"The [soccer] clubs, specifically Marítimo and Nacional, are receiving less money than they did 30 years ago, whether they are in the 1st or 2nd division", he said, then explaining: "However, the costs, all costs, have gone up. It makes no sense that subsidies have gone down and that they haven't even been updated to reflect the annual inflation rate".

José Manuel Rodrigues was speaking to journalists at the Clube Desportivo Nacional's sports complex in Funchal, where the CDS-PP candidacy met with the management today to discuss issues related to sports in the autonomous region.

Before that, the centrist candidates had met with the management of Club Sport Marítimo to discuss the same topic.

"The CDS supports a revision of the plan for supporting sports in the Autonomous Region of Madeira", declared the centrist party leader, who congratulated Nacional for moving up to the Portuguese 1st Division Soccer League and offered "words of encouragement" to Marítimo, which remains in the 2nd division.

José Manuel Rodrigues, who is also the president of the regional Legislative Assembly, said that this proposal aims to keep the clubs in the "forefront of professional soccer", emphasizing that "this is an issue that has to do with regional governance".

The Madeiran government annually channels 12.5 million euros to professional sports, with 875 thousand euros going to Nacional and the same amount to Marítimo, as 2nd division clubs, an amount that increases to 1.750 million euros per club if they move up to the 1st division.

"With these amounts, Nacional will be going up and down and Marítimo will also be fighting to not move down a division", said José Manuel Rodrigues, warning that professional sports in Madeira have been getting weaker, not only in soccer, but in other sports as well.

According to the CDS-PP regional leader, "if there were a monetary correction of the amounts that the clubs received 30 years ago, we would be talking about an amount around 3 million euros [per club in the 1st division]".

The CDS-PP party leader reiterated, on the other hand, that the party in Madeira was competent in the opposition and in the government, emphasizing that the fact that it is the only regional force with experience on both sides guarantees it "accumulated capital".

"Therefore, we can say that a vote for the CDS is a safe vote", he declared, reaffirming that "it will not join hands with the PSD after the elections" and that "it will not form a government coalition with any party".

However, it admits "parliamentary understandings to make governments viable, approve budgets and then discuss the region's public policies measure by measure".

Sunday's legislative elections in Madeira will have 14 candidacies competing for the 47 seats in the regional parliament, in a single electoral district: ADN, BE, PS, Livre, IL, RIR, CDU (PCP/PEV), Chega, CDS-PP, MPT, PSD, PAN, PTP and JPP.

The early elections are taking place eight months after the most recent regional legislative elections, after the President of the Republic dissolved the Madeiran parliament, following the political crisis that started in January, when the leader of the Regional Government (PSD/CDS-PP), Miguel Albuquerque, was named a defendant in a case in which suspicions of corruption are being investigated.

In September 2023, the PSD/CDS coalition won without an absolute majority and elected 23 deputies. The PS won 11, the JPP five, Chega four, while the CDU, the IL, the PAN (which signed an agreement for parliamentary influence with the social democrats) and the BE each won one seat.

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