Before departing for Sweden's second city Gothenburg, Portugal will face African Nations Cup host Tunisia in a friendly on October 12th in Lisboa. The exact venue is still to be decided with Os Belenenses' Restelo and the Jamor National stadium in the running. The match is scheduled on the same day as the Portuguese FA elections at 21h00 local time...
Gilberto Madail has some competition for his seat as president of the FPF. Former national team head coach Artur Jorge will run for the seat on a platform bent on reforming the football federation....
Braga will play host to a November 20 friendly at the Estádio 1º de Maio to commemorate the 80th anniversary of that city's Football Association. On November 19th, Under 21 Portugal will face Under 21 Greece in a friendly at a stadium in the district...
Portugal is 5th on William Hill's betting list for Euro 2004. Heading the list is Spain at 11-2, followed by France at 6-1. Holland and Italy come in at 3rd at 13-2 while Portugal is tied for 5th with England and Germany at 7-1...
So why was the Portugal - England match only broadcasted to Great Britain and North America? First and foremost, the English sold the match rights through pay-per-view channels in Canada and America. in Portugal was left with no match because RTP and Olivedesportos failed to negotiate a deal. Olivedesportos bought a lucrative friendly package from the FPF BEFORE the World Cup. Since then, the national team's stock has fallen and big name friendlies may be hard to come by. Therefore, RTP, SIC, and TVI have no interest in purchasing matches that involve Tunisia. In addition, Olivedesportos was asking for a ridiculous amount for the England match and RTP balked. SIC made a late bid but it too was too low. Olivedesportos is trying to package matches together from both the Under 21 and senior ranks. However, with RTP going through budget cuts, it's going to be difficult.
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