"What happens is that, at certain levels, the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) allows license sharing. If we enrich the squads with some athletes who start specializing in futsal right away, we can, in the medium term, when the construction of the infrastructures is complete, have all the training bases launched in this area to reach the seniors with a true sense of belonging to FC Porto", said the former coach of the 'blue and white' football team, in an interview with the Lusa agency.

From the next season, the program of list B wants the development of young people in parallel in football and futsal up to 12 years old, and the study for the implementation of the under-15 and under-17 levels on the ground, while the entry into the senior level will evolve according to the works of the high-performance center for the professional teams of Porto, in Olival.

The project will include a gymnosport pavilion for FC Porto's sports and should be completed by December 2026, opposing the academy in Maia proposed by Pinto da Costa, leader of the club since 1982 and electoral opponent of André Villas-Boas.

"As we still do not have our own infrastructure, it seems to us a mistake to be launching futsal too early to carry the house on our backs. We want to take safer, planned and coordinated steps to make the best decision about this sport: whether it is immediate implementation, playing in partnership in lower levels of training, or whether we do it progressively until we have our infrastructure set up", he assessed.

This dilemma also affects women's football, whose 'blue and white' representation currently ends in the under-15s, with the former coach wanting to extend it to the two top young levels, in addition to "studying the best options on the market" to launch the senior team in 2024/25, the last season of Division III as the lowest level in the national plan.

"It depends on the investment we may be subject to at the beginning. Sometimes, partnerships require making certain concessions. It will have to be a partnership that represents the entire philosophy and DNA of FC Porto. As there are two scenarios, it is a decision that we will make later, but always urgently, due to the 'timing' and the inauguration", he said.

Women's football is one of the five areas under the authority of the sports director - a function that will be assigned to the former Spanish international goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta -, but André Villas-Boas has not yet elected a leader, such as prospecting and training.

"If in 'scouting' there are two identified profiles and we are in contact with these people, in training we will probably go to the market. I also want to sit down with the current director of training and see if he fits into this culture that we want", he indicated.

For 2025/26, studies are planned for the possibility of bringing back men's volleyball, including young levels in each gender, and athletics, which will be "easy to implement in terms of space and costs, because it falls on infrastructures used outside the external scope of the club and there are still possibilities of partnerships with academies".

Entrusting the position of general director of the sports to Mário Santos, former president of the Portuguese Canoe Federation (FPC) and head of the Portuguese Mission to the London2012 Olympic Games, Villas-Boas, 46, rules out a short-term reactivation of cycling.

"It is a fascinating sport, which touches the Portuguese a lot and with a lot of history in the club. At this stage, while FC Porto does not clear its good name, we have no intention of returning", he guaranteed, alluding to the involvement of cyclists from the extinct W52-FC Porto team in the Prova Limpa operation, centered on the trafficking of substances and prohibited methods.

Leia Também: André Villas-Boas pensou apenas em um homem para diretor desportivo (Portuguese version)