Does anyone know who’s leading the Liga? No, not La Liga; the Liga, the Primeira Liga—Portugal’s first tier of domestic football. Does anyone know? Does anyone care?
Heck, even I’ve been known to look past the Primeira Liga, and I’m Portuguese. That’s the lure of the fast-paced, money-rich, crowd-packed Premier Leagues and Bundesligas and La Ligas of this world, whose fan-friendly cable packages are often too much to resist when the alternative is a game between Paços de Ferreira and Olhanense in an empty back-lot stadium that wouldn’t make it in League Two in England. Most teams in the Championship have bigger attendances and heftier budgets than, oh, around 12 of the 16 teams in the Primeira Liga.
The Portuguese Primeira Liga is a backwater league in Europe, filled with second- and third-tier Brazilian players plying their trade for perpetually indebted clubs that can’t generate enough revenue for comfortable survival. If not for the big 3—Sporting Lisbon, FC Porto and Benfica—the Liga would have no place in world football.
In the same way, Portugal itself sometimes seems to have no place in European geography. Pressed against the Atlantic Ocean, Portugal has been a geopolitical conundrum for over eight centuries. It would make much more sense simply to concede and become part of Spain. An Iberian State could actually compete with the real superpowers of Central Europe, both demographically and geographically. The concept was even put to the test in the late sixteenth century, but the Iberian Union only lasted 60 years, mostly because the Spanish Empire crumbled in its mainland adventures.
Still, after all this time, the tensions remain. They are not visible or even immediate. They run subconsciously; they insinuate themselves. You see them in José Saramago’s self imposed exile in Spain, and his proclamation that an Iberian Federation should emerge from the union of the two countries. You see them in the countries’ joint bid for the World Cup.
It’s a touchy feeling that no-one would assume is a realistic one. Not one politician in Portugal or Spain would openly talk about a political union of the two countries. But a sporting union? That’s another matter altogether.
Once, when Joan Laporta spoke out in favor of Catalan independence, a journalist asked what that would mean for FC Barcelona’s La Liga status. Laporta’s reply was telling: Not only would Barcelona continue to play in La Liga, but top Portuguese teams would also be invited to join, thus making La Liga an “internacional league” composed of top teams from Castile, Andalucía, Basque Country, Cataluña, Portugal and Galicia. It would be “political separation and sporting unification.”
The Laporta plan will not go through, but that does not mean that the centripetal and centrifugal forces that shape Iberian politics are not at work in Iberian sport. If in Cataluña the pressure is to disperse the central power of Madrid, in Madrid the pressure moves the other way.
This is what gives Cristiano Ronaldo’s and José Mourinho’s tenure in Madrid a new, bigger—some would say sinister, but definitely political—meaning.
Ronaldo isn’t Real Madrid’s first Portuguese megastar, and Mourinho isn’t their first Portuguese manager. Carlos Queiroz coached the Merengues recently, and Luís Figo was, briefly, the world’s most expensive player when he moved from Barcelona to the Spanish capital. Neither man is the first to shine in his role in the capital of Spain. Ronaldo and Mourinho are just another chapter, a new page in the story of Spain’s appropriating the biggest sporting symbols of Portugal, transforming them and selling them as part of the myth of Real Madrid (firstly) and Spanish power (secondly).
In the recent past, Portugal had two World Players of the Year—Luís Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo. Each of them became national icons. Together with Eusébio they represent Portuguese football and sports. No other figure in Portuguese culture carries the same weight, and while Eusébio was never allowed to leave Benfica, mainly because he was a key political figure for the Salazar dictatorship in the 60’s, both Ronaldo and Figo were quickly targeted by Madrid. Figo carried the added bonus of being a former captain of Barcelona, thus depriving the Catalans of one of their own prized symbols.
One could make the argument that Paulo Futre, the dizzying left winger and star of FC Porto’s ’87 European Cup win, became the first international megastar of Portuguese football when he moved to Atlético Madrid, but he picked the wrong Madrid club and squandered his chance at the titles his play deserved. He is now more revered in Spain than in Portugal, forever a symbol of the idiosyncrasies of the Atlético Madrid’s haphazard path through their own sporting destiny.
