Bruno de Carvalho · History

Bruno Miguel Azevedo Gaspar de Carvalho was born on 8 February 1972 in Lourenço Marques, the Mozambican city later renamed Maputo. A management graduate, he served as the 42nd president of Sporting Clube de Portugal from March 2013 to June 2018. His tenure combined trophies in football and in the club’s other sports with a long run of disputes with rivals, investment funds and the club’s own governing bodies. It ended with his removal by a general assembly, a few weeks after the attack on the Alcochete training academy.

Education and business career

He earned a degree in management from the Instituto Superior de Gestão and a master’s in sports organisation management, run jointly by the Faculdade de Motricidade Humana and ISEG. He also holds coaching certificates from the Lisbon Football Association (level I) and UEFA (level II). His working life began in 1992 as sales director at Reviloc, where he stayed until 1994. From 1993 he was managing partner of several companies bearing his name, between 2001 and 2005 of Polibuild, and from 2008 to 2013 he was involved with the Fundação Aragão Pinto.

The 2011 and 2013 elections

He launched his first bid for the Sporting presidency on 7 February 2011. In the election of 26 March that year he lost to Godinho Lopes, in a vote clouded by controversy and a recount. Two years later Godinho Lopes resigned, forcing an early election, and on 23 March 2013 Bruno de Carvalho won with 53.69% of the vote, ahead of José Couceiro (45.29%) and Carlos Severino (1.02%).

Coaches and football trophies

In May 2013 he appointed Leonardo Jardim to replace Jesualdo Ferreira as head coach. Jardim left for Monaco a year later, and on 21 May 2014 Marco Silva was named coach. Under Silva, Sporting won the 2014-15 Taça de Portugal on 31 May 2015 against Sporting de Braga, drawing 2-2 and winning 3-1 on penalties. Four days later the president opened disciplinary proceedings against the coach and dismissed him. On 5 June 2015 he hired Jorge Jesus from Benfica. In Jesus’s first competitive match, on 9 August 2015, Sporting beat Benfica to lift the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira. The last football trophy of his presidency was the 2017-18 Taça da Liga, won on 27 January 2018 against Vitória de Setúbal, 5-4 on penalties.

Other sports and re-election

Across the club’s other sections, Sporting won five consecutive national futsal championships from 2012-13 to 2017-18, the 2016-17 handball title, its first in 17 years, followed by the 2017-18 title, the CERS Cup in roller hockey in 2014-15 and the national roller hockey championship in 2017-18, plus the 2017-18 volleyball championship. The women’s football team won the league and the Taça de Portugal in 2016-17. In March 2017 he was re-elected with 86.13% of the vote, against 9.49% for Pedro Madeira Rodrigues, in an election in which 18,755 members cast ballots.

Conflicts inside and outside the club

Confrontation defined his administration. In June 2013 he suspended institutional relations with FC Porto, which were not restored until May 2017, and in February 2015 he cut ties with Benfica. In 2014 he terminated the agreement with the Doyen fund, a dispute the club lost in court in December 2016. In June 2015 Godinho Lopes was expelled as a member, and in November 2016 a clash with Arouca president Carlos Pinho earned him a six-month suspension. In February 2018 he walked out of a general assembly; on the 17th of that month, a new meeting voted to keep the club’s governing bodies in office.

Alcochete, removal and trial

On 15 May 2018 about 40 hooded supporters stormed the Sporting academy at Alcochete and assaulted players and coaching staff. Five days later, on 20 May, Sporting lost the Taça de Portugal final 2-1 to Desportivo das Aves. On 23 June 2018 a general assembly removed him from office with 71% of the vote, from 14,735 members, and on 6 July 2019 members voted to expel him, with 61% in favour. Arrested on 11 November 2018 and charged as the alleged mastermind of the attack, he was acquitted on 28 May 2020 by judge Sílvia Pires. In 2022 he took part in the TVI reality show Big Brother Famosos.