice this season, and that costs a fair bit of money, but I would have thought with the guaranteed money we would have gotten a little bit more money from the board to spend. At the end of the season we move into our new stadium, so we should make a fair bit more money next season, and hopefully with Champions League money we will be able to spend some good money the season after next.

March 2027 Our European adventure is over as I expected. We unfortunately had a very big injury crisis around the second leg, which to be honest had we had a full squad we still would have gotten beaten but the manner of the defeat ended up being rather bitter to the taste. Elsewhere things have gone rather better. In the Portuguese Cup we have a foot in the final after getting an unexpected win against Benfica away, it's not over yet but if we perform we hopefully should be able to progress to the final. The league is beginning to open up for us, we are now just 2 points behind Benfica but with two games in hand, so I am starting to believe that we may win this league title. We still do need to play both FC Porto and Sporting CP, so the path is not an easy one, but it is becoming a possibility. As mentioned already the injury crisis is ongoing, and it is really biting us. Toure, Vigouroux and Aouameur are out for the season and we do also have Cannavo and Sanna also out.

Nice idea, looking forward to this. I will be following.

February 2027 We started the month by losing to FC Porto in the League Cup semi final. It was a very even game but they took their chances and we didn't take ours. Our injuries are becoming a bit of a crisis. Aouameur is out for the season, Vigouroux are only really decent keeper is out for the season so we will have to rely on Almeida who had awful statistics in the Second Division season where he was the number 1 keeper. Dietz is still 3-4 weeks away from being ready. Despite all this we did get through in the Europa League knock out round as we soundly beat Shakhtar Donetsk in the Ukraine, before they came back and beat us in Portugal but it was all too late for them to progress. Our journey in Europe is likely to be cut short as we have drawn Manchester United in the next round. In the league we have continued to win and we sit second but we have a game in hand so nothing has really changed. The season is now down to the last 10 games and we have stuck with Benfica all the way, the question is can we hold our nerve here. There are still going to be twists and turns but will we drop the points or will it be Benfica. We know it is in our hands, especially now having played Benfica twice, there is nothing we can do against one another directly. Champions League football next season is essentially a formality at this stage, a win in our game in hand will put us 21 points ahead of third placed Porto. That already is far more than I ever expected to achieve with our second season in the top division.

January 2027 We lost our first game of the month to Sporting Braga in the league but Benfica would go on to lose as well which kept us exactly where we started the month after both of us won the remaining league games in the month. We made it to the Portuguese Cup semi final, to go along with our League Cup final that is coming up at the start of next month, and it was a very nice victory over Sporting CP. We would lose one of our Europa League games to Manchester United away and that would cost us, as we finish 9th in the classification and that will mean an extra round of games in the knockout round. Dietz got himself a bad injury that might now see him out until the end of the season, so that was really bad news for us but fortunately N'Diaye and Cannavo have been in good form themselves. However if one of them went down then we might start to struggle a bit more with the games to come. It is getting towards the business end of the season and we remain with the leadership of the league. I think whatever happens from here Champions League football is almost assured and European football is probably a 98% probability at this point. We just need to piece together a few more results to ensure that.

December 2026 The fight for the title as I have now to call it is heating up. We were very good again this month but we did host Benfica and they did get their revenge for us beating them in Lisbon as they won 2-0, but they immediately handed us back a lifeline as they drew to Boavista. While they sit top of the league, we have a game in hand that if we win will take us back top of the league. I should note now that I have absolutely no idea what on earth is happening at Sporting CP this season, they are absolutely hopeless. Porto have more less recovered although the title for them is gone, and they might have trouble even catching us. At the moment a Champions League spot for next season is starting to look increasingly likely, and that would be an amazing achievement for us in just our second top flight season. We had the youth intake and it looks alright, the graphic is relative to our current crop of players so, if they are saying some of them are good there is a chance that some of them are pretty good. We managed again this month to convince the board to increase the Junior Coaching budget again, so we continue to improve the infrastructure at the club and that will continue for the coming seasons.

