The Associação Desportiva de Fafe is the big sensation of the Portuguese Cup in 2025/26. They are the only club in League 3 in the quarter-finals of the premier competition (a stage in which they are in for the fifth time) and, on Wednesday of the classic at Dragão, hosts Sp. Braga (6:45 pm) in a duel from Minho that will have a full house at Municipal de Fafe, in an attempt to reach the semi-finals for the third time. Mário Ferreira, 30 years old, is one of the youngest coaches in the national championships and leads a team that has a decisive January for the main objective of the season: going to the promotion phase of League 3. However, there is also an ambition to continue making history in the Cup. It was precisely with Mário Ferreira's debut that the team recorded their first victory of the season and began their successful journey in the competition: 1-0 in the visit to Oriental, the same result achieved in Évora against Lusitano, after defeating Moreirense (1-0) and Arouca (2-1) in Fafe. Interview More football to Mário Ferreira, who in this Part I talks about the journey to the Cup and Fafe's goals this season, as well as his return to a club where he had already been a physical trainer in 2017 and 2018. READ ALSO:PART II - «We were in the 10th year and Bruno Fernandes' focus was football. It was right...»PART III - «Mourinho opened doors for many coaches like me and I dream of hearing the Champions League anthem» _ Maisfutebol – Makes his debut as coach of Fafe in the Cup, with the victory against Oriental in the second round (0-1). Did it ever occur to you that they would do this route, even more so eliminating two teams from the League? Mário Ferreira (MF) – I knew that this squad has players who have already been in professional leagues, they know perfectly how to work, the reality of professional clubs day in and day out, so they know that the difference between this division and the professional divisions is not that big. It works very well, getting better and better, League 3 is becoming more and more competitive, with successful players, coaches who pass through here, are champions and go on to other levels, like Vasco [Botelho da Costa] who is at Moreirense, the coach of Estrela [João Nuno] who was at Belenenses… in other words, it is synonymous with working well here. I think our work in the Cup has been positive. If I imagined passing two teams from the League... obviously I dreamed and dreaming is allowed, but I believed we had a chance. We stuck to it and we did it. How do you label this Fafe campaign in the Cup? Do you feel like you are already part of the club's history? MF – Yes, 25 years without being able to reach the quarter finals... a quarter of a century is a long time, so I think we are obviously in history and I also believe that we are going to make more history. He arrived with Fafe in last place in League 3, with two points in four games. How did you find the team and what evolution do you highlight since then? MF – Above all, one of the things we proposed was the defensive organization, because we felt the team was a little unbalanced. Obviously also – and it is public – I gave credit to the work done by the previous technical team, because the offensive methods that the team created are worth highlighting. Sometimes football doesn't bring us happiness when it comes to fruition and I believe that's a bit of what happened. And the team, in the first four games, from what we saw after we were already here, suffered one or two goals that didn't allow us to score what would have been expected and we felt the team, on the defensive side, was a little lower. We tried to work on that, first consolidate the defensive processes and from there grow with confidence and move on to the offensive part, to give one or another dynamic and do the good work we are doing. How has the dressing room managed the mental aspect of this achievement in the Cup? Especially because Fafe is in a decisive month to go to the promotion phase of League 3, a declared objective… MF – The dressing room has lived in a balanced way, they are mature men, most of them with football experience, they know the responsibility, it's ours and no one else's, we have to take it on, but in a safe, balanced, consistent way, with a weekly commitment, which is what can sustain us in the game. You are looking at it professionally. It is the club's fifth appearance in the quarter-finals, the first since 2000 and it has reached the semi-finals twice, almost 50 years ago. Is it an objective to return there and do you think it is possible, even though it is against Sp. Braga? MF – Yes, I think we have some chance of passing. But obviously favoritism is on Sp. Braga's side, they are a League team, they have a much higher budget than Fafe, more conditions, more everything, so favoritism is on their side, but we have some chance and we have to stick to it. Could the fact that the game is in Fafe increase this possibility? Even taking into account that the game could eventually be played on a neutral field, as happened with other lower-ranked teams in other qualifiers… MF – What we believe is that, if we can eliminate Arouca and Moreirense at home, we can also eliminate Braga. The difference between Moreirense, Arouca and Braga exists, it is real, but it is not a very big difference, this is noticeable in the games they play in the League. Therefore, we believe that, if we can eliminate these, why not eliminate Braga? The last game of this campaign in the Cup was the victory in Évora. And around 300 fans traveled almost 900 kilometers to watch the game, the majority on the day itself, with around 20 hours between departure and arrival... How did they experience that day and all the emotions? MF – For us it was a feeling of mission accomplished, because we really wanted to give them the victory. Obviously it's positive for us, but as our focus is the championship, this game also served as a spirit of mission to give victory to our fans. We had around 300 fans there, they traveled almost a thousand kilometers, they are fans who experience this and who deserve these moments. If they deserve it, we had to represent Fafe well. Is it the most important week of the season, taking into account the game against Sp. Braga and then Vitória B in League 3? MF – For those involved in football, the most important weeks are all. We cannot waste minutes and days thinking about what happened or the future. We have to think a lot about the present. There is no point giving this level of importance because what I tell the players is that there are no life or death games, there are important games. Will there be some type of team management thinking about the championship? MF – It will depend on what they give me in the game and in training, our team is always built that way: on what they do in the game and in training. What greatest qualities and challenges does Sp. Braga present and are there any players that stand out? And where can Fafe take advantage? MF – I've seen some of Sp. Braga's games this year, I believe it has its own identity, we will work on the opponent. And there is always one or another player, Ricardo Horta is an international and has quality, but they are all players with a high level of quality. Botelho da Costa (Moreirense) highlighted the “bath of humility” taken from Fafe and Vasco Seabra (Arouca) and the “competitive attitude” of their team, after being “giants”. Is it also proof that there is value in League 3 to go further? MF – Yes, I think that when we look at coaches like these two, many others who know perfectly what it's like to be in divisions, perhaps even lower than League 3, how much it cost to get there and the sacrifice they had to go through to get there, it's a sign that in these divisions, not just in League 3, even lower, we work well. I think it's a natural path of things. Normally, those who prepare better, those who work well, those who are more committed to their work end up being successful, sooner or later. I had already been at Fafe in 2017/18 on the technical team. What differences do you find from then to now and how did this return happen? MF – I notice many differences in the conditions presented. The cabins, for example, a new synthetic one that is positive for the training, for the club and for the seniors... In the infrastructure there is a noticeable improvement and then we have extraordinary people here, who were already here when I was there for the first time, people who feel this very much, who live the day to day life of Fafe in an intense way. The day of Fafe-Braga has FC Porto-Benfica two hours later. What would you say to the people of Fafe, football fans and anyone watching at the stadium or on television about what this kind of appetizer for the classic could be? MF – What I think they can expect is that, when 11pm arrives, they will look back and the Fafe-Braga game will be better than the FC Porto-Benfica game. That's what I think will happen. With a Fafe victory? MF – With a victory for Fafe…
