SL Benfica, a Portuguese football club, have inked a strategic collaboration with the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) club, NJ/NY Gotham FC.
This new collaboration is formed with the goal of exchanging knowledge and developing in multiple fields associated with women’s football.
🦅 SL Benfica 🤝 @GothamFC 🗽
— SL Benfica (@slbenfica_en) May 24, 2023
As part of Benfica’s growth strategy in the United States, the team is looking to strengthen its presence in the region while discovering the abundance of talent and passion for football in New Jersey and New York, in which there is a large Portuguese and Benfica community.
Through this collaboration, SL Benfica will receive essential expertise and insights into the North American women’s football landscape.
By closely monitoring innovations and best practices in women’s football in the region, the football club hopes to improve its own player development programmes and boost its position as a global leader in talent development.
Bernardo Faria de Carvalho, Global Expansion Director at Benfica, said, “Benfica can benefit a lot from this partnership. Women’s soccer in the United States is very advanced, there are 12 million ladies competing, federated. Women’s soccer is much more advanced in America. With the investment and with the will Benfica has shown in the last years, we are making strides, and we will reach their level very quickly. On either side of the ocean, there are equal goals.”
Josh Murphy, Gotham FC Senior Advisor on Soccer Operations and Soccer Partnerships, commented, “We feel that we are sort of the veterans of the league, we want to show that, our experience, our talent, our youth… The Gotham women’s team is growing fast, it’s noticeable in everything: in the youth development, in the interaction with the fans, etc. We have a giant Portuguese community supporting us.
“Alongside SL Benfica, this partnership provides an opportunity to bring a familiar connection from Portugal to the Portuguese community in our own backyard of New York and New Jersey, while positioning Gotham FC as a global brand. Together, our collective commitment will help grow the game and expand our reach in the United States and internationally.”