LISBON – The new Portuguese club, which became national champions last Sunday, is a club with big ambitions. The CBA (Clube Bilharista da Amadore) team from Lisbon surprisingly defeated reigning champions Leça FC, which included Eddy Merckx and Jef Philipoom. The new champions also finished ahead of FC Porto, with Dick Jaspers and Rui Costa, eliminated in the semi-finals.
Fernando Silva, from Setúbal and one of the players on the championship team, would like to tell us a little more about the Portuguese team.
’’The club was founded in 1972 and we focus on playing carom billiards. The club has its own facilities, has about 180 members and 35 players, divided into different teams.’’
A highlight in the club's history was the promotion of the first team to Portugal's 1st national division in 2017/2018. Fernando: "Since that promotion, the club has played with at least one team in that highest category. With the support of main sponsor Rebuçados Dr. Bayard, the club has set up a project since 2023 that focuses on two teams in the highest division. The main team has now won the national title, with names such as Marcos Morales, Adrian Legazpi, Fernando Silva, Pedro Pais, Alexandre Vitorino, Rui Palhares and Mário Azevedo. We owe this to the collective work that has been done, with special emphasis on Helder de Jesus, the chairman. The focus for the future will be on developing local training and participating in tournaments with the best European teams.
Fernando Silva is one of the Portuguese players who will start in the World Cup in Porto next weekend. He will start the tournament in the preliminary selection on Sunday, against another Portuguese player, Manuel Santos Oliveira, among others. Marcos Morales, the Spanish captain of the team, will start on Monday.
