In an unexpected twist, FC Porto have reached an agreement with the W52 team for five years after the deal with Sporting Lisbon did not materialize. The warfare between the two football clubs apparently moved to cycling and there even was a third actor, Benfica, who made an even higher offer.

In 2016, the team will be named W52-FC Porto-Porto Canal and will wear the characteristic blue and white colours, not green and white as had been announced by Sporting Lisbon. The agreement between Sporting and W52 was pending confirmation from the football club. In fact, there were never direct negotiations with the Sporting directors but with a broker named Jorge Mendes, newspaper A Bola reports.

On Friday, Adriano Quintanillha, owner of the W52 company, was invited by the president of Porto, Pinto da Costa, to an urgent meeting at Estadio Dragao after the agreement with Sporting Lisbon had been announced. He was offered a five-year deal, access to facilities, medical support and all the logistics.

Therefore, Quintanilha, W52 sports director Nuno Ribeiro and Jorge Mendes met wherethe president of Sporting, Bruno de Carvalho, talke directly with Quintanilha about confirmation of the agreement. As they spoke, Quintanilha revealed the agreement that was reached on Friday.

The bizarre story still had a chapter. The Benfica made an offer that was even better. "One proposal was better than Porto’s but we were already committed and could not go back. I am a man of my word," Quintanilla told A Bola.

Reigning Volta a Portugal champion Gustavo César Veloso, Samuel Caldeira, Raul Alarcon, Rui Vinhas, António Carvalho, Joaquim Silva, Angel Rebollido and Juan Ignacio Perez are the confirmed riders for the 2016 roster.

Press releases:

Sporting offered there version. They claimed to have skipped the agreement as they did not having sufficient guarantees about the anti-doping system. In a press release, they  stated that they received information about the riders of the team, considering that Nuno Ribeiro was banned for two years for doping (EPO) at the 2009 Volta a Portugal and dismissed from Liberty Seguros in 2005 due to a high hematocrit.

Porto announced the partnership with W52: "Porto is returning to cycling in 2016 through the W52-FC Porto -Porto Canal team. The agreement is valid for the next five years and represents the club's return to the sport. The association ended in 1984, after decades of multiple wins. Specifically, FC Porto won the Volta a Portugal 13 times and holds the record of 12 wins among the teams.”

Through Associação Vintagepódio-Clube Cycling, W52 claimed they had never finalized the deal with Sporting: "As regards the negotiations with Sporting, they were made through an intermediary, pending a final proposal that never came.”