A Benfica player's words: "The value of a trophy doesn't change depending on your opponent's name"—what Portuguese women's football teaches us about the meaning of victory and the questions of player development
The weight of a trophy is not decided by the opponent's name
It's said that one player delivered this message to those thinking of coming to the stadium.
She wanted the children to come, and the families too.
Ahead of the Supertaça (Super Cup) against FC Porto, a Benfica women's player made that appeal.
She wanted the stands filled. She wanted a full stadium for a women's football match.
What feelings lay behind those words?
What did she mean by "the value of a trophy doesn't change, whoever the opponent is"?
Ahead of the match against FC Porto, a Benfica player is reported to have said something like this.
"Every trophy carries the same value, no matter who the opponent is."
At first glance, it might sound like a standard pre-match comment.
But if you stop and think for a moment, the weight behind those words isn't so simple.
In Portugal, the rivalry between Benfica and FC Porto carries a special meaning.
When the two sides meet in the women's Super Cup, the "gravitational pull" of the opponent's name inevitably affects the players too.
Perhaps that's exactly why it was necessary to say, deliberately, "no matter who the opponent is."
It's natural to feel more fired up against a famous opponent.
But at the same time, there's a risk of being dragged along by the opponent's name and reputation, and losing sight of what you yourself have built.
That statement seems to carry within it a will to return to the question: "What have we been preparing for, all this time?"
A quiet kind of preparation, found in training
In the days before the Super Cup, Benfica's women's team continued with careful, focused training.
A few days before the match, club president Rui Costa himself is said to have appeared at the training ground to deliver a message to the players.
The president showing up at training.
What that means can differ entirely depending on how it's received.
Some players might feel pressure.
Others might feel encouraged, sensing that their efforts are being properly recognized.
Even the same event can produce very different things inside a player, depending on how it's interpreted.
This holds true whether we're talking about the professional world or youth development in Japan.
Whether attention can be turned into strength.
That's not a matter of technique or tactics, but of one's inner disposition.
What lies beyond the call for "more people to come to women's football"
In Portuguese women's football, it's said that this sentiment keeps being repeated.
"There aren't enough people playing the sport. More people need to know about it."
Players give everything on the pitch, while also carrying the role of "spreading" the sport itself.
It's not a situation where you can just focus on playing.
Within that context, the player's call for fans to come to the stadium carried more meaning than a simple match announcement.
She said she wanted the children to come.
In those words, it seems, lay a genuine awareness of the future: that children who felt something in that stadium might one day stand on the pitch themselves.
The sight of them fighting might become someone's "turning point."
Knowing that, and still standing on the pitch anyway — that takes resolve.
It can be a pressure, but it can also become a reason to keep going, for someone else's sake.
A dialogue with Japan — what grows in places that aren't easily seen
This situation facing Portuguese women's football isn't a distant story for Japan either.
More than 15 years have passed since Nadeshiko Japan stunned the world at the 2011 World Cup.
The impact back then was immense, but the question of how to carry that heat forward still hasn't been fully answered.
Even when attention gathers for a moment, it takes time for it to take root as a culture.
Growth in participation numbers, growth in viewership, the development of coaches — all of these are interconnected, and pulling on just one thread doesn't work.
When a Portuguese player says she wants more children and families to come, there may be a sense behind it that the stands and the pitch are, in fact, connected.
A child who feels something in the stands may one day stand on the pitch.
A player who experiences something on the pitch may one day become a coach.
Someone has to keep thinking about how to keep that cycle turning.
The weight behind the words "evolution is born from experiences like this"
During an interview, one player is said to have expressed something along these lines.
"By accumulating experiences like this, people grow."
It's a simple statement, but within it lies the conviction that results alone aren't proof of growth.
It's not as simple as: win and you grew, lose and you gained nothing. The player herself seems to know that much.
If that's true, the same should apply to football at the youth development level.
Winning a match, losing a match, a split-second decision that worked out, or one that didn't.
All of these are simply material — the raw material of "experience."
How the player themselves digests that material.
How coaches and parents engage with it.
There isn't just one answer — there are as many approaches as there are people involved.
Handing over the question
When the Benfica player called for children and families to come, she probably wasn't only thinking about attendance figures.
She wanted to convey something through their play.
The player who said the trophy's value doesn't change with the opponent's name surely wasn't just being bravado, either.
Perhaps she wanted to reconfirm, for herself, why she was there in the first place.
The result of a match will eventually fade into the record books.
But what someone felt, thought, and chose in the process of heading toward that match — that lingers on somewhere, even as it changes shape.
Why are you involved in football right now?
Because you want to win? Because you want to improve? Because you want someone to recognize you?
There's no need to rush to find that answer — it's fine to search for it slowly, even after the match is over.
There may be no need to hurry when it comes to putting down roots.
| Perspective | Player's role | Coach/organization's role | Assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Message through the match | Show a fully committed performance | Prepare the environment and stage | ◎ Mutual dependence |
| Attitude toward the trophy | Not swayed by the opponent's name | Tends to be swayed by the tournament's prestige | △ Gap in mindset |
| Impact on the next generation | Calling on fans to come to the stadium | Building the foundation for participation numbers and coach development | ○ Requires coordination |
| Digesting experience | Treating losses too as "material for experience" | Creating a space where evaluation isn't only about winning or losing | ◎ Aligned philosophy |
| Dealing with attention | Receiving attention as recognition rather than pressure | Club executives themselves visiting training | ◎ Visible trust |
- Show up at training to convey the trust of "I'm watching" — As in the example of a club executive visiting the training ground, the act itself of acknowledging daily effort becomes a message
- Have players verbalize "why we've prepared this hard" before a match — Even against a strong opponent, having players reconfirm their own starting point helps build a team less likely to be swayed by the opponent's name or reputation
- Work together to organize the experience of a lost match as "material" — Creating a space where players put into words "what judgment was made and what was felt," rather than focusing on win or loss, leads to long-term growth
- Notice the "pull of the opponent" in matches against famous rivals — It's natural to feel more fired up against a strong or famous team, but it's important to keep your own accumulated preparation at the center
- Deliver the experience of watching as one where a question is carried along — A child who feels something in the stands may one day stand on the pitch. Bringing a child to a match might change how they relate to football in the future
- After a match, talk about your own judgment and feelings rather than the result — As the phrase "evolution is born from experiences like this" suggests, the habit of putting experience into words is the entry point to turning it into growth
I've followed the matches of a player from a certain J.League club's academy almost every week for more than 20 years. Watching for that long, there are moments when it feels as if something I sensed from the stands has become embedded in that player's game. Watching football, I sometimes think, may not just be about receiving something, but also about planting something.
Of course, the matches and stadium experiences you've had may not have been like that. Just take a moment to think back: when you first fell in love with football, was there, somewhere in it, "a memory of watching someone play"?
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