Luís Figo was the first Galáctico. Back when he became the most expensive footballer in the world, there were no Galácticos yet. The term was coined when Zidane joined Real Madrid the next year. Figo joined Real at the better stage of his career. He was 28 years old. He had led Portugal to a Euro 2000 semi-final. He also led FC Barcelona. When Florentino Perez, campaigning for the presidency of Madrid, promised to sign Figo, no one believed him. 
Some still did not believe when he was presented at the Bernabeu. This all seems so long ago, but at the time it was a revolution. Figo was not, however, a megastar. A football star, yes, arguably the best in the world—even better than Zidane, though it was the Frenchman who won that year’s Fifa World Player of the Year Award. In Madrid, Florentino Perez’s marketing genius made Figo the Best Player In The World the following year. Thus it was that a Catalan and Portuguese symbol became known to the world as an icon of Madrid and Spain. When Figo injured his ankle in a Champions League game in 2002, he would continue to play for Real Madrid, eventually winning the Champions League against Leverkusen. Rather than rest ahead of the World Cup, Figo kept playing, increasingly less effectively, until he was rendered almost useless for Portugal in the World Cup. The consequence was a disappointing performance in Korea and a premature exit.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s time at Madrid, probably more than Mourinho’s, has been about the elevation of the player to an iconic status. From afar it probably looks rather quaint: the confusing mix of Portuguese and Spanish languages; the girlfriends; the mystery child; the “Hundred Million Euro” tag; the “Ronaldo v. Messi” comparisons. It all seems to be rather frivolous, but underneath there’s intense pressure to transform Portugal’s golden boy into a Madrid Icon, one who reflects on the world not as a Portugal symbol, but as a symbol of Spanish might and want. Ronaldo plays for himself and for Madrid. He is the biggest symbol of resistance against the lure of Barcelona and its morally self-imposed beautiful game. His mechanical qualities—Ronaldo is always the faster player, the stronger player—become more sharply visible when contrasted to the Barcelona way. It’s not a coincidence; it’s what Real Madrid does. They are a football machine, made to win matches and trophies. For the Glory of Spain, they Win. They go out and get the players needed to win, and they win.
Ronaldo becomes Madrid with every winning goal he scores. And with every goal he becomes more Spanish and less Portuguese. He is the symbol of what the Spanish Empire always wanted to be in the world. Powerful, rich, influential—dare I say fashionable?—and definitely uncontested by the smaller nations that make up its fabric. Ronaldo as a Real Madrid Icon is a declaration of Spanish might. It’s Madrid’s powers saying to the rest of the nations in the Iberian Peninsula: “We will take what you have to offer and make it ours, no longer Catalan, or Basque, or Galician, or Castilian, or Portuguese, but Spanish!”
Mourinho’s case is different because he knows what’s at stake. He’s pragmatic enough to know that, no matter what happens in his near future, he will not last long in the Real Madrid universe—no coach does, and he will not be the exception. He has already stated, on multiple occasions, that he wants to return to England, and he knows that permanent, restless wandering will make him far more famous than a prolonged dynastic reign at any one club.
But the pressure from Madrid will continue. They will continue to be the same type of club, a symbol of Spanish might and power. And Spanish might and power requires the appropriation of the symbols of the other Iberian nations. If those symbols are among the best footballers and football coaches in the world, then so be it.
João Jorge spends his time wondering why Benfica aren’t champions of the solar system every year. He blames NASA, destiny and the referee.
With the possible exception of José Saramago, the country’s only winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, who—as I said before—spent the last years of his life in Spain, married to a Spanish citizen. In the political groundwork for the award Spain was as active as Portugal in guaranteeing the necessary support.
I could argue that Paulo Futre was as good as Messi is now, only no one would a) believe it or b) defend it, because of Futre’s frustrating time at Atlético where he only won a Copa Del Rey.
Read More: Cristiano Ronaldo, José Mourinho, Portugal, Real Madrid
by João Jorge · February 2, 2011
Great article, João.
So why isn’t there a Pan-Iberian league? That’d be really awesome.
João, great article, well developed, horrible choice of favourite club
um abraço e parabéns!
Reading your article reminded me of last fall’s Mourinho-to-coach-Portugal-while-still-coaching-Real kerfuffle. Though I don’t remember all the details, your argument certainly gives it edginess above and beyond any usual club vs country debate.
