The UEFA Director of Competitions, Giorgio Marchetti, and President of the Portuguese Football League, Pedro Proença, were the two speakers invited to take part in the Football Talks conference this week, at the Estoril Congress Centre.

 

 

The two speakers spoke about Portugal losing one Champions League place in 2018/2019, with the Italian affirming that Portugal will soon secure a third qualification place once again: "The coefficient system is really dynamic. If Portugal has lost a place then it is because of what the clubs have done in recent seasons. However Portuguese clubs are capable of competing at the highest levels and have what it takes to win that place back."

 

Pedro Proença highlighted the role of economics, explaining his remedy for recovering a third Champions League place: "The loss is due to dropping a place in the rankings. We have to carry on. This is a country with a population of 10 million and three years ago we had the Troika here, but we cannot disconnect from the football market. Financing is really important in the game today, but we have to work with that by being professional and by using our talent."