The president of the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF), Fernando Gomes, considered this Saturday insufficient the resignation of Mario Costa, the former chairman of the board of the league’s General Assembly, accused of suspected trafficking in human beings.
“The resignation of the former president of the Board of the General Assembly of the League, in my opinion, is below the minimum that we should accept as a football family. We strive to ensure that this week was unique,” said Fernando Gomez. during the FPF General Assembly.
We are talking about the investigation carried out by the Service for Foreigners and Borders (SEF) against Mario Costa and the associated football academy in the municipality of Famalicao on suspicion of human trafficking, in which the former leader was arguido.
“Personally, I have already thought: no. We have not done everything. No. We have not done everything. Yes. Now we can do everything. Because if we do not do everything, it’s like none of us does anything. And this is who we are, even us: the Federation, the Associations, the League, the class members, all the clubs, all the delegates who are in this hall,” the FPF leader emphasized.
Fernando Gomes reported that in 2020 the FPF denounced “signs that it considered suspicious illegal activity” through means it considered appropriate.
“I have never seen a good investigation carried out after a huge public outcry. The best and deepest investigations happen when those targeted by the investigation do not know they are being investigated,” he stressed.
And added: “If this now mediated case does not serve for more, let it serve each of us, with the increased responsibility we bear, to consider if there is any indication, suspicion or data anywhere in Portugal that should be condemned . All that is required of each of us is to do everything in his power. And the final realization that the inaction of one of us endangers everyone and football.”
On Friday, Club League president Pedro Proenza admitted that he would have resigned if the current ex-president of the General Assembly, Mario Costa, had not done so after suspicions of human trafficking were revealed at the football academy in Riba de Riba. . Ave, with whom Mario Costa was associated.
Porto’s regional attorney general clarified this Saturday that 33 minors have been removed from the football academy while other adults have been sent to shelters.
In a note published on its page, the prosecutor’s office claims that the minors were removed after the clearly worded intervention of the competent authorities and “because they were in a dangerous situation.”
According to an SEF source, 114 players from South America, Africa and Asia have been identified, and all of them are illegal in the country.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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