Chinese billionaire Zhang Jindong due to become owner of Portimonense’s SAD
Portimonense, one of the Algarve’s historic football clubs which was relegated last season to Portugal’s second division, is due to undergo a major change in ownership.
The news was broken on Tuesday night by virtually every major sports news outlet in Portugal, all of which report that Portimonense’s SAD (standing for Anonymous Sports Society – a type of sports company commonly created in Portugal to manage football clubs) is due to be taken over by China’s Suning Holdings Group for €80 million.
The group is led by Chinese billionaire Zhang Jindong, who has already owned Chinese club Jiangsu Suning, and most recently Italian giant Inter FC between 2016 and May 2024.
As sports newspaper Record points out, Jindong, who owns one of the largest retail companies in Asia, “ultimately lost control of the Italian club due to a debt of nearly €400 million incurred during the Covid-19 pandemic, owed to the company Oaktree, which is now the new owner of the Italian team.”
The deal will reportedly also include the infrastructures owned by Portimonense’s SAD, such as the sports complex located near the Algarve International Racetrack and the club’s under-23 training grounds.
The transition from the current SAD – owned by Theo Fonseca and presided over by Rodiney Sampaio – to the future owners will take place over a period of 12 months, Portugal’s specialised sports press reports. Edgar Vilaça, the financial director of Portimonense and a key player in these negotiations, will reportedly take over the administration of the company during this period.
The deal will mark a new era for the club, which saw Theo Fonseca take over ownership of its SAD in 2014, having led Portimonense to Portugal’s top football tier in 2017, where it remained until last season.
Despite the undeniable developments that the current SAD administration achieved, namely in terms of the club’s infrastructures, the outgoing owners have also been accused by fans of failing to bring the club closer to the local population. The official numbers of home spectators prove it: Portimonense registered the second lowest home attendance average in the entire league (just 2,347spectators) last season, only ahead of Arouca (1.945).
