We must be careful how we divide this pie
At a summit in Oeiras, the financial stewards of Portugal's three great football clubs set aside their rivalries to speak with one voice about a system pulling against itself. The move toward centralized television rights, meant to strengthen the whole, may quietly hollow out the few clubs that carry Portugal's name into Europe's highest competitions. Beneath that debate lies a deeper wound: a tax burden heavier than any other nation in Europe, quietly eroding the country's ability to attract and retain the talent that earns it a seat at the continental table.
- Portugal's shift to centralized TV rights distribution threatens to dilute the financial power of the very clubs that sustain the country's UEFA ranking.
- With over half of player salaries consumed by taxes, Portuguese clubs are fighting European rivals with one hand tied behind their backs.
- The Di María case became a symbol of the absurdity — a program designed to attract talent back to Portugal had to be capped because the tax burden made it unworkable.
- Club executives are calling for precision in how broadcast revenue is divided, warning that an imprecise split could cost Portugal its sixth or seventh place in UEFA's coefficient rankings.
- The Netherlands and Belgium are held up as models — nations without giants that nonetheless built competitive mid-tier clubs capable of generating European points.
- No solution was announced, only a shared map of the crisis: balance centralization without weakening the top, build the middle without sacrificing the elite, and pressure the government to treat football as the export industry it has become.
At the Portugal Football Summit in Oeiras, the financial directors of Sporting, Benfica, and Porto sat together and spoke across their historic rivalries with unusual unity. Francisco Salgado Zenha, Nuno Catarino, and José Pedro Pereira da Costa agreed on a troubling diagnosis: Portuguese football is being squeezed from multiple directions at once.
The most immediate pressure is the country's move toward a centralized model for selling television rights — pooling broadcast revenue and distributing it more evenly across professional clubs. The logic is defensible, but the Big Three see danger in it. If their financial capacity shrinks in the process, they will struggle to sign players, lose ground in European competitions, and drag down Portugal's UEFA coefficient ranking. That ranking, currently hovering around sixth or seventh in Europe, determines how many clubs the country can send to continental tournaments and at what stage they enter. Salgado Zenha's warning was simple: the pie must be divided carefully, or everyone loses.
Nuno Catarino pointed to the Netherlands and Belgium as the model to follow — countries without dominant superclubs that have nonetheless built a solid layer of competitive mid-tier teams capable of earning European points. Portugal needs that same depth, he argued, without sacrificing the strength of the clubs that already compete at the highest level.
But the tax question cuts deeper than any revenue-sharing formula. Portugal imposes the highest salary tax burden in European football — more than fifty percent when income tax and social security are combined. The return of Ángel Di María to Benfica under a government incentive program illustrated the problem starkly: the tax weight was so severe that the program had to be capped. Pereira da Costa framed it plainly — Portuguese clubs have learned to do more with less, but they are competing on a structurally uneven field, not because of any failure of ambition, but because of the state's own tax code.
What the panel produced was not a resolution but a clear-eyed account of the trap: centralization is necessary but must be precise, the middle tier must grow but not at the top's expense, and the government must decide whether it understands what Portuguese football actually costs — and what losing it would cost more.
Three men sat on a panel at the Portugal Football Summit in Oeiras, representing the financial interests of Portugal's biggest football clubs, and found themselves in rare agreement. Francisco Salgado Zenha from Sporting, Nuno Catarino from Benfica, and José Pedro Pereira da Costa from Porto spoke across their rivalries to voice a shared anxiety: the country's football industry is being squeezed from multiple directions at once, and without careful navigation, Portugal risks losing its place among Europe's elite.
The immediate pressure comes from a shift in how television rights are sold. Portugal is moving toward a centralized model—pooling broadcast revenue and distributing it more fairly across all professional clubs rather than letting the biggest teams capture the largest shares. The logic is sound: spread resources more evenly, strengthen the entire league, lift everyone up. But the Big Three see a trap. Salgado Zenha put it plainly: signing players will only get harder as financial capacity becomes more concentrated elsewhere in Europe. The clubs must either build that same financial robustness themselves, or they will fall behind. The centralized rights model could help, he argued, but only if the revenue is distributed with precision. "We must be careful how we divide this pie," he said. If the three largest clubs weaken in the process, Portugal's teams will stop earning points in European competitions, and the entire country's standing will suffer.
