Life in the 21st century is complicated. As the population continues to explode and everyone competes for resources, every aspect of the human experience becomes a hot commodity. Those who are best at packaging, marketing and selling, manage to outpace the competition to get a nice piece of the money pie. The beautiful game is not immune from this trend of corporatization, as league revenues, television coverage and jersey sales are continuously driven by men in suits.

That corruption and scandal become part of the cycle is only natural, since getting a leg up on the competition is always critical to success. As the FIFA scandal continues to trudge forward until the eventual climax that will be the election of a new President, PortuGOAL examines the different levels of historic corruption in the world’s favourite sport. Prominent examples of cheating, in one form or another can be found on every level; from the individual, to a league, all the way up to the governing body. The unfortunate reality is that this phenomena is not new to football, nor is it likely to disappear anytime soon.

Portugal has always been a hotbed of talent as far as football goes, with many names down the years having been regarded among the very best players on the planet. When you think about the likes of Eusébio, Luís Figo, Ricardo Quaresma and Rui Costa from times gone by, you realise Portugal has always been able to develop excellent players.

However, each particular player will have their very own style of play on the football pitch and will have their own particular strengths and weaknesses. Some will be very attacking, others will be more about creativity and flair whilst others will work hard and never give up.

Portuguese football fans love their sport in all forms. The same passion that goes into supporting Porto, Benfica, Sporting and the national football team can be seen in the way the nation has taken to online gaming in general and online Poker in particular. They will be delighted, therefore, at the latest news from PokerStars. 

PokerStars was launched in 2001 and quickly found itself the world’s most popular poker site. Now after months of speculation, PokerStars has announced that casino games and sports betting will be part of their offerings by 2015. The company says a full mobile casino will also be available as a compliment to the web based game play.

David Baazov, CEO of parent company Amaya Gaming, outlined the plans, which have now be finalized and announced, in June when he said, "With the continuing trend of online gaming regulation around the world, the company has in front of itself an enormous opportunity to leverage its brand recognition and customer loyalty to diversify into other gaming verticals as casino, sports betting, and social gaming.”

Welcome to the new-look PortuGOAL. Now running for over a decade, the site that caters for all your Portuguese football needs in English has been redesigned.

As well as our usual Primeira Liga, Seleção and Portuguese Abroad updates, several new features have been added to the site. We will look at the emergence of Portugal’s exciting next generation of footballers in the On The Rise section, while at the other end of the scale the Classics section will chronicle the great Portuguese players to grace the beautiful game and the memorable matches through the ages.

In the right-hand column the league table will be updated in real time, as will the scores from all Primeira Liga matches (just scroll down to the end of the column). The popular Quote of the Day, Poll (coming soon) and Podcast features are maintained.

We would like to thank the many dozens of contributors and hundred of thousands of site visitors over the years who have helped us arrive at this new stage. Obrigado. Enjoy!