November 2026 We continue to be top of the league as the form in the league continues to be pretty brilliant. Benfica are just 3 points behind us and breathing down our necks, but for now we can bask in the uninterrupted view from the top of the league. We did lose this month in the Europa League as Fiorentina came to Evora and beat us 3-1. We were pretty bad in front of goal and probably could have done better but these things happen. There has been significant progress off the field as we continued to improve our youth recruitment and convinced the board to find our first affiliate which is fellow Alentejo side Estrela Vendas Novas. At the moment we don't really have really many good prospects to help them out, but in the future we should be able to help them out a lot with our youngsters. The plan continues to be to improve the club facilities and infrastructure and hopefully we can continue the results both domestically and in Europe. The money from Europe to be honest has been extremely useful in keeping us in a nice financial position.

It was mostly to do with money, this way they can have two extra group games and an extra round of games. More games = more money. Presume another European competition would have some real dross in it and presume that wouldn't be attractive to the sponsors. Secondly I think it was the top clubs that put pressure on having this format, since it is more likely that they can all get through and have less likelihood of the weaker teams managing to upset another team in the group stages.

October 2026 We are absolutely flying at the moment, as we go the whole month perfect. That includes hosting and beating FC Porto, who are having a torrid season and then beating Benfica at the Estadio da Luz to take the leadership of the league. It has been a really weird season, Sporting and Porto are absolutely nowhere floundering in mid-table and we seem to be possessed at the moment, winning absolutely everything. The winning has also continued in Europe as Slovan Bratislava and Dnipro to keep a one hundred percent record in the Europa League. We got through in the Portuguese Cup without issue and won our opener in the League Cup group stage, with Braga still to come in that one. Dietz has continued his goalscoring but suddenly have had quite a few goalscorers pop up with Kevin Cannavo, Bahia and Aouameur just some of the scorers this month. Long may this form continue.

You get variety but you lose the dynamics of a group stage, where you going up against particular teams. I am also not a big fan of it to be honest.

September 2026 We are absolutely cooking on gas at the moment as we win all games in the month including our first ever European tie against Hungarian opposition. The incredible thing about the start to the season has been just how bad Sporting and FC Porto have been. I mean Sporting haven't been very good by FC Porto are bordering on a shambles at this early stage and they already look out of the title race at this early stage. On the pitch the two main men up front N'Diaye and Dietz have moved onto 10 and 11 goals already and they are looking very lethal in front of goal.

August 2026 It's been a good start to the season as we picked up three wins and a draw away to a struggling Sporting CP side; a game we should have won. Dietz is having a field day at the moment and that included a 5 goal masterclass against Boavista as he stakes his claim to the golden boot early on. The Europa League participation money came in and that has meant we have been able to convince the board to finance some improvements namely to increase the Junior Coaching, and improve both Youth and Training facilities, which is a big step in the right direction.

July 2026 Records and Awards Transfers Moussa Diarra Kevin Cannavo Yannis Aouameur Sam Sanna Facilities Upgrade Results Finances Squad Plenty to get our teeth into here. We were pretty restricted in our transfers and we were only able to bring in four players, although I feel they do improve us as a team. We set up a set of cups that we will run every year until we feel we do not need to and we were able to make around about £1m this year. Sponsorship had already brought us out of the red. The position will get worse all year I am sure unless we do well in Europe so we will need to be mindful of that. In terms of results, they do not really matter, the games are being played one after another and so really the main thing is to avoid injuries and the injuries have not really happened in the matches more around them. Still the money is very helpful for next year, where hopefully we will have a lot more of it, to pursue a better overall squad of players. We were able to get the first step in improving facilities and it has actually come in our networking by improving our youth recruitment a little bit. It is a necessary step in the right direction as we look to set this club up for the future.

2025/26 Season Update FC Porto won league title number 33 FC Porto won Portuguese cup number 20 Sporting CP won League Cup number 6 SL Benfica won Super Cup number 9 Real Madrid play Man City in the Champions League final so there is no Portuguese involvement Stuttgart play West Ham United in the Europa League final so there is no Portuguese involvement Shakhtar Donetsk play Aston Villa in the Europa Conference League final so there is no Portuguese involvement Honours Board Alentejo Update Juventude de Evora remain in the Premier League Campeonato de Portugal Lusitano de Evora remain in the league Arronches Benfica, Castrense and Canaviais were relegated to the District Leagues District Leagues Beja - Serpa have been promoted as league champions Evora - Atletico Reguengos have been promoted as league champions Portalegre - Electrico have been promoted as league champions