When Benfica Blatantly Ignored Age Fraud in its Player Transfers

The Portuguese club's former president, Luis Filipe Vieira, knowingly signed and transferred a Cape Verdean player who falsified his documents. This is all too common in Europe.

In late September 2017, Luís Filipe Vieira, then-president of Benfica, was informed that Cape Verdean player Carlos dos Santos Rodrigues, known in football as Carlos “Ponck”, had falsified his date of birth and even his name.

Instead of taking rapid action against the player, Vieira branded the whistleblowers as “blackmailers” and buried the entire story. A year later, Ponck was Desportivo das Aves for 1.2 million euros.

The story might have remained under the radar, but in May 2025, Ponck was arrested in Cape Verde for falsifying documents.