Madeira News Blog

This post is really just to show the price of success, after Nacional took 4th place in the Portuguese premier league last month, to earn a place in Europe. With the almost certain loss of Brazilian Nenê, Nacional’s star striker, and Ruben Micael, a star attacking midfielder, and now these two below, the team is going to be considerably weakened for the EUFA Cup, let alone for the start of the next football season.

(2nd June). Fulham are set to beat Portsmouth to the £3million signing of Brazilian defender Felipe Lopes. Both English Premier League clubs have been tracking the left-back, who plays for Portuguese side Nacional, but Fulham are reportedly the first to make a bid. The former Anderlecht defender impressed during Nacional’s impressive fourth-place finish in the Portuguese League, which secured a place in the next EUFA Cup. The 21-year-old has two more years on his current deal but the Madeira club are open to doing a deal.

(30th May). ‘Maicon Really Leaves Nacional – Nacional and Cruzeiro agree. Madeirans give up the defender, leaving him free to go to Porto’. 

Late news flash : Anyone in Funchal tonight might like to know that José Cid (above) is playing live tonight in the Largo do Colégio (the square where the council office is) at 10pm I believe. The concert is paid for by the council as part of the Book Fair festivities, and José Cid is one of the top Portuguese names in music. I heard a bit of his music earlier, and he sounds pretty good, and it’s not fado. Not bad for a freebie anyway!

(29th May). ‘Musica EB Livens 3 Thousand Students In June’. MusicaEB is in it’s 27th edition, where students from all over Madeira are united on stage in song, music, dance and theatre. The soundtrack is already being recorded. The event will take place in the Centro de Congressos on 17th, 18th and 19th June, with three thousand students involved. Even the design and construction of the stage and props is left to the ingenuity and expression of the participants, and much of what one will see involves recycled items. Tickets for the event, which has been running since 1982, are €2.50 for adults and €1.50 for children.

(28th May). ‘CD Recovers The Voice Of The Madeiran Tenor – Lomelino Silva (above) was the ‘Portuguese Caruso’ during the 1920′s’. A new CD, due to be ‘revealed’ tomorrow at the Book Fair in Funchal, recovers the lost works of the famous Madeiran tenor, who lived between 1892 and 1967. The project started in 2002, when another younger Madeiran, who was studying in the United States, found references to the singer in old newspapers about performances there. He then decided to search for recordings, which led to the discovery of three old 78 LPs from around 80 years ago. To cut a very long story short … a new CD was produced from the old material discovered. 

Nenê, the striker for Nacional, and the highest scorer in the Portuguese premier league during the football season just finished, received his prize for the achievement in Funchal yesterday. After being awarded the ‘silver ball’, he said it was the greatest / proudest  moment / achievement of his career so far. Truth is I saw it on TV yesterday, and now I can’t remember his exact words.

(23rd May). Marítimo lost 1 – 0 at Leixões Saturday afternoon. That’s five consecutive defeats, and gives them a final ranking of 9th place.

(24th May). Nacional played away at Sporting in Lisbon and lost 3 – 1. They stay and finish in the very respectable fourth position, with a place in the EUFA Cup later in the year. 

Nenê of Nacional (above) ended up as top scorer in the Portugal premier league winning the ‘Silver Ball’. He scored in the game, bringing his total for the season to 20. It’s pretty certain he won’t be on Madeira for the start of the next football season.

(24th May). Cristiano Ronaldo of Madeira, having won yet another league winners medal for this season with Manchester United, just missed out as the English Premier League’s highest goal scorer with 18 goals, after some bloke at Chelsea managed a goal in yesterday’s final game. 

  This is Cristiano in his famous funky chicken pose.

(23rd May). ‘Madeira League With Predefined Support’. We are still awaiting the confirmation of the creation of the football league ‘Série Madeira’ for 2009 / 2010, but the monetary assistance to be given to all the clubs involved has been announced. Those who play in the current Madeira league will get €25,000 each from the regional government. Those teams who will drop out of the national leagues to join the 7 regional teams will receive much higher amounts (cushion payments). Porto Santo (Portosantense) will receive €280,000, Ribeira Brava €200,000, Machico €197,000, Caniçal €166,000, and Câmara de Lobos €90,000. The support is largely based on €750 to organise each match, but the Porto Santo team gets more because of it’s inflated travel expenses. NEWS UPDATE SUNDAY 24th May – The new ‘Série Madeira’ has now been approved to run for a minimum of two years.

(22nd May). ‘Injury Slows The Departure For Chelsea – Danny is on Madeira preparing himself for an operation to his knee. It delays his dream transfer’. Injury ended his season and postponed his opportunity to go to England. He claims to have had a call from Chelsea to go and join them, but meanwhile the rumours are stronger that José Mourinho wants him at Inter Milan. Danny used to live up near me, and although he was not born on Madeira, in footballing terms he is currently Madeira’s second son.

Boa Vista got relegated again yesterday, this time through a poor season on the pitch, and although that has nothing to do with Madeira, it’s a right tale of woe. Accused of attempted match fixing, with a story like that of Porto, they were demoted after an enquiry, unlike Porto who got away with a fine. It just goes to show that the rich and powerful in football get away with murder, whilst the little fish get fried and eaten.

That’s the football league season over then … have a nice Summer!