Marítimo’s relegation to the second division reflects an image of Madeira football in agony, which will have to reinvent itself to regain the heights it once knew.
After several bad relegation seasons, the inevitable happened for Maritimo. Longtime elite residents, FC Funchal is finally relegated after losing in the play-offs, on penalties, against Estrella da Amadora.
This season, the autonomous region of Madeira will have no representative in the Liga Portugal Betclic, the first in many years, after the 2015/16 season in which the island had three teams in the elite. But Maritimo’s fall is not anecdotal, it is indicative of much larger problems in Madeiran football, and Portuguese football more broadly.
Madeira peak, then its descent
It seems a long time ago when Madeiran teams held the standard for Portuguese football in Europe. In the early 2000s, CS Maritimo and CD Nacional were fighting for European spots, and both teams managed to reach the group stages of the Europa League. Thus, during the 2009/10 season, after Zenit was eliminated in the playoffs, Nacional hosted Athletic Bilbao or Werder Bremen in its stadium of about 5,000 seats, located in the Madeiran mountains. In turn, during the 2012/2013 season, Maritimo hosted Newcastle, Girondins de Bordeaux and Club Brugge inDos Barreros Stadium.
Despite the numerous qualifications for the qualifying rounds of the Europa League, the European epics of Madeiran teams remain meticulous, a problem found with the arrival of many Portuguese teams to the European places. Recently, Madeiran football has reached its peak at the national level, during the 2015/16 season. União da Madeira joined Maritimo and Nacional in La Liga Betclek, bringing the number of Madeiran representatives to three in the Portuguese football elite. It’s a small feat when you know that all three clubs are located in Funchal, a city of about 110,000 inhabitants. But the good run would only last for one season as União da Madeira returned after its only season in the top flight.
This is exactly the third club from Madeira that will start to drop the Madeira ball as the club ends up losing itself in the Portuguese lower divisions. But the club’s poor financial situation would bear the coup. União was already in a catastrophic situation before joining the Portuguese elite and several years after being relegated, the club could no longer pay the salaries of its various employees. Finally, while playing in the Portuguese fourth division, the club was dissolved by a court decision in November 2021.
difference at the bottom
The year 2021 marks a turning point in Madeiran football because, in addition to the dissolution of União da Madeira, Nacional Liga leaves Betclic in last place in the championship and relegation to II Liga, while Maritimo retains a narrow lead in the elite. Since 2021, Madiran’s two teams have shown a lower standard than ever season after season. Nacional struggled to stay in the second tier last season while Maritimo will join their neighbors in La Liga II after their play-off defeat by Estrella da Amadora.
Marítimo’s relegation to the second division is the most obvious example of how football on the island is going so badly. This relegation puts an end to a streak of 38 years of presence in Liga Betclic, a figure that very few clubs in Portugal can boast of. With such a long existence, Maritimo can claim the status of a historic Portuguese club, and the best club in Madeira. coming down Verdi Rubros It is a real loss for Portuguese football, which sees the best atmosphere in the tournament disappear. The club has a huge fan base. During last season, despite poor results, Maritimo had an average of 8,500 spectators at home, making itstadium Barreiros return VIH Liga Betclic stadium in terms of absolute attendance. In terms of relative attendance, the club exceeded the occupancy rate of 80%, behind Benfica and Porto. However, despite this strong base of supporters, the descent was not avoided, because the nerve of the war was on the financial side.
The issue of public financing
To find answers to the fall of football in Madeiran beyond the athletic, we must look at the funding aspect of professional football on this island. It is no secret that the club’s fortunes are essential to the health of the team. In recent years in Portugal many historic and professional clubs have returned to amateur levels in the face of disastrous financial management. Examples abound and we can cite clubs like Beira-Mar, Vitoria Setubal or União de Leiria.
