Manuel Damásio Soares Garcia (born 9 July 1940),
known as Manuel Damásio, is a Portuguese businessman who served as the
30th president of sports club
S.L. Benfica
Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional association football, football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system, Portuguese footba ...
.
Born in
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 ...
, Damásio was elected president of Benfica on 7 January 1994 with 87% of the votes, defeating candidate and friend José Capristano. Shortly after succeeding
Jorge de Brito
Jorge Artur Rego de Brito ComIH ComM (7 November 1927 – 2 August 2006) was a Portuguese businessman, founder of Banco Intercontinental Português (BIP) and Brisa, who served as the 29th president of sports club S.L. Benfica, succeeding Joà ...
, Benfica won the
Portuguese league title in
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
. Damásio then started a campaign to attract new members to the club to overcome financial difficulties,
raising the number of associates from 83,000 to 150,000. He also tried to lower the club's debt with
Parmalat
Parmalat S.p.A. is a dairy and food corporation which is a subsidiary of French multinational company Lactalis. It was founded by Calisto Tanzi in 1961.
Having become the leading global company in the production of long-life milk using ultra-h ...
as a sponsor; however, it did not help much.
Along with the help of AbÃlio Rodrigues and Gaspar Ramos, Damásio transformed Benfica's football department. His choice of football coaches was not fortunate: he signed
Artur Jorge,
Paulo Autuori
Paulo Autuori de Mello (born 25 August 1956), known as Paulo Autuori, is a Brazilian football executive and manager who is the current manager of Atlético Nacional.
Early life
A football fan since early childhood and a futsal player, Paulo Au ...
, and
Manuel José
Manuel José de Jesus Silva Order of Merit (Portugal), ComM (born 9 April 1946), simply known as Manuel José (), is a Portuguese association football, football Manager (association football), manager.
Some of the teams he has coached include ...
,
with
Mário Wilson
Mário Wilson (; 17 October 1929 – 3 October 2016) was a Portuguese football central defender and manager.
He appeared in 286 Primeira Liga matches over 14 seasons, mainly in representation of Académica. He also played for Desportivo de Lou ...
serving as interim coach, thrice. In terms of players, Damásio spent a lot of money in failed signings, such as
Nelo
Nelo (MAR Kayaks Ltda) is a Portuguese company that designs and manufactures kayaks and canoes for racing, touring, fitness, sea racing, paracanoe, surfski, and slalom. It is currently the most successful brand in the sport, attested by the n ...
,
José Tavares
José Fernando Campos Tavares (born 23 April 1966) is a Portuguese former footballer who played mainly as a central midfielder.
Club career
Tavares was born in Vila Nova de Gaia, Porto District. During his career he played for C.F. Oliveira do ...
,
Paulo Nunes
ArÃlson de Paula Nunes (born October 30, 1971), better known as Paulo Nunes, is a Brazilian football pundit and retired footballer who played as a forward.
Club career
Flamengo
A product of Flamengo's youth system, Paulo Nunes was part of a ...
, and
Donizete, among over 100 signings.
Despite the lack of football titles, which led to the termination of Damásio's three-year term in June 1996, he was reelected for another triennial term, which ended abruptly one year later. He left Benfica following new early elections and was succeeded by
João Vale e Azevedo
João António de Araújo Vale e Azevedo (born 17 May 1957) is a Portuguese former lawyer who was the 31st president of sports club S.L. Benfica.
In relation to his three-year club presidency, he was convicted of embezzlement, document forge ...
on 31 October 1997.
References
1940 births
Living people
People from Lisbon
S.L. Benfica presidents
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