Vitória SC keeps its majority as V Sports takes a larger stake

At Vitória SC’s Pavilhão Unidade Vimaranense, members cast secret ballots on the sale of a further 17 per cent of the club’s SAD to V Sports. The result was announced at 3:30 a.m. on Saturday: 717 votes in favour, 468 against, with six blank ballots and four invalid. The meeting, which had begun on Friday evening, ended at 4:22 a.m., after members had approved a deal that changes the balance between the club and its investor.

The vote gives V Sports a further 17 per cent of Vitória SC’s SAD in return for a €3.8 million injection intended to reduce debt, while Maisfutebol reported liabilities above €85 million. Vitória retains 50.84 per cent, three of the five board seats and day-to-day authority over recruitment and team management within the budget. But majority ownership does not mean sole control: strategic decisions require approval from shareholders holding at least 60 per cent, so Vitória and V Sports must agree on those matters. The deal brings cash and gives V Sports a larger role, while leaving Vitória with a majority stake and operational say.

Before the meeting, former General Assembly president Belmiro Pinto dos Santos called it irregular, citing the missing price and precise amendments to the SAD’s articles; Movimento VSC also opposed voting on the transfer before the accounts were considered. Rui Rodrigues described the meeting as a moment of dialogue, debate and clarification.

The €3.8 million is split between two payments, rather than arriving in full at the SAD. V Sports is to pay €2 million to Vitória SC, which will put that sum into the SAD’s share capital, while a further €1.8 million goes directly into the company, according to O Jogo and Maisfutebol.

That distinction matters: one part passes through the club before entering the SAD, while the other goes straight to the company carrying the liabilities. Maisfutebol reported that at the end of the 2025/26 season the SAD had net liabilities above €57 million and negative equity of €37 million. Even measured against the lower net-liability figure, the new funding is only a partial intervention, not a balance-sheet reset.

The ownership change is substantial: V Sports moves from 29 per cent to 46 per cent, while other shareholders retain 3.16 per cent. Before the vote, Vitória held 67.84 per cent; under the approved deal it remains the largest shareholder, but with a narrower lead.

The board structure gives the partnership a defined place in the SAD’s governance. Vitória retains three of its five seats, while V Sports appoints two representatives: Roberto Olabe and Bashir Lebada, according to O Jogo and Maisfutebol. The agreement also protects Vitória’s name, symbol and colours from transfer. That protection sits alongside the financial and governance terms, placing limits on what the investment can alter about the club’s identity.

On the pitch, the agreement sets out two routes for V Sports to contribute. It may propose up to six players each season, but Vitória must approve them; at least 20 per cent of net gains from player sales must also be reinvested in the club, according to O Jogo, Maisfutebol and A Bola.

The first provision gives V Sports a channel to suggest recruitment, not the power to decide it. The second links future investment to the club’s returns from player sales, rather than specifying a fixed annual sum. Both provisions put the sporting role inside terms that require Vitória’s consent or depend on what sales generate.

Coach Tiago Margarido welcomed the potential access to resources for innovation and recruitment, while making clear that he was not qualified to assess the financial detail.

This partnership will greatly benefit the club’s future, because it will provide access to different resources.

The question is whether the new money changes the SAD’s longer-term finances, or simply eases pressure for now. Ricardo Martins Lobo, a former chair of Vitória’s Fiscal Council, says the deal cannot correct the underlying imbalance on its own.

The answer is clear: it does not resolve the SAD’s economic imbalance, restructure its liabilities or, by itself, restore financial sustainability. It is temporary relief, not a solution.

Vitória’s fiscal council reached a more favourable assessment, subject to safeguards. It pointed to the club’s retained majority and the commitment to work on debt restructuring, saying the operation could make cash flow more predictable and reduce pressure in negotiations in the next transfer market. President Rui Rodrigues presented the agreement as an improvement on the earlier proposal.

We are facing an agreement that we consider beneficial for Vitória and better than the one reached in 2023.

The route back to this stake began in 2023, when members approved in principle a V Sports share purchase for €5.5 million, alongside a €2 million infrastructure donation. That arrangement was later scaled back: V Sports reduced its holding from 46 per cent to 29 per cent in June 2023 to meet UEFA requirements concerning the independence of Vitória and Aston Villa, and the donation was withdrawn, according to Record and Público.

This time, the extra shares are to be held through a blind trust. Vitória’s SAD legal team says it will exercise the voting rights without instructions from V Sports, a safeguard intended to address potential conflicts and UEFA’s multi-club ownership rules, as Maisfutebol reports. The arrangement separates ownership from direct voting control over that portion.

AFC Wimbledon offers a comparison from another member-owned club. Its supporters’ trust approved a model that retains 50.01 per cent majority ownership while allowing the board to seek investment partners, according to the BBC. In both cases, members have sought outside investment without surrendering the club’s majority position.

Members left the Pavilhão Unidade Vimaranense at 4:22 a.m. with the sale approved; what happens next is whether its financial and governance terms can be put into effect. Approval was not implementation. The debt plan, the board’s deliberation on proposed changes to the SAD’s articles and the applicable corporate and regulatory steps all remain ahead.

• Within 60 working days: the parties are due to draw up a plan to restructure between €20 million and €30 million of SAD debt.
• After the members’ vote: the board’s deliberation on a proposed amendment to the SAD’s articles, which members authorised.
• Before implementation: completion of any applicable corporate and regulatory steps for the share transfer and blind-trust arrangement.