Football Season Guide

David Simão brought Boavista to the top half of the table, last season, as ‘Axadrezados’ had their best season since the return to Portuguese top flight. Boavista had a great step towards becoming again a reference in the country. This season, the club is expected to continue that process and keep momentum as Boavista rises. Simão’s work should be praised as there were some problems he had to deal with during the season, namely due to injuries. The club is attempting to build a more solid team that could be less permeable to injury problems. However, the biggest challenge for this season will be to replace a couple of important players that left the club this summer. Most notably, the impeccable centre-half Raphael Rossi and his very competent partner at the back Henrique. It is never good news for a coach to lose his centre-halves duo, and Simão will be trusting on new signings Neris and Raphael Silva to fill in the heights of those two. However, Sparagna should have a word to say, after a disappointing first season at Bessa, last year. Helton Leite was brought from Brazil to replace the departing Vagner, in the goalie position, who was never a consensual name within the fans. The key for this season success should be around David Simão. Arguably the biggest talent in the squad has, for now, resisted the temptation to move somewhere else, despite rumours that he could be joining French football. The board tried to take a more domestic approach in the market, as some of the new names came from Portuguese league, such as attacking midfielder Rafael Costa (ex-Moreirense), forward André Claro (ex-Estoril) and striker Federico Falcone (ex-Aves). Unlike last season, Boavista won’t depend on players arriving on loan from bigger clubs, which is always healthy for a club with Boavista’s ambition.