“If those symbols are among the best footballers and football coaches in the world, then so be it.”
Although it seems that what recent history (Figo, Ronaldo and Mourinho*) seems to demonstrate, is actually the opposite: “If those best footballers and football coaches are among Iberian symbols, then so be it”. Otherwise every promising Portuguese football star of recent years (Fernando Couto, Vítor Baía, Rui Costa, Simão, Quaresma, Nani) would have probably been scooped up by Madrid’s millions at some point in their career, no?
Interesting piece, nevertheless, well done.
*except Queiroz, of course, he is the exception that — you know.
João,
Great article! I would just add Mourinho’s reluctance in speaking Spanish (or English for that matter) without resorting, clearly on purpose, to a strong Portuguese accent!
I had just published a post about my David Luiz’ Blues that you might, considering your football allegiance, find quite interesting.
PS: didn’t we won the Solar System Cup in 71-72?
The fashionable part is true!
Paulo Futre is one of my favorite players of all time. Mad…props.
And you forgot about the washed up Argentine National Team stars like Javier Saviola and Pablito Aimar
Great read.
For whatever reason, I’m reminded of the essay on Portugal by William Finnegan in “The Think Fan’s Guide to the World Cup”, which describes the surfing culture around Madeira [birthplace of CR9]. Even after re-reading it, Madrid [and thus, Spain] is my first thought when Ronaldo is mentioned.
@Sean
Thats “ThinkING Fan’s”. But fans should, on the whole, think more, too.
Fantastic read! One of those rare pieces that make football more interesting to read than it is to watch.
@rike: A Pan-Iberian League would not actually differ much from the current La Liga. Benfica, FC Porto would fight for european places, together with Valencia, Villareal and Sevilla. Sporting Lisbon would be a middle table team, like Athletic Bilbau or Deportivo. It’s probably as realistic scenario as a British Premier League with Celtic and Rangers. A European Super League is way more likely
@Miguel Lourenço Pereira: Thank you for your kind words, and good luck supporting the wrong club. Abraços!
@Kel: Mourinho-to-Portugal Soap opera was just a media storm, created to save the Portuguese FA after the awful start to the Euro 2012 campaign. Mourinho saw that and played it perfectly, humbly (did we ever imagine we could use such words about the man) putting his fate in the hands of Real Madrid (knowing all along that they would not go for it). All in all, nothing but good PR for everyone.
@JCM: I understand your point (and Real have had a number of portuguese players – youth and senior ones – throughout the years, even Secretario, the worst player ever to wear the famous white shirt), but it’s this plan to target the players that become genuine symbols of Portugal in the world, that i allude to in the post. It’s not just the quality of the player. It’s about the player as a symbol of something. That’s what made Ronaldo different from Ricardo Carvalho, even though they are teammates in club and country.
@Jack Rabbit: We did win it in 71-72 and again in 83-84. At least morally we did, and i refuse to believe otherwise, no matter what historians will say.
@Shann: I believe it too, but i like to leave it to the experts to decide.
@Elliot: Paulo Futre is so underrated that he probably deserves a whole collection of posts and youtube clips that would make him overrated; I refuse to speak a bad word about Javier and Pablito, specially in a day when they helped Benfica win away at FC Porto for the 3rd time in 30 years, and avenge a humiliating defeat earlier in the season.
@Sean: I haven’t read the piece you allude to, but, keeping with the Madeira Island theme, i believe that Ronaldo’s birthplace bears a huge responsibility in his persona.
@Steven: Thank you, Steve. Too kind.
Joao, are you in Portugal? I’m curious what the mood was for the Portugal-Spain matches of Euro 2004 and WC2010?
@M.G. : they were very diferent moods.
In 2004, playing at home, against (then) perenial underachievers Spain, the whole country was in a confident mood. We were all scared we might lose and condemn the whole tournament to a huge failure (Euro 2004 was a massive event for the country), but confident we could win.
By 2010, 6 years later, everything had changed. We could no longer contend with Spain. Everybody knew that, and the fact that we had Queiroz on the bench helped to that feeling. We “hoped” we could win, we did not “believe” we could do it.
