Luís Filipe Vieira
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Luís Filipe Vieira Ferreira (born 22 June 1949) is the chairman of Portuguese sports club S.L. Benfica. He was previously chairman of Alverca FC.
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[edit] 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 an affiliated satellite football club for parent club S.L. Benfica.
[edit] Chairmanship of SL Benfica
On 3 November 2003, he was elected by Benfica's associate members the 33rd President of the club, succeeding Manuel Vilarinho. He was committed to bring 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 Benfica to the Quarter-Finals of the UEFA Champion's league with Benfica manager Ronald Koeman after knocking out the European championship league holders Liverpool. 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 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.[1] 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 his 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. A perceived lack of success at the club has led some supporters to demand Vieria's dismissal.
It was announced on 7 August 2008 that Viera has been suspended for 2 months due to offenses against referee Lucílio Baptista and the Portuguese Football Federation.
On 3rd July 2009, a total number of 20,672 votes were cast in the presidential elections and Viera was re-elected with 91,74% of the votes.[2]
[edit] Benfica's youth
Vieira is also active in Benfica's youth squad. He 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.
