Abel Ferreira received the Victor Oliveira Award from the Coaches Association

On Tuesday, Abel Ferreira received the Victor Oliveira Award presented by the National Association of Football Coaches (ANTF), on a day when he honored four other coaches, including the first female coach.

“I had the idea to share the award with all the coaches, but if you allow me, I will dedicate it to Vitor Oliveira because it reflects the last sentence I said there: this is the person you are. , who wins as a professional, which, if you want, you will be,” Abel Ferreira reacted to receiving the award.

In this sense, he added that “if anyone was and is an example of this, it is Vítor Oliveira”, and therefore dedicated the award to the player and coach born in Matosinhos, who passed away in November 2020.

Abel Ferreira, who has coached Brazilians Palmeiras since 2020, has won the last two Copa Brazil (2022 and 2023) and two Copa Libertadores (2020 and 2021), as well as the South American Super Cup (2022) and the Copa del Rey. Brazil (2020), the Brazilian Super Cup (2023) and two São Paulo championships (2022 and 2023).

During the forum, ANTF also paid tribute to Mario Lino, who is currently the association’s number one member, and Rodrigo Moura, a former player and coach from Viseu who served on the organization’s supervisory board.

Another tribute in the afternoon was dedicated to Maria Emilia Soares, the first Portuguese female trainer to complete the course in 1983 and also the first female member of ANTF, who said she was “very happy to finally see many women.”

“When I started, I was the only one. I was born too early, I should have been born now, because now they give importance to women’s football. I took this course more for fun because I had three boys and how they played football. My husband played football, there’s nothing better than joining them,” he said.

In this sense, he admitted that it started as a “joke and ended up becoming serious” and called on “all young women” to devote themselves to women’s football because “now they have legs to walk.”

José Luis Mendes, who won the 2023 UEFA European Under-19 Futsal Championship, was the latest to receive the honor and dedicated the award, among other things, to the athletes who won the title with him.

The ANTF ends on Tuesday in Viseu, the 2024 European city of sports, with 1,200 football and futsal coaches taking part and “the most active ever,” President José told news agency Lusa Pereira.