{"id":574458,"date":"2026-08-04T11:32:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T11:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/574458\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T11:32:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T11:32:12","slug":"alverca-the-portuguese-club-thriving-with-help-from-vinicius-junior-european-club-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/574458\/","title":{"rendered":"Alverca: the Portuguese club thriving with help from Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior | European club football"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alverca have been busy in the last few years. They have shot up the Portuguese pyramid while changing owners, buying a whole new squad and bringing in one of the world\u2019s most famous footballers as a co-owner. The club\u2019s sporting director, Fernando Malta, says they want to be \u201cgamechangers\u201d.<\/p>\n

Historically a satellite club for nearby Benfica, Alverca were first promoted to the top flight in 1998 but folded in 2005 after a costly relegation. The club reformed and gradually made its way through the regional divisions before earning back-to-back promotions to take them to the Portuguese top flight in 2025.<\/p>\n

But their rapid success came at a cost. Their owners at the time, the Vicintin family, already owned a club in the top flight. Alverca, who were run by Ricardo Vicintin, and Santa Clara, who were overseen by his son Bruno, were on a collision course, so a decision had to be made. \u201cHow could a father face his son? I\u2019m talking about the heart,\u201d said Ricardo at the time. \u201cI could never cope with having to face the team that my son loves so much. A father\u2019s role is to let his children grow. And I\u2019m no different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior attends Alverca v Benfica game in 2025. Photograph: Filipe Amorim\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Perhaps more pertinently, the Vicintin family were forced to sell up as they were not allowed to own two clubs in the same division. That\u2019s where Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior<\/a> came in. The Real Madrid forward was part of a group of investors who bought Alverca in February 2025, while they were sealing promotion to the top flight.<\/p>\n

Vin\u00edcius\u2019s agent Thassilo \u201cTata\u201d Soares is the majority shareholder, with the player taking on a withdrawn role. \u201cOur relationship with Vin\u00edcius is remote,\u201d says Malta. \u201cWe say he is the club\u2019s most famous fan.\u201d Vin\u00edcius is not the only big name involved. His Real Madrid teammate Eduardo Camavinga and the singer Travis Scott<\/a> offer the club \u201ccommunication and marketing\u201d services. Although not hands-on, Vin\u00edcius brings the club publicity and is a draw for new signings, especially at the academy level.<\/p>\n

Footballers investing in clubs is becoming increasingly common. The Real Madrid<\/a> goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has invested in Le Mans, who have also secured promotion to the first division. There hasn\u2019t been the same degree of success for Kylian Mbapp\u00e9, whose SM Caen side were relegated to the third tier of French football a year ago. Their failure incited protests against the France captain. A few former Real Madrid players are also investing in clubs. Luka Modric is involved at Swansea; Cristiano Ronaldo is co-owner of Spanish club Almer\u00eda, and the former Brazil striker Ronaldo was the majority shareholder in Real Valladolid as well as his hometown club, Cruzeiro.<\/p>\n

Real Madrid keeper Thibaut Courtois has invested in Ligue 1 side Le Mans. Photograph: Pascal Pochard-Casabianca\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Vin\u00edcius was present for the club\u2019s game against Benfica at the start of last season. He saw a squad of players who barely knew each other. The club made 35 signings last season \u2013 a record in Portuguese football. Such a drastic overhaul was necessary as so many of their players were on loan from Santa Clara. By the time Alverca started the season, just one player from the previous season remained \u2013 and he left in January.<\/p>\n

\u201cMad\u201d is how the club\u2019s chief scout Dominique Castro describes last summer\u2019s transfer window. Bastien Meupiyou, who joined the club from Wolves last summer, says the players \u201cexceeded expectations\u201d given their standing start. \u201cOur team was made up of entirely new players,\u201d says the young centre-back. \u201cNo one knew each other, but we managed to adapt, which happened naturally, and we managed to get along well.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone in Portugal expected us to be in the relegation zone for the whole season,\u201d adds Malta. Instead, Alverca finished 11th. There was perhaps a degree of smug satisfaction when Santa Clara finished two places below them.<\/p>\n

Meupiyou, who has been nominated for this year\u2019s Golden Boy award, was the team\u2019s standout performer. \u201cHe\u2019s the player that every high-level club wants to know about,\u201d says Malta. The 20-year-old centre-back \u2013 who could become Alverca\u2019s record sale if he moves on this summer \u2013 sums up the club\u2019s strategy of developing and then selling players.<\/p>\n

Highly rated Alverca defender Bastien Meupiyou has been nominated for this year\u2019s Golden Boy award. Photograph: Eurasia Sport Images\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Portugal is a hotbed of talent and the Lusophone link makes the country a popular destination for young Brazilian talents arriving in Europe. The club\u2019s owners have established a relationship with Athletic Club in Minas Gerais. They are also picking up players from the \u00cele-de-France region, perhaps the greatest hotbed of talent in the world.<\/p>\n

Castro was previously chief scout at Lens, so knows the French market inside out. \u201cAlong with S\u00e3o Paulo, it is the region that creates the best young players in the world,\u201d he says. \u201cIn France, there is a considerable production of talent. There is maybe even too much talent for the academies and clubs to get the maximum out of all of their players. You find players who are not really being used properly. For some, the only solution is to leave. The talent in France is extraordinary and multicultural, which means players adapt to life abroad quickly and well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alverca are very happily exploiting that surplus talent. Gil Vicente are the only club in the Portuguese top flight with more French players. \u201cWe are not a big club in terms of size, so we need to be creative in our scouting and use of data,\u201d says Malta. \u201cThe club\u2019s main objective is staying in the top division but the second is selling players. It\u2019s a league that is not sustainable for the owners.<\/p>\n

Sustainability and survival are the priorities at Alverca. Malta says he will \u201cnever focus\u201d on challenging the top clubs \u201cbecause they are not from our league\u201d. That is not defeatism but rather realism. The \u201cbig three\u201d in Portugal \u2013 Benfica, Porto and Sporting \u2013 have only been pipped to the title twice in 92 years: by Boavista in 2001 and Belenenses in 1946. If this were an Opta tweet, it would end with the word: \u201cDominant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alverca know where they sit in the pecking order but they are optimistic and have conviction. \u201cThere is space for new things. We strongly believe in our method and that we will be gamechangers,\u201d says Malta, who draws inspiration from Braga\u2019s recent rise.<\/p>\n

Having spent much of their history in the shadow of larger, more famous, club. Emboldened and backed by new, big-name investors, they are stepping into the light.<\/p>\n

This is an article by Get French Football News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alverca have been busy in the last few years. They have shot up the Portuguese pyramid while changing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-574458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}