Black History Month is about honouring our players, coaches and staff with African roots. We look to celebrate the contributions of Black athletes who have shaped their country, communities and culture.
Pacific FC assistant coach, Armando Sá, was born in Maputo, Mozambique, a Portuguese colony, halfway around the world from our homes on the Island, but deeply rooted in soccer history.
Sá moved to Portugal where his father’s family resided at the age of twelve, picking up soccer by playing futsal in the streets of Lisbon. Garnering the attention of his school’s fitness coach, Sá was encouraged to pursue the sport competitively. After building a reputation with U18 professional clubs, Sá‘s father made him choose between his education and soccer.
“My father is very academic and never placed a big weight on sports. When I started to take football more seriously, you see my school slipping. One day he came to me and said, ‘You need to make a choice, what you want. Football or school. Make the choice.’”
Since that day, he hasn’t looked back.
By the time Sá reached Liga Portugal, Portugal’s first division, he realized the impact he was having on his home country and young soccer players in Mozambique.
“As I start to grow as a player, and I start to move for big teams, people follow me. People look at what I’m doing and how I’m doing. People want to know exactly what I can do in football and that’s a duty for me because I have a lot of responsibility for a country. I want to show everybody I can make it.”
Sá isn’t the first Mozambican professional soccer player to find success in Europe’s top leagues. Soccer is ingrained in the country’s culture, with famous stars, Eusébio and Mario Coluna both finding success playing for Portugal’s top flight, S.L. Benfica.
When Sá earned his opportunity to wear the badge and play in Estadio do Sport Lisboa Benfica he understood the weight of the moment.
“I’ll be honest, the first game I played in the Benfica stadium, it was packed. It’s crazy, people screaming, sometimes you don’t listen to the referee, blowing the whistle and they don’t listen, nothing. I learned with a coach before the game started, go to the game, look around, take everything in, process, process, because everybody is watching you, not only at the stadium, on TV. Everytime you touch the ball the world stops and watches you.”
Sá’s professional soccer career spanned 20 years, playing for S.L. Benfica, Leeds United, RCD Espanyol and Villarreal CF across Europe’s highest soccer divisions.
When the opportunity presented itself, to represent his home country at the national level, Sá knew the impact it would have on his community in Mozambique. Representing his home country was always something that Sá was proud of, aware of the impact his story could have for future generations dreaming of playing professionally.
“When I arrive there people want to see who’s this player? He plays in Portugal, he plays for Benfica, for Villarreal, for Espanyol, for Leeds United. People come to the stadium to see it.” expressed Sá. “Every time I come back to play for the national team, more responsibility, I need to be better, I need to improve more. That’s the reason I’m very happy. I have these two cultures, Portugal and Mozambique, together, and all the countries I’m going to I take the flags with me. I represent them.”
It’s not surprising to find that Mozambican communities supported Sá as a representative of the country’s soccer potential. Every time he took the pitch he represented the pinnacle of a sport, an embodiment of what Mozambicans can achieve with hard work and dedication.
“One of the games I played, at halftime the coach subbed me and people started to go home. The game is no longer interesting. It’s funny but little things like that in Africa make the people happy. Small things, small things like that. They come, they enjoy, they make a party, there is no pressure, they live in the moment.”
Now in Victoria, Canada, Sá has physically distanced himself from both Portugal and Mozambique but strives to embody the best values of both cultures that built him into the person, player, and coach he is today.
Having a wealth of soccer experience as a player, and ten years of coaching under his belt, Sá is ready to share his soccer knowledge and insights with the next generation of Pacific FC players looking to stake their claim on the sport.
“We’re not small, we’re one of the biggest clubs in the CPL. Only Forge and us have won the league and I don’t see it as a small club, I feel it is a big project. We are working, we try our best, and little by little we build in the club. Bring in the new players, young players, players from the Island come here and they grow and we teach them. I hope one day they can fly and be what they want to be.”
After an illustrious playing career, Sá is hoping for a similar trajectory as a coach. Working alongside Pacific FC head coach, James Merriman, Sá has the opportunity to demonstrate his coaching and strategic skills while building the soccer culture and maximizing the team’s results. When his opportunity comes, in the CPL, MLS, or internationally, he will be better served to take the reins.
“As an assistant I try to do everything I can for James (Merriman), to try to help him, because one day when I’m a coach I want my assistant to do the same thing. To help me to be better and better. But, yes, I have personal goals. If I can have as successful a career as a coach as I had as a player, that would be beautiful.”