Benfica Official Speaks After Announcing Partnership with Malut United FC
Representatives from Portuguese giants SL Benfica expressed their delight and honour at partnering with Indonesian Super League team Malut United to establish a football academy called the Merah Putih Academy for the eastern region of Indonesia.
Malut United will collaborate with SL Benfica to build a football academy in eastern Indonesia, named the Merah Putih Academy.
The Merah Putih Academy will cater to participants aged 7-9, with priority given to orphaned children in North Maluku, followed by Maluku and then Papua.
The announcement of the partnership was made at the Gelora Kie Raha Stadium in Ternate on Friday, 15th May 2026, by Dirk Soplanit, CEO of PT Maluku Sejahtera, the parent company of Malut United, along with Lourenco dos Reis Ferreira, Benfica International Business Manager, and Davide da Rocha Gomes, Benfica International Technical Coordinator.
In his speech, Lourenco and Davide expressed their pleasure at being present in the ‘Spice City’ and starting this project. Malut United and SL Benfica will officially launch this partnership during the Super League match against Persita Tangerang on Saturday, 16th May 2026.
“It is a great honour to be here and, above all, to bring Benfica to this part of the world,” Lourenco told the gathered media, including Kompas.com.
“This means we have fans from all walks of life, from the very wealthy to those who are less fortunate.”
“So, Benfica also has a big social mission, and honestly, when David presented the plan for this project, it was a perfect match.”
“Our high-level methodology will meet the raw talents that are so abundant in this region. We are very happy to be here.”
Meanwhile, Davide, from a technical perspective, saw a philosophical similarity between Benfica and Malut United FC.
“We are very happy and honoured to be here from Benfica,” he said.
“Benfica’s philosophy is something we instill from the beginning. This project will start with the initial age category of 7-9 years, which requires time to instill Benfica’s philosophy.”
“That mentality is a winning mentality, a mentality of resilience, a very attacking game, and scoring many goals.”