Manuel Lino Rodrigues Vilarinho, was the 32nd president of S.L. Benfica, elected on 28 October 2000. The election was the most hotly contested in all Benfica's history and Vilarinho won 62% of the vote, ousting João Vale e Azevedo, the incumbent president, in the process.
Vilarinho caused former head coach José Mourinho to leave the team as he preferred ex-Benfica player Toni for the job.[1][2] He later regretted his decision as Mourinho went on to be a very successful manager elsewhere.[3]
Vilarinho greenlighted the re-building of the Estádio da Luz and the team moved to the stadium in 2004. He gave his full support to the presidential candidacy of Luís Filipe Vieira, the club's director of football at the time. Vieira became the club's new president in 2003.[4] was elected as the fifth president of Benfica's Assembleia Geral (General Assembly) on 27 October 2006.[5]
He is married to Mariana Correia da Costa Pereira Caldas, born in Luanda on 8 August 1958, daughter of João Jorge Dargent Pereira Caldas, of maternal French Belgian descent, and Ana Maria Bicker Correia da Costa, of remote Dutch descent.[6]