O PERFIL DO DELEGADO AO JOGO DA FEDERAÇÃO PORTUGUESA DE FUTEBOL ENTENDER O AGORA E ANTECIPAR O FUTURO

Abstract

Who is the Portuguese Football Federation's Match Delegate? What is this function about? What are the implications of its presence in the national competitions and what is its relevance to the sports context of portuguese football? This is what this research is about - the first ever on the topic in the portuguese universe of academic studies. With the aim of characterizing the current profile of the Portuguese Football Federation's Match Delegate, questioning about its skills, role, sports contexto and future prospects, this study resulted in the conduct of interviews to sixteens of these sports agents working on the 2023/24 season. The research concluded that the Portuguese Football Federation's Match Delegate is deeply knowledgeable of the competitions' regulations, security norms and discipline matters, with technical skills of interpreting and enforcing regulatory norms, and behavioral skills of extreme common sense, professionalism and tranquility. The Portuguese Football Federation's Match Delegate assumes its representative role in the competitions in which he acts, recognizing the duty of loyalty and respect, and the right to be recognized and valued in his function. He believes in the importance of his performance to the portuguese football and predicts a future of growth and improvement. This study is expected to arouse new academic knowledge and motivate research on the topic, bringing to light the discussion about education needs and proposals for improvement, in a challenging sports context - king soccer.