The president of the Supervisory Board of the Portuguese Football Federation guaranteed that she was never asked for any type of opinion on the contracts made with the former national selectors and their respective technical teams and, specifically, on the model of Fernando Santos' contract through Femacosa, the former coach's family company. «The President of the Supervisory Board clarified that, in the exercise of the functions previously performed as an external element of support for the quarterly reviews of the Supervisory Board, she was not granted access, nor was she asked for any assessment, on the contractual model applicable to national selectors or their respective technical teams», reads a statement issued by the FPF after the quarterly meeting between the presidents of the governing bodies on the balance of activities. Raquel Esperança Sismeiro, who was an external collaborator at the FPF at the time, added that it was Fernando Gomes who led the entire contractual process for the former coach and which has now culminated in a notification from Social Security for the payment of around 2.6 million euros for the period between December 2021 and December 2022 (the previous period expired) due to "legal non-compliance" in the employment contract of the previous technical team of the Seleção. «The negotiation and definition of the contract in question were conducted exclusively by the then president of the FPF. Finally, he reported that he was fully qualified to carry out the functions assigned to him», adds the FPF. At the meeting, which was attended by Pedro Proença (President of the Board), Álvaro Campos Ferreira (General Assembly), Sandra Oliveira e Silva (Disciplinary Board), Luciano Gonçalves (Arbitration Board), Luís Verde Sousa (Justice Board) and Raquel Esperança (Fiscal Board), participants were informed of the clarifications from Social Security and the opinions issued by external jurists - «reduced chances of success of a possible challenge and the high associated costs, namely legal fees, increased interest on late payment and increased fines» - having expressed “complete agreement” with the decision already taken to proceed with immediate payment of the amounts claimed by SS.
