Football Season Guide

Enjoyed their best-ever campaign last term W15 D11 L8. Finished only 3 points behind 4th place and missed out on Europe only on the final day of the campaign. Only the big 3 (Porto, Sporting and Benfica) had better defensive stats. Famalicao conceded just 29 goals in 34 rounds. Only champions Porto had more than Famalicao’s 17 clean sheets. Didn’t score enough (42) though. After 2 years in charge coach Oliveira was tempted by the opportunity to manager Strasbourg. He has been replaced very well. Vastly experienced Carlos Carvalhal took last season off after managing Braga very well in 2024/25. He is the new HC and the fans are excited about it. Not so surprising the great defending last term led to key departures in the summer. The backbone of the defence is gone. The main pair of CBs Ba and De Haas were sold. Also, LB Soares moved on. On top of that star playmaker Gustavo Sa left for a club-record fee. Right now look ill-prepared for a new season, especially with Europe also on the schedule. Only 3 CBs are on the roster, 2 of them age 20 and with hardly any senior experience. At least Gustavo Sá’s departure is not such a major issue. He became a star last season only because the main AM from the previous year Mathias de Amorim missed the entire campaign with an ACL. De Amorim is back now and he will take back the role. Good move was made in attack. Main CF Elisor was ineffective and struggled scoring goals. He was sold. Replaced by the Greek striker Georgios Koutsias. He is young (22) but with a solid resume. Capable of a 15+ goal campaign again. His arrival should improve the scoring record. The key issue right now is the gutted defence. At the minute it seems the team had taken a major step back defensively. That said Famalicao sit on a large sum of money from these transfers yet to be invested so in coming weeks high-profile new arrivals are possible.