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Portuguese
PM slammed over €20K TV sports contract
Luís
Montenegro has ordered his team to renegotiate the price paid to stream
football matches in his official residence and government offices.
February
18, 2026 11:29 am CET
By Aitor
Hernández-Morales
Portuguese
Prime Minister Luís Montenegro has been chastised for spending tens of
thousands of euros to watch football matches in government buildings.
In the
land of Eusébio, Cristiano Ronaldo and José Mourinho, politicians are expected
to keep track of major football games. But this week eyebrows were raised this
week when it was revealed the government had agreed to pay nearly €20,000 for
eight premium Sport TV channel subscriptions through August 2028.
According
to the Correio da Manhã newspaper, a contract negotiated with
telecommunications operator NOS last December would allow Sport TV matches to
be seen on seven televisions in the Palace of São Bento — the prime minister’s
residence — and one in the government’s office suite in the neighboring
Portuguese parliament.
The high
price of the subscriptions, which were reported as the country reels from weeks
of devastating storms that have caused millions in damage, generated headlines
and prompted criticism of the prime minister.
“Deep
down, the real problem is this: those who manage state funds — which are paid
for by all of us taxpayers — rarely feel the cost of what they spend,” wrote
CNN columnist Filipe Santos Costa. “They don’t perceive it as money belonging
to the entire community, but as a sum that miraculously exists in the coffers …
And this government has been spending a lot!”
The
general secretariat of the government — the bureaucratic body tasked with
coordinating administrative support for Portugal’s executive, and which
negotiated the contract — initially downplayed the revelations by pointing out
that the state has been paying for eight premium Sport TV subscriptions since
2017, under a plan approved when António Costa — the current president of the
European Council — was prime minister.
But the
price for the service — which includes broadcasts of all Primeira Liga, Europa
League and Champions League matches — has increased substantially since then.
Whereas the government spent €1,170 per year on the subscriptions last year,
the latest contract bound it to pay €7,023 to access the same content in 2026.
Montenegro,
a well-known supporter of the FC Porto soccer team, on Wednesday ordered the
television contract be renegotiated. In a statement, the general secretariat
confirmed that the state had reduced the monthly cost for the service from €585
to €146, or around €5,000 in total through 2028.
In
practice, that means the government will now have access to only two
subscriptions — one in the prime minister’s residence and one in the
parliament.
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