Doha: A two-member delegation from the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) are in Qatar to meet and forge closer bonds with the Qatar Football Association (QFA) and to discuss new ways in which the two organizations can collaborate and learn from each other.
Heading the team is former Benfica defender Humberto Coelho, a Vice-President at FPF and Silveira Ramos, Football Director at FPF.
The duo met on their first ever official trip to Qatar met QFA President Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani yesterday.
The two Portuguese officials also met with Hani Ballan Deputy CEO of Qatar Stars League (QSL) who also is a board member of the QFA and Miguel Heitor, Football Development Supervisor at QSL.
The group discussed footballing matters and ways in which a memorandum of understanding can be signed and implemented between the two organizations.
“The meeting focused on more cooperation in certain areas of football. We proposed and discussed some opportunities to work together with coaches, players, match officials and of course the issue of football development. We have now 100 years of experience as a football federation and this experience can help Qatar but we too aim to learn some lessons from this football loving country,” Coelho said.
“This is my first trip to Qatar and I have heard many great things, I am pleasantly surprised. We had a great opportunity; we saw the final of the Qatar Cup which was a high quality match. We will continue our official visit with a tour of Aspire, I can’t wait to see this world class sporting facility. After that we will also go to Aspetar. Hopefully this first visit to Qatar we help us to better assess how we can collaborate in the future,” he added.
QFA President Sheikh Hamad said: “I want to stress the importance of continued cooperation between the two sides and I would personally like to wish success for Portugal in the 2014 World Cup.”
Hani Ballan said: “This was a great honour for me personally to meet a legend of the game and also an important opportunity to bring the two federations closer on a whole range of issues, this will be a mutually beneficial relationship moving forward.”
Coelho, a Portuguese international he has also managed many teams. Playing in the libero position, he was regarded as one of the greatest of his era and called “the Portuguese Beckenbauer” for his outstanding performances and skills. In a career mainly associated with Benfica, the central defender held the record of most number of appearances for the Portuguese national team for several years. After his retirement, he worked as a coach, mainly with national teams, including Portugal. Coelho earned 60 caps for Portugal. The Peninsula
