Fernando Gomes, former FC Porto player and golden bibot, passed away at the age of 66. “FC Porto is mourning the loss of one of the greatest figures in its history and sends its deepest condolences to the family, friends and all fans of Fernando Gomes”, writes FC Porto on the official website.
On the Instragram social network, the club used an image of the player with the phrase “My mission was to score goals and I scored them. I accomplished my mission.” “The sky took us 9. The goals remain in everyone’s memory,” writes the club in the caption of the photo.
For 40 years, Pinto da Costa made thousands and thousands of decisions as president of FC Porto. Not all were the best, most were proven right, some were the legacy of all the rest. The hiring of Fernando Gomes in 1982, in what was one of four brief promises he submitted in the race for his first term as leader of the dragons, he was one of them. And the very way in which he managed to rescue what he continued to see as one of the greatest Portuguese strikers of all time, despite the injury news coming out of Spain, reflects not only the way he often stepped forward but also the importance of the player for the club.
“I don’t know how I am going to return what they have supported me. The club does not owe me anything, I owe the club”, says Bibota, Fernando Gomes
Pinto da Costa called it “Operações Gijón”. In the company of Álvaro Pinto and Eduardo Poças, she traveled to Spain to meet with the president of local Sporting, Manolo Vega Arango, and set the value of the transfer at 20,000 contos in a staggered way, another presentation game at Invicta. So far so good. Problem? The Spaniards had doubts about the striker after an Achilles tendon injury, dispelled with a hat trick in the next match against Las Palmas. With that, regretting the agreement, they demanded that the payment be made in cash. Everyone knew that FC Porto did not have that margin, Pinto da Costa agreed to that wish, the only thing left to do was find a solution.
“I don’t know how I am going to return what they have supported me. The club does not owe me anything, I owe the club”, says Bibota, Fernando Gomes
“The decision was made, the arrival of Fernando Gomes was a point of honor in my program and I was certain that with him we could achieve great success. I had two days to get the 20,000 contos (…) At lunch between the boards of the two clubs, I handed the check to the president, who confessed to me that he had information that we had no chance of obtaining it. Fortunately, my decision turned out well because Fernando Gomes was the seed of immense successes”, he recounted in the book “31 years, 31 decisions”, where he explained that this was only possible through a loan taken from Banco Português do Atlântico with a promissory note guaranteed by Neca Couto, owner of Indústrias Couto and his personal friend.
Fernando Gomes was always one of the great highlights of national football in the 70s and 80s, at FC Porto and in the National Team
The prodigal son returned home after two years in Spain and brought with him the best he still had to give, reinforcing the status of one of the best national strikers in history. He died today at the age of 65, after having fought pancreatic cancer for the last three years and suffering a heart attack that left him under observation in intensive care at a hospital in Porto.
Born in Porto on November 22, 1956, Fernando Gomes has always been linked to the club since he was a child, despite having started in futsal and even needing special authorization to play in the youth team, being only one age as a beginner (14 years old), at that time what was the first jump of many that he managed to take in his career. At the age of 17, he already had three national champion titles won by the club of the heart, made his senior debut against CUF in a 2-1 win where he was the top figure with two goals. Between 1974 and 1980, he won two Championships and one Portuguese Cup, he was consecutively the top scorer in the Championship between 1977 and 1979 and scored 125 goals. Later, after what became known as the Hot Summer at FC Porto, he was sold to Sporting Gijón.
Message from Pinto da Costa at the Golden Dragons party, remembering what he won in the past and promising answers in the future
After the Portuguese Cup final with Benfica, which ended with José Maria Pedroto and Pinto da Costa leaving blue and white football in a collision with president Américo de Sá, Fernando Gomes was part of the group of 15 players who also rebelled against the changes. he made to the dragons that did not appear at the beginning of the work. António Oliveira and Octávio Machado left, the forward retracted the situation but It was even sold to Spain, where he practically did not play in 1980/81 due to a serious injury, but scored 15 goals in 29 games in the following season.
When he went back to the blues and whites, it was even more impressive. Individually, he again won the Silver Ball for the best national scorer three times in a row between 1983 and 1985 and also won the Golden Boot in 1983 (50 goals in 36 games) and in 1985 (46 goals in 42 games). Europe goalscorer which would earn him the nickname of Bibota. At the same time, and in addition to the three Championships, two Cups and three Super Cups up to 1989, Gomes was part of FC Porto’s first European conquests, such as the 1987 European Cup (he did not play in the final due to injury, but he contributed a lot along the way), the 1987 Intercontinental Cup and also the 1987 European Super Cup. In total, he scored 355 goals in 452 official matches played in 12 seasons with the Blue and Whites, also important in an initial phase to break the club’s fast. almost two decades without winning the championship.
After representing FC Porto in External Relations, Fernando Gomes joined the club’s Board of Directors in the last elections
At the end of his career, between 1989 and 1991, ended up representing Sporting, in a first season well below expectations (nine goals in 29 games) but in a second season where he still showed everything he could do in football with 29 goals in 50 very important games in the campaign that reached the semifinals of the UEFA Cup. The reason was once again internal, with a “catch” with the then assistant Octávio Machado, after the captain protested that the players were not the first to be attended to because it was late and there was a game the next day. At the service of the National Team, the numbers were more modest, with 13 goals in 48 games and appearances in the 1984 Euro Cup and the 1986 World Cup with one of the greatest generations of forwards that still included Jordão, Nené or Manuel Fernández. .
More recently, and in the midst of strong news such as the death of his daughter or pancreatic cancer, against which he has been fighting since 2019, he became a father again and joined the governing bodies and the Board of Directors of FC Porto for the first time in the direction of Pinto da Costa, being responsible for the youth soccer field after having previously been responsible for External Relations, representing the club in the dragon draws.
Source: Observadora
