Last season, Benfica celebrated national champion titles in under-13, under-17 and under-20, in addition to all the national trophies in women’s hockey, a hegemony that has lasted more than 10 years in Portugal. The common denominator in the youth ranks and in women’s hockey was João Rodrigues, a manager who recently left the Luz emblem, after seven years of service to the red club. First as training coordinator, then accumulating this role with the role of women’s hockey team manager. At base, Benfica has become one of the most successful clubs in recent years, sharing prominence mainly with Valongo. Former roller hockey player and son of João Rodrigues, the now former head of the eagles helped create successful teams and develop talents that today are performing like Zé Miranda, Lucas Honório or Tiago Sanches. “We managed to be the team with the most players in the national teams and the team with the highest winning rate in national and district championships. I feel proud of this path that has been traced”, highlights the Record João Rodrigues. João Rodrigues and the four national champion titles won in 2023/24 Father of two girls, the former director of the eagles leaves Benfica to dedicate more time to his family and due to the recent changes in leadership in the sport with the rise of Miguel Campos to roller hockey coordinator.
“In May, I had already communicated to president Rui Costa that I wanted to leave. In fact, the year before, I had already communicated my intention to leave. Since I’ve been at Benfica, I’ve been a father twice, I’ve gotten married, and the truth is that training is always very late. The president asked me to stay another year”, he reveals, explaining more details about his departure. “I left because the path that was going to be followed at the base was not the one I had idealized. When I started to feel that things were going to start to change, I thought it would be good to make the decision to leave, but I left with the feeling of duty accomplished .”
Regarding Luís Filipe Vieira and Rui Costa, the two presidents with whom he dealt, João Rodrigues praises. “In terms of training, I have always felt great recognition from both Luís Filipe Vieira and Rui Costa. The first contracts that were made in training – Zé Miranda, Jota, Ramalho, Lucas Honório… – were with the consent of Luís Filipe Vieira. With Rui Costa, the monitoring was also always very close and concerned about the conditions we had for our athletes.”
Tiago Rafael, former Benfica player, is now responsible for coordinating the base. “Introducing a new structure makes current team managers become technical secretaries. Nothing against it, it’s a very important role, but it didn’t fit my profile.”
The call-up for the World Cup
Champions for 11 consecutive seasons, Benfica women’s hockey has enjoyed historic dominance in the sport in Portugal. However, the unparalleled dominance did not translate into a World Cup call-up made almost exclusively by Eagles players.
Maria Vieira (goalkeeper) and attackers Marlene Sousa and Maria Sofia Silva were left out of the squad for Novara, which culminated in a statement from the club and criticism from vice-president Fernando Tavares towards coach Hélder Antunes, who would, however, manage to a 2nd place in the World Cup, the best result in the last eight years.
João Rodrigues with Marlene Sousa and Maria Sofia Silva “I don’t take away the quality of any athlete who was called up to the National Team, but I think that Portugal has athletes with better qualities than those who were called up. Marlene Sousa is an icon of the National Team, she is capable of being the most emblematic figure of the championship and was the top scorer this year in the national championship”, argues João Rodrigues, who also defended Maria Vieira and Maria Sofia Silva.
Regarding 2nd place, the former head of the Eagles’ women’s team talks about a team with a defensive nature. “It’s the choices of each coach who then live with the results. And I don’t attribute the success or failure of a national team to a 2nd place in the world championship or a 3rd place in the European championship. Although I was thrilled with the victory over Argentina, Portugal was not a constant attacking team. With Spain we lost 2-0, but we owe a lot to Cláudia Vicente for these two results, because she effectively had an extraordinary World Cup. She is an athlete with great quality.”
Regarding Hélder Antunes, João Rodrigues criticizes the coach’s lack of attendance at Benfica’s games. “It’s a point that for me should be changed. I’ve rarely seen national selectors in a women’s national championship. I’ve watched very few Benfica games. These are technical choices that we have to respect, but we are also free to make an analysis. Hélder doesn’t chose the best.”
