The current edition of the I Football League is the one that records the lowest number of Portuguese goalkeepers in the last decade, confirming a trend towards a decline in Portuguese goalkeepers which has worsened over the last three seasons.
Since 2015/16, the top flight has not had so few goalkeepers among the first options of the 18 teams participating in the competition, and this season, only Ricardo Velho () and Diogo Costa (FC Porto) are the exceptions to a mostly foreign bet.
Another Portuguese who could enter these accounts would be Bruno Varela, from Vitória de Guimarães, but the goalkeeper trained at Benfica became a Cape Verdean international about a year ago, after having represented the Portuguese youth teams and even being called up to the ‘AA’ , although without ever debuting.
In the current edition, there are two fewer Portuguese keepers than in the previous two, with these three having the lowest bet in the last decade.
In 2022/23, Diogo Costa, Bruno Varela (still eligible for Portuguese selection), Dani Figueira (Estoril Praia) and Marafona (Paços de Ferreira) were the national representatives, while in 2023/24, in addition to the guardian of the ‘dragons’ and the Estorilistas, there was Ricardo Velho (Farense) and João Gonçalves (Boavista).
In the last 10 championships, including the current one, the ones with the greatest Portuguese ‘fullness’ in the goals were from 2015/16 and 2017/18, the first with a national majority, with 61%, and the second with 50%, in total contrast with the 11% of the current financial year.
Rui Patrício (Sporting), Marafona (who left Paços de Ferreira and joined Sporting de Braga in the middle of the season), Miguel Silva (Vitória de Guimarães), Mika (Boavista), Rui Silva (Nacional), Cláudio Ramos (Tondela) , Pedro Trigueira (Academic), Ventura (Belenenses), Ricardo Nunes (Vitória de Setúbal) and André Moreira (União da Madeira) were the 11 Portuguese representatives in 2015/16.
In 2017/18, Rui Patrício, Miguel Silva, Cláudio Ramos and Ricardo Nunes (already at Desportivo de Chaves) were repeaters, who were joined by Bruno Varela (Benfica), Moreira (who would end up losing his place to the Brazilian Renan Ribeiro in the Estoril Praia), Ricardo Ferreira (Portimonense), Mário Felgueiras (Paços de Ferreira) and Cristiano Figueiredo (Vitória de Setúbal).
In the last decade, the clubs’ focus has fallen mainly on Brazilian goalkeepers, with, in this period, always having a minimum of eight starting ‘goalkeepers’, with the exception of 2015/16, in which there were three, and 2019/20, with six. In between, in 2018/19, Brazilians were starters in half of the clubs, that is, nine.
By Marco Oliva, Lusa agency
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