That standing is measured in the UEFA coefficient ranking, which determines how many teams each nation can send to continental tournaments and where they enter the competition. Portugal currently sits around sixth or seventh place—respectable, but vulnerable. Catarino outlined the stakes clearly: the country needs to maintain that position while also building a deeper bench of competitive mid-tier clubs capable of winning in the Europa Conference League. The Netherlands and Belgium have shown the way, he noted. Neither country has clubs as large as Portugal's, yet both have constructed solid structures of medium-sized teams that generate European points. That's the model to copy.
But there is a second, perhaps more fundamental problem, and it cuts deeper than any internal revenue-sharing debate. Portugal's tax system is punishing the football industry in ways that no other European country does. More than half of player salaries disappear into income tax and social security contributions—the highest rate in Europe. The example of Ángel Di María illustrated the point. The Argentine returned to Benfica under a government program designed to attract foreign talent back to Portugal, but the tax burden was so severe that the program itself had to be capped. "It's unfair to the football industry," the executives said, though they did not need to spell out what they meant: Portugal is making it harder for itself to compete.
Pereira da Costa, Porto's financial director, framed the problem in structural terms. Portuguese clubs have made an enormous effort to do more with fewer resources. They compete against European rivals on an uneven field—not because of talent or ambition, but because of the state's tax code. Aligning Portugal's rates with the European average would unlock significant cost savings. Instead, the country imposes these additional burdens on top of the daily challenges of running a professional club. The message was clear: fix the tax system, or watch the clubs—and the country's European ranking—slip further away.
What emerged from the panel was not a solution but a map of the problem. The three clubs need centralized TV rights to stay competitive, but not so centralized that they lose their advantage. Portugal needs to build stronger mid-tier clubs, but not at the expense of the teams that generate European points. And the government needs to recognize that football operates under different rules than other industries—or Portugal will keep losing players, points, and standing to countries that understand that simple fact.
Notable Quotes
Signing players will only get harder as financial capacity becomes more concentrated elsewhere in Europe. We must be careful how we divide this pie.— Francisco Salgado Zenha, Sporting financial vice-president
Portugal has the highest income tax rate in Europe. More than half of salaries go to taxes and social security. Aligning with the European average would unlock significant cost savings.— José Pedro Pereira da Costa, Porto financial director
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does it matter if Portugal's ranking drops a spot or two in the UEFA coefficient?
Because the ranking determines how many teams your country sends to European competitions and where they enter. Drop from sixth to eighth, and you lose a Champions League spot. That's hundreds of millions in lost revenue, and it signals to players that your league is weakening.
But if TV rights are centralized and distributed fairly, wouldn't that actually strengthen the whole league?
In theory, yes. But the Big Three generate most of Portugal's European points. If they're forced to share revenue so heavily that they can't compete at the top level anymore, the whole country suffers. It's a paradox—fairness might weaken the very thing that makes the league valuable.
What does the tax issue have to do with any of this?
Everything. If you're trying to attract or keep world-class players, and more than half their salary goes to the state, you're already losing the negotiation before it starts. Di María came back to Portugal, but the tax hit was so steep they had to limit the program. That's Portugal shooting itself in the foot.
So they're saying the government should lower taxes on football players?
Not just players—the entire industry. They're saying Portugal's income tax rate is the highest in Europe, and it makes it structurally harder to compete. Other countries figured this out. Portugal hasn't.
Is there a way to do both—centralize TV rights fairly and keep the big clubs strong?
That's what they're wrestling with. The Netherlands and Belgium did it by building competitive mid-tier clubs that win European points. But those countries didn't have to start with the tax disadvantage Portugal carries. It's a two-front problem.