Sport Lisboa e Benfica won the Portuguese League last weekend.
The club now holds 38 championships and is the Portuguese team with the record number of domestic titles. Yet for the past 3 seasons went through the torment of witnessing its rivals, FC Porto and Sporting Clube de Portugal, lift the coveted trophy, whilst indoors was facing one of the biggest crisis of its long History.
In Portugal there is a saying: “Depois da tempestade, vem a bonança”, which roughly translates to: After the storm, comes the calm / happiness.
Well, the summer of 2022 was for sure the peak in a roll of unfortunate events the club endured over the previous 3 years: the coach Jorge Jesus was fired after a 2 year run unable to deliver the victory, with the club failing to successfully replace him during the first half of 2022; President Luis Filipe Vieira, who had led the club for over 17 years, was accused of corruption and suspected of receiving money from several football transfers, being eventually replaced by former Benfica player and all time legend Rui Costa by the end of 2021.
The dawn of the 2022/2023 season looked gloomy, at best.
Rui Costa, faced with the urgency of recovering the prestige a club like Benfica embodies and to satisfy the craving for titles its fans demand, chose Robert Schmidt to coach the team.
With a fairly modest curriculum, Mr Schmidt was initially regarded with scepticism by many, including yours truly.
“I love football and if you love football, you love Benfica”, were the words with which he graced the journalists upon his arrival in Portugal.
Looking back, they couldn´t have been more fitting.
From the start, the German coach, with the backup of his President, designed a strategy and put it into place, both in the Portuguese League and in the Champions League. The goals were clear: to play an attack minded football, as per tradition in the club; to optimize the Youth Academy, by giving promising young talents a genuine chance to make the team; to remain focused every step of the way in attaining the victory regardless of the opponent ahead of them or the competition they were involved in; working hard as a collective, keeping the balance between veterans and newbies.
The joy and comradeship Benfica players displayed in most of the games throughout this season, testify to what I have said.
The very same players that in previous seasons had been loaned, ignored or simply underperformed were now proving themselves worthy of a spot in the squad and in some cases flaunting the best performance of their careers thus far.
Some people are able to bring the best out of others, be it at work, in a circle of friends, in a family, a country. Their ability to motivate, to guide, to command respect while keeping a productive and healthy ambiance, to bounce back and thrive in collaboration, personifies leadership.
And this was a championship won by Leadership.