But in Madeira, the issue of financing has a very important political dimension. For many years, the main investor in Madeiran clubs has been none other than the government of the Autonomous Region of Madeira, which provides capital with public money. The archipelago has a special status in Portugal, like the Azores, and therefore enjoys some autonomy. the former head of this government, Alberto Joao Jardim It decided to allocate large sums of money to football, using it as a standard bearer, even securing more than 30 million euros for the renewal of football.stadium Barreiros return. But the political and financial crisis of 2011 marked a turning point with the arrival of a more austere economic policy and a significant drop in public funding for clubs, the journalist explained. Walter Faria for the ZeroZero website. All enhanced by arrival Miguel Albuquerque For the post of head of the regional government, he is less inclined to help football.
Today, the island’s government continues to help clubs, but to a much lesser extent. During the 2014/15 season, this aid amounted to €2 million for Maritimo and Nacional, both in Liga Betclic at the time. This season, Marítimo has received around €1.7m in aid from the government, an amount that will be halved next season in La Liga II. After the descent of Maritimo, Miguel Albuquerque He said: “The regional government does not have the possibility, and it is not politically acceptable, to spend more money on professional football than the law allows.”Adding that a “New forms of financing professional football need to be considered, but this is the responsibility of the clubs and their management, not the responsibility of the government.”
complex private financing
The color was announced to professional clubs in Madeira: if they want to continue to exist, they will have to find new capital themselves. With this in mind, Maritimo has already announced that it will replace the Under-23 team, which represents a savings of half a million euros for next season. But the savings are not enough, and we have to look for new investors. A particularly difficult task for clubs from this small overseas territory, according to the journalist Walter Faria : “Clubs on the continent have more facilities to find help. In Madeira we do not have the economic fabric of these areas and I think our region will continue to suffer from that. It is necessary to open the doors to foreign investment, as other teams have already done.”
This is what Maritimo is trying to do today, which seeks to turn to foreign investment as Santa Clara did, a club from the Azores that shares some points with its counterpart from Madeira. President of Funchal Club Roy Fontes He recently proposed a strategic plan that would allow the club to negotiate the entry of private investors. plenty socios He protested, not out of ignorance of the club’s financial situation, but out of excessive vagueness in the terms of this investment. And also because of the boredom of the unstable trend, which was reflected in the management of the workforce for several seasons. strategic plan for Roy Fontes It was finally ratified, allowing the sale of a maximum of 40% of SAD, for an expected amount of €17 million according to A Bola. But it is still necessary to find the right investors, who tend to invest such a large amount while preserving the identity of the club, a project that some are facing. socios They are more than skeptical, especially given the case of Santa Clara, a club that has been relegated this year.
Football must be preserved
The Maritimo, Nacional and Madeiran identity in general must be preserved as they hold an important place in Portugal. Marítimo can be referred to as a historic club in Portugal, not by their track record of course, but by their fans, history in Liga Betclic and European careers. Madeira Island also represents a group of talented players, being home to one of the greatest players in football history, Cristiano Ronaldo And other personalities of Portuguese football such as coaches Leonardo Garden And Evo Vieiraand players Danny And Robin Michael or in a certain way, baby.
But this island’s relationship with football is much deeper and historical because it was in Madeira that football was born in Portugal. Or, as an inscription on the wall in the municipality of Camacha indicates: “ Aqui se jogou futebol pela primera vez em Portugal. 1875. Camacha According to some historians, we owe football in Portugal to a certain extent Harry Hintona native of Madeira to an English family, who then organized the first football match on Portuguese soil in Largo da praising.
For the 2023/2024 season, there will be no representative of the island in Liga Betclic, reflecting the trend towards an increasingly centralized tournament around the poles of Porto and Lisbon. By losing these teams, the tournament loses diversity. But it is the responsibility of these clubs to renew themselves, to restructure themselves, with more stable and organized administrations, in order to find Liga Betclic as soon as possible. Maritimo, in particular, is at a turning point in its history. The club does not want to spend more than one season in the second Spanish league, but it must prove on the ground that the place of Madeiran teams is in the Portuguese elite.
Image credit: IconSport
A media and communication student at a mainstream school, Tristan has been an editor at Trivela since 2021 and every week tries to highlight all aspects of Portuguese football.
