Portugal’s Supercup between league champions Benfica and cup holders Vitória de Setúbal will take place on August 13 in the Stadium of the Algarve. Another game that took place at the Euro 2004 venue involving Benfica at the end of the season has meanwhile come under investigation. The Judiciary Police (CID) is collecting information about several irregularities surrounding the 2-1 ‘home’ defeat for Estoril, instrumental in deciding the championship in Benfica’s favour, and Estoril’s relegation. Almost all of the available 30,000 tickets were sold to Benfica fans. During the game itself, referee Hélio Santos sent off two Estoril players when a caution should have sufficed, refused to award Estoril a clear penalty and gave a more than doubtful free kick which led to Benfica’s winner. Also, the game was preceeded by several luncheons attended by parties, which should not have been associating with each other prior to the encounter.
The Stadium of the Algarve will also host the annual ‘All Stars’ game in aid of the Luis Figo Foundation on Saturday, July 2. Apart from Figo himself, Raul, Ronaldo, Zidane, Ronaldinho and Beckham will be present among other sporting greats such as Michael Schumacher. The event will be shown live on television.
A different Ronaldo, Cristiano, will be on view in Vale de Lobo between June 27 and July 2. Manchester United will have a pre-season training camp at the luxury resort, but a game against a local team is not planned.
