The Minister for Youth and Sport, Caifadine Manasse, has decided to take over the direct management of the Sports Promotion Fund (FPD) in order to better inform himself and decide on various ongoing matters.

To this end, a team of FPD technicians was appointed to work directly with the minister.

According to this week's sports weekly Desafio, the FPD's director general, Amélia Cabral, has been instructed to collaborate with the appointed team whenever necessary.

It was up to the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Youth and Sport, Júlio Mendes, to convey the new operating formula to the FPD staff until a decision was made to the contrary.

Meanwhile, Amélia Cabral has been instructed to dedicate herself with all her energy over the next few days to the success of the upcoming matches of the National Football Team, "Mambas".

Also according to "Desafio", Manasse has taken on the major responsibilities of managing the FPD, a state entity whose mission is to mobilize material and financial resources, design and manage investment programmes and projects aimed at promoting and developing sports in an integral way.

This is an entity that initially, after its creation, not only contributed to the running costs of national federations and their activities, especially the organization of national championships and participation in international competitions, but also financed infrastructure projects.

The decision to take over the management of the FPD comes at a time when, apart from the problems with the maintenance of the Zimpeto National Stadium, especially the pitch, which has been banned for international matches by the CAF because of constant problems with the grass, there is discontent among the sports, whose federations have been clamoring for more attention from the state or government, especially when it comes to support to meet the commitments of the national teams on the various international fronts.

"Regarding the FPD, the measures are those we have taken and a team from the ministry is working together with the acting director to try to maximize the activities taking place at the ENZ. As I said before, our obligation is to make sure that the Zimpeto National Stadium is not a problem when it comes to our national team's matches. So it's important that someone from the ministry, in this case the permanent secretary, works together with the FPD management," he said.