However, there has never actually been a real sense of rivalry between the two countries in the playing field. Portugal’s biggest nemesis is France. The fact that we seldom meet in international tournaments and are reduced to playing friendlies helps make this border rivalry a lesser affair.
5-0 just showed how “powerful” Ronaldo and Mourinho are as a team of Spanish symbols in front of a team virtually entirely made up of Catalans or players groomed in Catalunya
@Joao Jorge Secretario the worst player to wear the white shirt? What about Royston Drenthe?
Great article, great read, and an interesting analysis.
It also interests me, however, because it paints Madrid as the symbol of centralized Spanish might – with the same mentality as the old Spanish Empire. You manage to work it so that Portugal looks like the successful little brother who has all of his morally good accomplishments snatched away and perverted into something emotionless and cold, if even more successful.
I feel, if you’re going to try and use the metaphor of Madrid as the Spanish Empire, you shouldn’t neglect the fact that Portugal were a supreme imperial power of their own for a long time, with naval might and colonial territory to rival even the Spanish. It’s difficult to corner them as victims, or rugged independents next to a rolling juggernaut when Portuguese history is littered with similarities to Spanish history.
On the other hand, that still lends some credence to your points about unification. But where your analysis of Madrid appears to paint Portugal as almost a farm system for Madrid icons, it should be noted that historically Portugal and Spain have many parallels.
I can see this argument in my head but I may have done a poor job putting it into words. I apologize if I rambled incoherently.
The best part about a Pan-Iberian League would be the need to renegotiate the TV deal. Hopefully, the added weight of Porto, Benfica, and Sporting Lisbon would break the duopoly that Madrid and Barca have on television revenue.
@Joao Jorge I see. Nevertheless, and don’t take take this as an inference on the quality of the text, which is great, but I still think the argument does not hold.
Real Madrid can in fact be perceived as a symbol of Spanish might, with world domination imperialistic claims and symbolic struggles regarding Madrid vs. Spain’s other regions, I have no quarrel with that argument. But I still don’t think this applies at an Iberian symbolic appropriation level.
I honestly don’t imagine they would prefer a Portuguese Fifa World Player of the Year to an Argentinian, British or Brazillian one. Figo was more of a prized trophy because he was Barcelona’s vice-captain, not Portuguese.
Actually, as a Portuguese myself, I think that what the text does is touch on Portugal’s issues towards its bigger and dominant neighbor, not the opposite. I remember walking the streets after Portugal beat Spain in 2004, and see people celebrating with patriotic overtones and giving Spaniards a hard time based on things like “we’ve kicked you out in 1640, we did it again”, you could see some ghosts were being exorcised there, while the Spanish people that I was with, were like “huh, what’s up with this?”. I just don’t think it’s as much of an issue for them, as it is for us, and actually, if you look at Real Madrid’s current following in Portugal, it kind of seems that people now feel that Real Madrid is now more Portuguese than ever – and not that Mourinho and Ronaldo are being assimilated by Real’s Borg machine.
Well, you got me thinking on this one, hope to be reading more from you. Take care.
@Dolares: That whole Moral debate that permeates the Real Madrid Vs FC Barcelona has already been the subject of numerous posts in this blog. That game was impressive, but if Barcelona lose the next El Classico it will be rendered meaningless and so forth.
@Ronit: do you remember Secretario playing well? Me neither. He was so bad that the Merengues had to go and buy Panucci halfway through the season to cover the position. Drenthe, at least, has played some good games, though not many with Real Madrid, i agree.
@Stochrst: Thank you for your kind words. However, i’m trying to put across the idea that Real Madrid’s PR Machine works by turning everything it touches into a symbol of Spain.
I agree on the permeating Portuguese and Spanish Historical ties, but Portugal never had this necessity to turn everything into a symbol of it’s might and unity.
You can see this in the fact that when a foreign player comes to Portugal he doesn’t bother to learn Portuguese, while in Spain everyone has to speak spanish, and the language battles it creates with Cataluña, the Basque Country, and Galicia.
@matt: you are overestimating Porto, Sporting Lisbon, and possibly even Benfica (though they would have the best chance of the three to make a dent). The portuguese Big 3 are no bigger, either of them, than Seville, Valencia or Atletico Madrid. They are big (probably too big for their own good) fish in a very very small pond.
