José de Sousa Cintra, known professionally as Sousa Cintra, is a Portuguese businessman who served as president of sports club Sporting CP from 1989 to 1995.

Biography

He was born in 1944 in the village and parish of Raposeira,

Vila do Bispo Municipality Vila do Bispo () is a municipality (''concelho'') in the Portuguese Algarve. It has 5,717 inhabitants in an area of 179.06 km2. History The first references to this region referred to the ''Aldeia do Bispo'' in the 14th century, in a char ...

, in the Algarve region. As a child he worked as a snail trader in his village, and at 15 years old he went to

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

where he obtained a job at Hotel Tivoli Lisboa as an elevator operator. While working there, he earned a larger amount of money selling watercolor paintings on the side. When 16 years old he joined the Portuguese Navy and served for four years. After the

Carnation Revolution The Carnation Revolution ( pt, Revolução dos Cravos), also known as the 25 April ( pt, 25 de Abril, links=no), was a military coup by left-leaning military officers that overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime on 25 April 1974 in Lisbo ...

of 1974, Cintra saw a number of his assets

expropriate Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

d but eventually acquired ''Águas Vidago'', a mineral water company. Between 1989 and 1995, Sousa Cintra was the chairman of Sporting CP. In 1998, he bought a beer factory in São Paulo and shortly after he built another in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His beer business in Brazil reached the

break even point Break or Breaks or The Break may refer to: Time off from duties * Recess (break), time in which a group of people is temporarily dismissed from its duties * Break (work), time off during a shift/recess ** Coffee break, a short mid-morning rest ...

and was ranked number four in a short span of time. In 2001, he invested in a new beer factory in Santarém, Portugal in order to produce and sell Cintra beer in his home country. Due to the strong competition and the power of well-established beer brands in the Portuguese market (

Super Bock Super Bock is a Portuguese beer brand from the Super Bock Group brewery which produces a range of beers under the same name. Established in 1927, Super Bock maintains a leading position in the market and it is among the favourite beer brands of ...

and Sagres), Sousa Cintra sold out his Portuguese beer business in 2006, retaining only the successful Brazilian activities until 2007 when they were sold to AmBev."Cerveja Cintra tinha tudo para dar certo"
, Diário de Notícias (27 April 2007)

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Portuguese businesspeople Portuguese football chairmen and investors Sporting CP presidents {{Portugal-footy-bio-stub