Manuel Lino Rodrigues Vilarinho (born 23 June 1948) is a Portuguese businessman who was the 32nd president of sports club

S.L. Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904, as ''Sport Lisboa'', Benfica is one of the " ...

Benfica

Born in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, Vilarinho was elected president of Benfica on 27 October 2000 with 62% of the votes, ousting the incumbent chairman

João Vale e Azevedo João António de Araújo Vale e Azevedo (born 17 May 1957) is a Portuguese former lawyer who was the 31st president of sports club S.L. Benfica. In relation to his three-year club presidency, he was convicted of embezzlement, document forge ...

in the second most contested election in the history of Benfica. In the club's

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

department, Vilarinho caused head coach

José Mourinho José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix (; born 26 January 1963) is a Portuguese professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player, who is currently the head coach of Süper Lig club Fenerba ...

to demand a contract extension and ultimately leave Benfica when he stated that he saw the team's former player and coach

Toni Toni, Toñi or Tóni is a unisex given name used in several European countries as well as among individuals with ancestry from these countries outside Europe. In Spanish language, Spanish, Italian language, Italian, Croatian language, Croatian an ...

as their manager for the future. Vilarinho later admitted that he would have probably renewed Mourinho's contract, but his refusal to negotiate an extension mid-season led to the manager's departure. Vilarinho green-lighted the construction of the new

Estádio da Luz The Estádio da Luz (), officially named Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica, is a multi-purpose stadium located in Lisbon, Portugal. It is used mostly for association football matches, hosting the home games of Portuguese club S.L. Benfica, Ben ...

, with the team moving to the stadium in 2004. Additionally, he gave his full support to the presidential candidacy of

Luís Filipe Vieira Luís Filipe Ferreira Vieira (born 22 June 1949) is a Portuguese real estate businessman who was the List of S.L. Benfica presidents, 33rd president of sports club S.L. Benfica, from October 2003 to July 2021. He was also president of the club ...

, the club's

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an senior management, executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many typ ...

at the time, who became president of Benfica on 31 October 2003. Three years later, Vilarinho was elected as the fifth president of the club's General Assembly on 27 October.

Honours

Futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...
(3 titles)

*1 Portuguese League *1

Portuguese Cup Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

*1 Portuguese SuperCup

Roller hockey Roller hockey is a form of hockey played on a dry surface using wheeled skates. It can be played with traditional roller skates (quad skates) or with inline skates and use either a ball or puck. Combined, roller hockey is played in nearly 60 cou ...
(4 titles)

*2 Portuguese SuperCup

Rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: Rugby union: 15 players per side * American flag rugby * Beach rugby * Mini rugby * Rugby sevens, 7 players per side * Rugby tens, 10 players per side * Snow rugby * Tou ...
(1 title)

*1 Campeonato Nacional Honra/Super Bock

Personal life

Vilarinho is married to Mariana Correia da Costa Pereira Caldas, daughter of João Jorge Dargent Pereira Caldas (of maternal French Belgian descent) and Ana Maria Bicker Correia da Costa (of remote

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

descent).Manuel Vilarinho at Geneall.net
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References

External links

S.L. Benfica profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vilarinho, Manuel S.L. Benfica presidents 1948 births Living people Businesspeople from Lisbon Portuguese football chairmen and investors