A quiet start to the Championship with a 2 in mind

For most FC Porto fans, from the older ones who remember Madjer's backheel to the younger ones who remember Quaresma's trivela, he was the captain . Jorge Costa, the former Porto center-back whose image was almost inseparable from the armband he wore when he lifted the Champions League in Gelsenkirchen, departed without anyone having time to say goodbye , leaving a club without a leader.

The former Portuguese international, who played for the Portuguese national team at Euro 2000 and the 2002 World Cup and was the 1991 U-20 World Cup champion, died this Tuesday at just 53 years old, chilling a torrid August week. Everyone , practically everyone, joined in the tributes, the memories, the tears, and the stories that featured someone who was a "Beast" on the field and a friend off it. FC Porto lost a director to football, a former captain, and one of the key figures of recent decades—but, above and beyond all that, they lost a role model .

Fate would have it that Jorge Costa disappeared precisely in the week that marks the start of the Championship: Sporting kicks off this Friday against Casa Pia (8:15 pm), while FC Porto requested the postponement of the first round and will only host V. Guimarães on Monday (8:45 pm). Benfica is still out of action due to the third qualifying round for access to the Champions League — where they beat Nice in the first leg (0-2) in France, with Ivanovic scoring his first goal and bringing the Reds closer to a playoff where their opponents could be Fenerbahçe or Feyenoord.

A Championship start that's certainly not without atypical, even unprecedented, twists and turns. Sporting is seeking a third title, a title they haven't won since the 1950s, and Rui Borges, who recently welcomed Ricardo Mangas and Georgios Vagiannidis , faces a tactical uncertainty; Benfica is seeking to regain the title, clearly aware that everything could change with the highly contested October elections; and FC Porto appears to be preparing for a new year with a newly appointed coach and the need to overcome the shock of Jorge Costa's death.

The week was also marked by the start of the Tour of Portugal, which this weekend features one of its key stages, the climb to Senhora da Graça, with Rafael Reis emerging as the yellow jersey winner after the prologue and the second stage. In the coming days, in addition to Benfica, Sporting Braga, and Santa Clara deciding their futures in the Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League, the European Super Cup will also take place in Udine, where PSG's Portuguese squad will face a Tottenham team already boasting João Palhinha .

Finally, news from France Football: Vitinha, Nuno Mendes, and João Neves are all on the Ballon d'Or nominees list, with the latter, along with Rodrigo Mora, also appearing among the possible winners of the Kopa Trophy. Viktor Gyökeres, who remains without a goal for Arsenal after two friendlies, is also among the 30 nominees for the Player of the Year award, becoming the first player since Rui Patrício in 2016 to be singled out after a season in Portugal.