«The maintenance of the entire team costs us about as much as «Dinamo» spends on Valbuena alone»

On the eve of the reciprocal Europa League group stage match between «Dinamo» Moscow and «Estoril», the president of the Portuguese club Tiago Ribeiro and the club’s sport director Mario Branco both of whom have recently arrived in Moscow along with their team, have given a master class to the students of RMA «Sport Industry Management» program.

«Our athletic goal is to permanently remain in the top 10 of Portugal’s High League: that is of principle importance to us, -- pointed out Tiago Ribeiro. -- Of course, if we become fifth or even forth in the list, we will certainly be thrilled to achieve that, however, the minimal goal is to remain in the top 10. Pretty much everything else, including us getting into Eurocups is a bonus and a premium to us. As to the commercial goals of «Estoril», there everything is quite crystal clear as well. We have to earn money and moreover make profit. In the last two seasons that we’ve played in the High League, not only we’ve managed to cut our losses but we also became profitable. In 2012/13 season with the combined revenue of 5.2 million euros our profit was around 600 thousand euros. In the following season, with the revenue of 8.8 million we’ve already generated 1.8 million of profit.  One important thing I should mention is that our club doesn’t have any outstanding debts, neither external nor internal - and the salaries to the staff and players are paid out strictly on time with no delays whatsoever».

«The maintenance of the entire teams costs «Estoril» approximately 3.3 million euros a year, -- said Mario Branco. -- And when we are talking about the team and service personnel - medics, masseuses, etc. of which there is 15 of them in total, then the cost will go up to about 5 million euros. «Dinamo» spends that much on a single Valbuena.  Nevertheless, here we are playing against «Dinamo», and as far as I can tell, handling this task respectably well: had there been a successful penalty execution during the first game, the outcome may have been much different…  By and large, considering the substantial gap between our budgets, this certainly does not get reflected in our competitiveness and our athletic spirit».

«Our highest paid player receives 200 thousand euros a month before taxes. As far as I know, you also have players who are paid in that range, and quite a few of them, mind you», -- remarked Mario Branco.