Ivan Baptista at the helm of the five-time champions

STATEMENTS

Ivan Baptista is the new coach of Benfica's women's football team, having signed a contract with the club until 2027. The 33-year-old Portuguese coach is enthusiastic, motivated, and ambitious about embarking on this new professional stage.

"It's a feeling of great enthusiasm to arrive at this club, to a project of this magnitude, and we are very motivated to be here, eager to start work at a great institution and on a very ambitious project," said the coach in statements to the club's media.

A coach with extensive academic experience, particularly in training and physical conditioning, which are key elements in women's football, Ivan Baptista is used to working in a multidisciplinary environment.

Having completed the UEFA A course, he is characterized by his ambition and rigor, always demonstrating leadership skills, even as an assistant, a role he has played for most of his career.

"Ivan is someone who lives training and games very intensely, and that's what Benfica fans can expect from me. What we bring to this team, specifically, is very much in line with the reality of the club, which is, naturally, the ideas we will propose are to take responsibility for the game, to be protagonists, and this will all be very much based on our ability to highlight the best qualities of the players. Our idea, what we want to implement, is certainly something that brings us closer to victory game after game, but beyond that, it is something that continues to attract fans to follow our games, to follow this women's football team, and that is our commitment to the fans. May this support continue and, if possible, become even greater", said Ivan Baptista.

Passionate about women's football, the Porto-born coach won a Portuguese Cup as head coach of the Boavista women's team in 2012/13.

Last season, he worked at Molde, after a spell in China with Nantong Zhiyun Football Club, where he was assistant coach.

In Portugal, he worked at Académico de Viseu (assistant coach of the first team), Leixões (assistant coach of the U-23 and first team), and Boavista, where he made his debut in 2011/12 with the men's U-16 team.

Between 2016 and 2020, Ivan Baptista had his first experience outside Portugal, as assistant coach for Tromso's Under-19s and assistant coach for the Norwegian first team.

Back in his homeland, the young coach takes charge of Inspiradoras, currently ranked 11th in the UEFA rankings, who have secured direct entry into the revamped Champions League group stage.

"The winning mentality in this club is non-negotiable, especially in a team that has accustomed its fans to titles. We are aware of this responsibility, but at the same time, we arrive with the ambition to do more and better. We greatly respect the recent past of this team and the people who have been here. We know the heavy legacy we are receiving, but we arrive with ambition, which is not excessive, because we know that this team, this group of players that will make up this year's women's football squad, has not yet reached its limit. It has the potential to do even more, and it is with this ambition that we arrive, to continue to value these players and this project", said the coach.

Ivan Baptista also admitted that he can't wait to get started: "We have already started behind the scenes, so to speak, with planning, with everything that can be done without having the players with us, but the truth is that we are very eager to meet, above all, the people, the players, the multidisciplinary teams that make up this department, and, after meeting the people, to get on the field as soon as possible".