This website’s book corner has laid dormant of late, but it is back with what PortuGOAL confidently predicts will go down as a modern-day classic in football writing.

David Bolchover’s biography of Benfica’s two-time European Cup winning coach Béla Guttmann is a powerful portrayal of the Hungarian-born Jew’s remarkable achievements and colossal contributions to the beautiful game. But it is so much more than that.

Set against a disturbing depiction of recurring atrocities, it shines a light on the extraordinary capacity of the human spirit to overcome extreme hardship as personified in one man’s survival and triumph amidst the most hideous of circumstances.

Paulo Futre’s career in his own words, in cartoon form

The latest offering in PortuGOAL’s “Book Corner” section features one the Portugal’s greatest ever footballers, as well as one of its most colourful characters.

The gregarious personality of the outrageously talented former Sporting, FC Porto and Benfica winger is brought to life in Futrinho, a Lenda. Although directed at a younger audience, the book makes for equally fascinating reading for adults. Written in Portuguese, its unpretentious language and simple layout also makes it ideal for those learning the language of Camões.

The Chairman is the debut novel by author CD Barros. This is a story of passion, innocence, greed, corruption and power. We go along with our main protagonist, Livio Almeida, as he is forced to mature quickly and abandon many of the qualities which make for a sweet child in order to survive the decadent world of top tier European Football management.

PortuGOAL has five free copies of this e-book up for grabs.

Read the full review of an innovative novel and a ripping good read, and enter the competition to win it.

Portuguese people the world over are proud of their country’s rich history. And rightly so. After all, the nation’s intrepid “Discoverers” of the 15th and 16th centuries were the precursors of today’s globalised world.

The magnificent bilingual book entitled PATRIMÓNIO MUNDIAL DE ORIGEM PORTUGUESA – WORLD HERITAGE OF PORTUGUESE ORIGIN exemplifies the scope of Portuguese influence all over the planet, and PortuGOAL is offering its site visitors the chance to win it.

Embellished with a stunning compilation of photographs, this work is a veritable treasure trove of Portuguese architecture and heritage, in each case providing a historical account of the arrival and settlement of those dauntless explorers from bygone times in all continents of the planet.