"We want to represent the name of Benfica in the best possible way"

INTERVIEW

Benfica was the first of the 32 participants in the Club World Cup to receive the Trophy Tour promoted by FIFA and, on the occasion of the trophy's presence in Lisbon, President Rui Costa spoke of the Glorioso's ambitions for the tournament that will take place between June 14 and July 13, 2025.

Speaking to BTV and FIFA media, the President of Benfica spoke of the “tremendous pride” of seeing the Club present at the inaugural edition of the Club World Cup, which represents a “historic milestone” in football.

"Benfica is extremely proud to be present at the first Club World Cup. We fought to achieve this goal, and we're going to be present at what is historic, the first Club World Cup. I think it's worthy for a club the size of Benfica and worthy for a country like Portugal, which has represented world football enormously well over the years. As far as Benfica is concerned, it was an ambition that turned into tremendous pride to be present at the first Club World Cup," said Rui Costa.

Looking forward to taking part in the competition, Benfica's President guaranteed that the team will take to the pitch with great ambition and determined to live up to the Club's history.

"Benfica doesn't enter any competition without great ambitions. We know how difficult it is to take part in a competition of this size, but we want to follow the Club's history, represent it in the best possible way, dignify Portuguese football, dignify Benfica and present ourselves well at the World Cup with high ambitions. We're not going there, as I said on the day of the draw, we're not going there just to take part in our first World Cup, we're going there to get as far as we can, to do a decent race, with a great ambition to represent the name of Benfica in the best possible way, which is how we enter every competition," he claimed.

In Group C of the Club World Cup alongside Bayern Munich, Auckland City and Boca Juniors, Benfica's first match is scheduled for June 16, 2025, in Miami, against the Buenos Aires club, a game that Rui Costa considers “very important” in the qualification accounts.

"The first game is the game of emotion. It will be the first game for all the Benfica players and all the Boca Juniors players in the first world club competition. Boca Juniors is another historic club in the world of football, with which we even have a lot of relations in terms of player exchanges, and we've had many players here who have come from Boca Juniors and vice versa. In terms of the competition, it will be a very important game for both teams, because the first game is crucial, because they are two teams that want to reach the second stage of the competition and because a lot will depend on that game. We don't have much time after that game to think about qualification.  It's that game that starts the qualification process for each of the teams, and we have to go into this World Cup well against a strong, historic Boca Juniors and I think it's a historic match between a European club and a South American club with two very great histories," he analyzed.

Finally, the Glorioso's President appealed to the large Portuguese community living in the United States of America, the country that will host the inaugural edition of the Club World Cup, to play the traditional role of 12th man and help Benfica fulfill its objectives in the tournament.

"What has been happening in the United States is basically tournaments at the beginning or end of the season. We, as Benfica, have already played a few there. For us, it's always a great pleasure to play in the United States, as we have a very large Portuguese community there. It's a way for us to also be with our fans who aren't here [in Portugal], who are far away from here and who can follow their team of heart in an official competition this time. Up until now it's always been on tours, in friendly matches and this time it's in an official World Cup competition and, for us, it will be very interesting and very important to be able to have this interaction with the Benfica fans, with the Portuguese who will be in the United States and who are many and who will certainly make a difference in our favor in this competition as well," he concluded.