@JCM: I agree that they want the best players in the world period. Portuguese or mongolian. However they try to rebrand them as “Spanish” and force feed it to the world as such.
As for the relations between the two neighbour countries, as i said above, i never felt that animosity in the Euro 2004 game. I felt it more in the last friendly (oddly enough when promoting the joint World Cup bid). We taunted them, as we did with the English, after the Quarter-finals, but it was not, and still isn’t, a rivalry, as it is in other sports, as we have against France, for instances.
As for the growing portuguese influence in Real Madrid, it seems that way to us, in Portugal, when we see our media’s coverage, but, around the world, people take no notice. Mourinho is Mourinho, international man of Mystery, and Ronaldo is, for many, a former Man-Utd / EPL Star, that as embraced the sunny life of Madrid where he can protect his perfect tan. Two more portuguese internationals play in the Bernabeu, and yet they are an afterthought. No media outlet in the world talks of Madrid as a portuguese colony.
“It’s not a coincidence; it’s what Real Madrid does. They are a football machine, made to win matches and trophies. For the Glory of Spain, they Win. They go out and get the players needed to win, and they win.”
Since the article was glaringly void of any opinion on a largely correct document of Madrid’s way of doing things (spend the state’s money to fund a team that “represents**”* Spanish “glory” albeit with mostly foreign players groomed into pretending they are Spanish), I will add the opinion in with regards to the “football machine”:
What a poorly, poorly built machine; a porche with 500 million euros of detailing and accessories but no engine.
do me a favor, love.
Thanks for that interesting read. As a Spaniard I had not considered some of the points made about our relationship with our “hermanos ibéricos”; defnitely thought provoking.
Great article!
And I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Saramago died last year.
@Lennon’s Eyebrow Whoops, my fault. I forgot!
@Lennon’s Eyebrow having been present at the great man’s funeral, it is inexcusable of my part to let that information pass.
@dc the promiscous relations between politics and football, in the Iberian Peninsula, are way too complex and dubious. When clubs become big enough (and you cannot get bigger than Barcelona or Real Madrid) they have huge political power and they will use it (it would be naive to think otherwise), be it for or against the government or regime.
As for the “quality” of the assembled product, i would think that Real Madrid’s history and trophy room talk for themselves, regardless of the present day’s triumphs or failures.
I dont think UEFA or FIFA wants mixed leagues because once you open the floodgates, its hard to stop more of these things to happen.
I saw a show in Swiss TV last year talking about leagues and they were talking about Scotlands two top teams and one person said that it didnt count since Scotland wasnt a country, it isnt really national league, more a provincial one. He did say that football is the only sport in the world where democracy is superseded by monarchial rights (IFAB board has 4 british members, And wales,n.ireland, scotland get favoured rights afforded to no other non-country based on some seniority ‘we invented the game’)
They also brought up Canada being a country of 40million and one of the rare countries to have almost no pro leagues of their own that exceptions like this and Israel being a european country are just that and actuallly proof that the federations arent inflexible to common sense (Israel will never be at peace in the Arab world and Canada will never grow out of being america’s Puerto Rico of the north.)
And while it was agreed that the exceptions are few, the idea of allowing something like an Iberian First Division not a popular one among the ruling bodies mainly for the fear that there would be more national league mergings.
The north atlantic league and all those ideas are about rich teams in national leagues who are big fish in a little pond wanting to explore new monetary opportunities (because their Champions League and Europea league failures are usually to quick and depressing to be useful).
We hear about it every few years or so.
@gern Agreed. But, in Laporta’s proposal there was a hidden agenda, that transcended football. It was meant to make Cataluña an equal to Portugal in political terms, as part of a confederation between Spain, Portugal and Cataluña. It was a very subtle affirmation of independence for Cataluña.
@Dolares When I read that, I seriously thought about Portugal’s 4-0 thrashing of Spain, which should’ve been 5-0. The ball crossed the line. Oh yeah, and the 1-0 in the World Cup – offside.
Anyway, there’s no reason for Portuguese clubs to join a league to become cannon fodder for Barca and Madrid who only talk about fair play but split TV rights in the most unfair manner in any European league, much like Chelsea and Manchester City joining the Welsh league. Barca and Madrid have rendered the Spanish league into a long training session, where the only real games are in Europe.
