Portimonense suspends players on suspicion of illegal betting against their own team.

Portimonense Sporting Clube has suspended players suspected of involvement in illegal betting against the team itself. The club, which plays in the First District Division of the Algarve Football Association, announced the measure this Saturday (September 5th) in an official statement.

The suspension is preventative and applies to the athletes who remain at the club, "with immediate effect and until the process is fully clarified." The suspicions relate to bets placed during the 2025/26 season, when Portimonense competed in the Série D of the Campeonato de Portugal and finished in 12th place, resulting in relegation.

The Disciplinary Council of the Portuguese Football Federation has opened proceedings against suspected involvement of club players in sports betting, as reported by the newspaper Record. The proceedings involve 26 people. The club did not specify in its statement how many players are among those under investigation.

Internal due diligence and legal action

In a statement, Portimonense expressed its “enormous dismay” at the case and declared its “deepest displeasure, sadness, and total repudiation” of the suspicions. The club informed that “all appropriate internal and disciplinary procedures have already been initiated to investigate, in detail, all the facts and the respective individual responsibilities of each person involved.”

The Algarve club has guaranteed that it will act "implacably and with the utmost rigor" and announced that it will activate "all available legal and sporting mechanisms" to defend the name and assets of the entity. Portimonense also offered to maintain "direct and permanent contact with the competent authorities, providing all assistance and active collaboration to the authorities."

OFFICIAL COMMUNICATE

Portimonense Sporting Clube hereby publicly expresses its deepest displeasure, sadness, and total repudiation of the recent confirmation of facts indicating a serious violation of sporting regulations by players from our senior football squad for the 2025/2026 season. We are extremely dismayed by the involvement of players from our institution in sports betting related to football.

The values ​​that govern this centuries-old institution—ethics, integrity, fair play, and unconditional respect for our fans—are absolutely non-negotiable. Attitudes that call into question sporting integrity have no place, and never will have, within our structure.

In this regard, we want to offer the following assurances to our members, supporters, and the general public:

Immediate Preventive Suspension: As an unavoidable precautionary measure, the club has decided to provisionally suspend the players involved from any sporting activity linked to the institution, with immediate effect and until the process is fully clarified.

Zero Tolerance and Internal Action: All appropriate internal and disciplinary procedures have already been initiated to ascertain, in detail, all the facts and the respective individual responsibilities of each person involved.

Defense of the Symbol: The institution will act relentlessly and with the utmost rigor. We will activate all legal and sporting mechanisms at our disposal to protect the good name, honor, and heritage of our club.

Institutional Cooperation: We are in direct and constant contact with the competent authorities, providing all assistance and active collaboration. Our goal is to reach definitive conclusions in this investigation as quickly and transparently as possible.

We are going through a difficult time, but the sporting organization will face it with the dignity, straightforwardness, and responsibility that our history demands. Our main focus remains our commitment to clean sport.

Portimão, September 4, 2026

The Board of Directors
Portimonense Sporting Club