The rise of Porto Women: ‘We wanted players who had a connection with the club’

For a team that did not have a women’s side until a year ago, Porto’s rise has been rapid. The first season ended with promotion from the third division and now they are on the verge of reaching the top flight, where they would finally compete with their rivals Benfica and Sporting.

Porto are top of the northern division, two points clear with a game in hand. The champions of each regional division are guaranteed promotion and Porto are yet to concede a goal in a league game.

“Our long-term ambition for Porto Women was to provide equal opportunities and promote genuine gender equality in sport at the club,” says the club president, André Villas-Boas, the former head coach of Porto as well as Chelsea and Tottenham.

It could be easy to dismiss as just the usual talk but speaking to the director of Porto women’s football department, José Manuel Ferreira, it becomes clear that actions match the words.

Ferreira, who at 68 has vast experience in Portuguese football as a player and coach, was invited by Villas-Boas two years ago to head the women’s project and is best placed to offer an insight into the short-, medium-, and long-term plans.

“The first thing we all spoke about was to make sure the team was in the first division in three years, which would be next season,” Ferreira says. “In the short term, it’s to look at and develop talent by creating a lot of departments around the team to help the players to fulfil their talent.”

Ferreira helped to create a pathway including teams at under-19, U17 and U15 level, while teams from under-13s down to under-10s are part of the Dragon Force project, a school of football that belongs to Porto.

“When we were recruiting our first players, our goal was to reach out to young players,” Ferreira says. “We had players who were 15 playing in the first team and wanted players who had some connection with the club, knew FC Porto, what the club stands for and what it means to play for FC Porto.”

Ferreira’s other key task has been to create a professional environment around the team, with the club aiming to run a first-division model while in the second division, both in the players they recruit and the departments they put around them off the pitch.

“We built a philosophy [around] the departments, medical, sporting, performance, technical staff and the coaches. The team trains at Olival, the club’s main training ground, and we wanted young coaches, but also coaches who had experience in women’s football.

“Our head coach [Daniel Chaves] already had multiple experiences in the women’s game, we want to have the same values across all our objectives. We looked at the men’s team because we have a strong history as a football club and we’ve tried to create those same values and identity in our women’s team, too.”

It’s not only in the league that Porto are excelling either. Two weeks ago they came back from the clutches of defeat to draw 2-2 against Vitória Guimarães in the first leg of the cup semi-final, putting them a win away from a first major domestic cup final, where they could face Benfica.

“It’s rare to have a team in the cup final from the second division, but the answer to this being possible starts 18 months ago,” he says. “We’ve had the departments to help our players, creating trust, and that gave the team something which allowed us to compete with teams in the first division.

“At Olival, we have everything we need, every bit of equipment, every human resource. Last season, we were eliminated by Marítimo, a top division side, and this season we beat them on penalties to get to the semi-finals.”

Whatever happens in the cup, Porto look well set for a place in the top division for the first time come next season. But for both Ferreira and Villas-Boas there is no thought of taking their feet off the pedal – they want to see the club challenging at the top end of the table with Benfica and Sporting, as well as aspirations to get into European competitions.

Villas-Boas says: “Our objective has been to reach the top division as quickly as possible. We started in the third division, we are now in the second, and the team has exceeded our expectations by far this season in reaching the semi-finals of the Portuguese Cup, with hopes of going all the way.

“The pride the girls have in wearing the Porto shirt and the winning mentality the players have shown is second to none. They deserve a lot of credit, as does José for putting this project together and helping to drive it forward.”

Talking points

Big teams go through: Three of the “big four” in the Women’s Super League reached the quarter-finals of the Women’s FA Cup as an extra-time goal from Naomi Girma helped Chelsea defeat Manchester United. Elsewhere, Arsenal and Manchester City recorded comfortable victories against Bristol City and Sheffield United respectively, joined in the last eight by Brighton, Liverpool, Tottenham, and the WSL 2 leading duo Charlton Athletic and Birmingham City.

Naomi Girma gets a hug from Sam Kerr after her goal against Manchester United. Photograph: Ben Whitley/PA

Wrong decision: Millwall have apologised to their supporters’ club, fan advisory board and Millwall Lionesses after agreeing to allow London City Lionesses to play at The Den against Chelsea next month. With Bromley, the Lionesses’ usual home ground, unavailable and the fixture moved because of Chelsea’s participation in the Champions League quarter-finals, the club are utilising The Den despite London City being created after splitting from Millwall Lionesses in 2019, leaving the latter in the lower leagues of the English pyramid. A club statement acknowledged “more thorough consultation should have taken place”.

Quote of the day

It’s like me coming up against Usain Bolt” – the Chatham Town head coach, Keith Boanas, after the 8-0 defeat against Birmingham in the Women’s FA Cup on Friday night. The lowest-ranked side left in the competition, Chatham could not compete as a cup run that has earned the club more than £100,000 in prize money came to an end.

What could have been … Photograph: Rachel O’Sullivan/The Guardian

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