Luís Filipe Vieira (full name Luís Filipe Ferreira Orelhas Vieira), born 22 June 1949, is the chairman of Portuguese sports club Sport Lisboa e Benfica. He was previously chairman of Alverca FC.

Chairmanship of Alverca FC

Vieira was the president of Alverca F.C. for a couple of years, at a time when the Angolan player Pedro Mantorras was a rising young star at the Alverca side, and Alverca F.C. an affiliated satellite football club for parent club S.L. Benfica.

Chairmanship of SL Benfica

In November third of 2003 he was elected by Benfica's associate members the 33rd President of the club. He was committed to bring S.L. Benfica back to its European glory. In the 2004-05 football season the club won the SuperLiga, with the Italian Giovanni Trapattoni as a coach. In the 2005-06 SuperLiga season, he hired Ronald Koeman, a Dutch international and former Ajax coach as Manager. He guided S.L. Benfica to the Quarter-Finals of the UEFA Champion's league with SL Benfica manager Ronald Koeman after knocking out the European championship league holders Liverpool FC. He also sent scouts to Australia where he signed young footballer Kaz Patafta. He also set up a soccer school in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Under his management SL Benfica reached over 160,000 associate members in 2006, and was recognized by the Guinness World Records as the largest sports club in the world by number of registered paying associates.. The Benfica cycling team was reactivated, women's triathlon star Vanessa Fernandes signed with the club, and the SL Benfica B reserve football team was closed. For the 2006-07 season, Benfica's chairman Vieira, hired the Portuguese manager Fernando Santos as the new coach for the football team. The team signed also with veteran footballer Rui Costa, who wished back to its loved Benfica since a long time ago after many years playing in the Italian Serie A. Vieira is also responsible for player trades and loans for the club, a very important part in the modern professional sports financial management.

During is term as chairman of Benfica, in May 2007, the Sport Lisboa e Benfica - Futebol, S.A.D. (the professional football department sports company) was listed on the Portuguese stock exchange Euronext Lisbon. Vieira and former Benfica's chairman Manuel Vilarinho have a large share of the Benfica's stock, and are among the largest stockholders of the sports publicly held company.

On the other hand, other than in 2004-2005, Benfica hasn't succeeded in winning any Portuguese Major title competitions, a fact that, allied with the team's blackluster ending in 2007-2008 - 4th place - has discretited the club in front of the fans and made thousands of them demand Luís Filipe Vieria's dismission.

It was announced on August 7, 2008 that Viera has been suspended for 2 months due to offenses against referee Lucílio Baptista and the Portuguese Football Federation.

Benfica's youth

Luís Filipe Vieira is also active in Benfica's youth squad. Vieira has played a major role in development with the signing of home-grown talent such as Nicolas Canales, Bijou Davidson, Manuel Henriques Tavares Fernandes, Kaz Patafta among others.

References