João Diogo Manteigas on Benfica-Sporting scandal: demands action

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·29 Agustus 2025

João Diogo Manteigas on Benfica-Sporting scandal: demands action

João Diogo Manteigas, a candidate for the presidency of Benfica under the 'Benfica Will Win' list, continues to campaign for the elections that will take place on October 25th of this year. This time, after heavily criticizing Pedro Proença, João Diogo Manteigas recalled the infamous incident that occurred in the final of the Portugal Cup, between Benfica and Sporting, where Matheus Reis stepped on Andreas Belotti's head, in a move that did not receive any punishment from the referee. With such an episode in mind, the candidate presented, on the social network 'X', a set of proposals that seek to prevent more refereeing errors that harm the Club da Luz.

"It has recently been two months since Sport Lisboa e Benfica witnessed an assault, barbaric and unparalleled, of one of its athletes on the pitch of the National Stadium. There is no sufficient punishment, sporting or otherwise, that corrects the damage done and restores justice", can be read at the beginning of the statement.

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Next, João Diogo Manteigas emphasized the urgency for the eagles to defend themselves, promising to apply a vigilant policy to prevent new incidents with Portuguese refereeing: "Benfiquistas will not forget and the future will confirm that the acts in that final will not happen again. Benfica can never again bow to a sports system that rewards conditionality. That protects those who, directly or indirectly, transgress. With us, Sport Lisboa e Benfica, will be vigilant"

For this, João Diogo Manteigas presented seven proposals with the aim of defending the interests of Benfica and ensuring that there are no injustices and double standards when it comes to the decisions of Portuguese refereeing.

Monitor and evaluate, throughout the seasons, the performance and grades of the referees based on the reports of their respective observers.
Proceed to the evaluation of the observations and grades to be officially assigned to the assistant referees who are part of this project.
Carry out a prior and comparative analysis with its direct competitors, throughout the seasons, on each appointment of referee(s) with the aim of confronting the Refereeing Council whenever a "standard deviation" in the appointment criteria is detected.
Despite the communications in the VAR room not being public, exercise its right to listen to the communications.
Monitor the performance of the Refereeing Council at a political level, respective appointments and planning of each sports season.
Maintain direct contact with the new national technical director for refereeing and evaluate the processes developed in the training and evaluation of professional referees at the Maia and Football City Center.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.