If You Can't Manage Schedules, Call England or... Please, Do Something!

Yesterday, Monday, May 5th, the League finally deigned to announce the schedule for the 33rd matchday. The fact that we are just five days away from the penultimate round of the championship—a round where so much is decided, from European qualification to relegation—and only now know the official calendar is a testament to incompetence that stifles our industry. This logistical opacity isn't just an inconvenience; it's a blatant disrespect for everyone involved in the spectacle.

In a season marked by the restructuring of the League, with new faces and promises of modernity, what we've witnessed is an unprecedented organizational regression. Modern football thrives on microcycles of work. Every training hour, every recovery period, and every nutritional detail is meticulously planned. How can coaches and athletes be expected to deliver excellence when they live in uncertainty until the very last minute?

This season's track record is a survival guide to chaos. We bitterly recall the Arouca incident, where the calendar ignored a Harvest Festival that had been predictable for decades, forcing FC Porto and the local club into a shameful standoff. We saw Estoril's legitimate outrage, forced to play shorthanded during an international break because “there were no available dates.” We witnessed Nacional da Madeira threaten to forfeit due to logistical impossibilities that the League, from its ivory tower, chose to ignore.

If the excuse is the complexity of European competitions or television rights, let's look elsewhere. In the Premier League, rigor is law. By June, fans know who plays whom; and months in advance (typically six to eight weeks), they know the exact kickoff time for each fixture. There, it's understood that football is a product demanding respect. Here, we treat the calendar like a sticky note, moved and re-stuck at convenience.

The League's new structure promised professionalism but delivered amateurism disguised as bureaucracy. If managing 34 matchdays exceeds the analytical capacity of our decision-making bodies, the advice is simple: call England. Study the models that work. Respect the microcycles, the logistics, the traveling fans, and the integrity of the competition.

Portuguese football cannot continue to be managed with the foresight of a dinner reservation among friends. Please, do something!