By CHRIS WRIGHT
Olhanense will travel to the Alvalade Stadium in Lisbon to take on Sporting Lisbon for their opening fixture in Liga ZON Sagres on the weekend of August 13/14.
Sporting’s new manager, Domingos Paciência, who took SC Braga to the UEFA Europa League Final last season, will be keen to re-establish the Lisbon club as a major force in Europe.
The former FC Porto and Portugal striker enjoyed two outstanding seasons at Braga, following promising beginnings as coach of Leiria and Académica de Coimbra.
In his first campaign with the Arsenalistas, he led them to a best ever runners-up finish in the Portuguese Liga in 2009/10 before masterminding this term’s European run which ended in a 1-0 defeat by Porto in Dublin.
Olhanense have three Sporting players on loan – centre-back Mexer, midfielder Bruno Pereirinha and forward Wilson Eduardo.
Bruno Pereirinha made 19 appearances for Portugal U21s over the last three seasons while Wilson Eduardo scored four goals in three outings for the national under 21 side last season.
The first home game for Olhanense will be against V.Setúbal on the weekend of August 20/21. Olhanense travel to Benfica at the end of October while league champions Porto visit the José Arcanjo Stadium in Olhão the following weekend of November 5/6.
On Monday, Olhanense entertain Football League new boys Crawley Town at the Colina Verde Sports & Golf Resort at Maragota near Moncarapacho. Kick-off 5pm. Entry is free and everyone is welcome.
On Saturday, July 16, Portimonense are the opponents at the same venue.
The Olhanense players have returned from their summer break and a number of new faces are expected to join the squad in the coming days. The Brazilian midfielder Cauê formerly with Leixões has signed a two year contract while goalkeeper Fabiano (ex-América de Natal, USA) has signed for three years.
There are strong rumours that three more players – defenders Luis Figueroa (formerly with Spanish side Unión Española), Ruben Fernandes (Portimonense) and Argentinean forward Victor Damian Meza (Union San Filipe, Chile) – could be about to put pen to paper.
