The Professional Football Players' Union (SJPF) presented on March 30th their Education and Training Program, under the motto “Value your career inside and out the four lines!”

This project’s goal goes trough offering the male and female football players training opportunities that allow their qualification and their preparation for the job market.

“Sport assumes a transversal paper in our life and with this action we intend to relate sport, citizenship and education. The formation takes on a key role in the career transition, in the after-sportive moment and with this project we intend that the players form themselves for the post-football”, explained the Union’s president, Joaquim Evangelista, during the initiative presentation speech, that took place in the Noble Hall of Lisbon’s Inn.

The Union’s president also underlined the constraints that the football players live: “The footballers have difficulty in conciliating the professional activity with their studies. Most of them can’t win. It’s imperative to change paradigm, invest in the young, active, unemployed and withdrawn young players’ education.”

Evangelista defends that education must be seen by all as a priority: “Education and training compete for the economical, social, cultural, sportive, personal development and for citizenships’ full enjoyment. Investment in education is an investment in the future.”

Several personalities connected to sport and football attended the presentation ceremony, among them, Fernando Gomes (president of The Portuguese Football Federation), José Manuel Constantino (president of the Portugal’s Olympic Committee), Rosa Mota (former olympic athlete), José Fontelas Gomes (president of the Portuguese Association of Football Referees) and Luís Filipe Vieira (president of Sport Lisbon and Benfica).