It’d be better for the top clubs to form a continental league with the Old Firm, the top Benelux clubs and maybe some of the Scandinavian ones. People would watch Porto vs Celtic or Benfica vs Ajax more than Sporting vs Marítimo or Naval 1º de Maio vs Deportivo La Coruña.
An Atlantic league would be stronger and more competitive than any league in Europe and draw more viewers than any bottom-18 game in Spain or bottom-14 in England. If they share their tv revenues fairly, they could keep the league competitive and profitable. It would threaten the establishment and so it would never be allowed to happen.
Or Portuguese clubs could join La Liga and never play in Champion’s League or win anything ever again. They will become feeder, bottom-of-the-table clubs fielding squads of players they don’t own, only to showcase them to the bigger clubs and sell them to make a profit for the Joorabchians of the world. And when it comes to tv rights, they will get the change under the couch on which the Barca and Madrid representatives sat as they signed the tv rights agreement.
@Ronit It was definetly Faubert
Is there an unwritten rule that says that any article about Madrid has to be contrasted with Barcelona’s success on the pitch and how Catalan they are? Barca is a very successful club, there’s no denying that, but this article is not about that.
I wanted to add one thing that this article failed to mention. FIVE! FIVE!
One thing that I thought was missing in this article is Madrid’s phases. They’re just coming out of a Dutch phase, going into a Portuguese phase. They also had an English phase at some point and a Brazilian phase, if I recall correctly. I don’t know whose idea it is to do that, because it’s still happening – Khedira and Ozil came at the same time, there were rumours of a Klose loan/transfer and it could easily escalate from there.
I am also one of many that see Madrid as a global institution, much more than a Spanish one. Perhaps in Spain, it could be seen as the representatives of Spain or Iberia, but abroad, it’s as Spanish as Manchester United is English. The club seems to represent Spanishness only in contradistinction to Barca’s increasing nationalism. Remove Barca from the equation and Madrid is much less Spanish or Trans-Iberian.
However, when things go bad, suddenly the people in charge that the club needs a change of phases. The foreign players are shown the door, just like the Dutch garage sale not so long ago, the Spanish players stay and the new flavor of the month begins.
It seems that the Portuguese phase is coming to an end, as it seems that Pepe will be leaving, Mourinho wanting to leave and Carvalho having one year left.
Excellent article, João. Actually got me to wiki who the leader of the Liga is, which is Porto – I was going to be surprised regardless of who was on top because I’ve had no clue who’s been first, second, or third banana since Porto made themselves known in the spring of 2004. Glad to see that, unlike the former perennial third Feyenoord in the Eredivisie, Sporting has not disappeared into the mid-table (or holding off Excelsior), but rather runnered-up for four seasons straight, before 09-10.
A little lesser than Benfica’s certainly due solar system championship, but I’ve always been curious about Porto: If you were in Portugal at the time, João, what was the reaction in the country of their Champions League victory? Of fans of rival teams, of casual fans preparing for hosting the Euro 2004, etc.? With Porto’s almost all-Portuguese starting lineup and the national squad’s relative success at the Euros, I probably wouldn’t be able to hold my jubilation from my expectations of Portuguese football as on a grand rise. But then, Russian teams have won the UEFA Cup twice in five years, a non-Moscovite team has beaten Barca at the Camp Nou, we’re hosting the World Cup in eight years, but our football at the moment is Cesc Fabregas tweeting pictures of Arshavin sleeping on a bus to Newcastle.
Madrid is my favorite club. I’ve been to Madrid many times, and have seen the Merengues play at the Bernabeu and Camp Nou, and I have to say that all of the Madrid-Barcelona comparisons do ring true, and are the norm in the country. However, and this may just be a personal thing, I have never seen Figo or Ronaldo (my favorite player, for disclosure) as anything except Portuguese.
There is a definite movement withing the club, though, to make him “Spanish”. Being owned like they have by Barca the last few years has been humiliating for them, and they definitely want their Spanish knight to conquer the Catalan horde.
Something I forgot to add, that reminded me of this post: I had a Spanish film professor that once told me that Spaniards adore Hugo Sanchez, and they claim him as one of their own, while Mexicans feel the same about Placido Domingo. Not sure who got the better of that trade.
what if there is pan gulf league in middle east.