Manuel Damásio Soares Garcia (born 9 July 1940),
known as Manuel Damásio, is a Portuguese businessman who served as the
30th president of sports club
S.L. Benfica
Sport Lisboa e 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'', B ...
.
Born in
Lisbon, Damásio was elected president of Benfica on 7 January 1994 with 87% of the votes, defeating candidate and friend José Capristano. Shortly after succeeding
Jorge de Brito, Benfica won the
Portuguese league title in
football. Damásio then started a campaign to attract new members to the club to overcome financial difficulties,
raising the number of associates from 83,000 to 150,000. He also tried to lower the club's debt with
Parmalat
Parmalat S.p.A. is a dairy and food corporation which is a subsidiary of French multinational company Lactalis. It was founded by Calisto Tanzi in 1961.
Having become the leading global company in the production of long-life milk using ultra- ...
as a sponsor; however, it did not help much.
Along with the help of Abílio Rodrigues and Gaspar Ramos, Damásio transformed Benfica's football department. His choice of football coaches was not fortunate: he signed
Artur Jorge,
Paulo Autuori
Paulo Autuori de Mello (born 25 August 1956), known as Paulo Autuori, is a Brazilian football executive and manager who is the current manager of Atlético Nacional.
Early life
A football fan since early childhood and a futsal player, Paulo A ...
, and
Manuel José,
with
Mário Wilson serving as interim coach, thrice. In terms of players, Damásio spent a lot of money in failed signings, such as
Nelo
Nelo (MAR Kayaks Ltda) is a Portuguese company that designs and manufactures kayaks and canoe
A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling pad ...
,
José Tavares
José Fernando Campos Tavares (born 23 April 1966) is a Portuguese former footballer who played mainly as a central midfielder.
Club career
Tavares was born in Vila Nova de Gaia, Porto District. During his career he played for C.F. Oliveira ...
,
Paulo Nunes, and
Donizete, among over 100 signings.
Despite the lack of football titles, which led to the termination of Damásio's three-year term in June 1996, he was reelected for another triennial term, which ended abruptly one year later. He left Benfica following new early elections and was succeeded by
João Vale e Azevedo on 31 October 1997.
References
1940 births
Living people
People from Lisbon
S.L. Benfica presidents
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