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Patão joins Boston from Portuguese powerhouse Benfica. Acclimating to the area has meant “trying new things,” including lobster rolls.
Filipa Patão, who was appointed the inaugural head coach of Boston Legacy FC in June, spoke to reporters for the first time at her introductory press conference on Thursday.
Patão, 36, joins Boston from Benfica in her native Portugal. Having featured for Benfica as both a player and then as manager of the women’s team, she said she was ready for a change after helping lead her former club to five consecutive Campeonato Nacional Feminino titles.
“It’s an incredible honor to join this club and step into a city with such a rich tradition of sports,” said Patão. “I’m very excited because I know the project is ambitious. I know that I have the opportunity to help build something different, something great, and create a legacy.”
“I felt that this was the moment for me to take this step to another league,” she said of leaving Portugal. “Different is not not necessarily bad. It can be good. Why Boston? Because the identity of Boston is very similar with my identity. I felt that the club has the same values and the same goals that I have. I don’t like to feel comfortable. And in Benfica I started to be a little bit comfortable, because we won everything.”
In domestic terms, Patão is not really exaggerating in her reference to Benfica winning “everything.” As one of the country’s most recognizable clubs — its men’s soccer team has notched 38 league titles and won two European Cups in the 1960s — Benfica’s women’s team has already attained a similar standard of excellence.
Much of the success occurred under Patão’s leadership. Aside from the plethora of league titles, Benfica also won a Portuguese Cup, three League Cups, and two Portuguese Super Cups.
Now, she prepares to lead her new team into the parity-driven NWSL, with its salary cap and bevy of roster rules. Patão said she’s ready to embrace the challenge.
“You are saying exactly why I’m here in this league,” she said when asked about NWSL’s competitiveness. “Adaptability, you need to have that in this league.”
As she noted, Benfica not only competed in Portugal, but also in the UEFA Champions League (which is arguably the highest standard in both men’s and women’s soccer in the world). Patão guided Benfica to the quarterfinals of the competition on 2023-2024, which was the farthest any Portuguese women’s team had been.
“This is one thing that Benfica [taught] me, and I want to bring it here too. Our league in Portugal yes, it’s not a league that’s as competitive like this league in the United States. But we have the UEFA Women’s Champions League, and there we need to have the capacity to have the adaptability. Why? Because you’re probably going to play against Barcelona, against Lyon, so we need to change some things to have success.
“The most important thing in football is to understand the game,” added Patão. “Understand what the game is saying to you. And if the game is saying to you that you need to change some particular thing, some particular dynamic or principle in the game, then you need to do it.”
While Patão formerly had to prepare to compete against Barcelona — winners of three of the last five Women’s Champions League trophies — she now has the services of a former executive from the Spanish club alongside her in Boston.
Domènec Guasch, the Legacy’s general manager, joined after leaving Barcelona as the club’s former head of management for women’s football.
Patão pointed out that her vision of how a soccer team should be played (and built) aligns with Guasch. The duo have a few more months to assemble a roster before the club takes the field for the first time in the 2026 NWSL season.
“I think we have the same identity and that helps a lot,” she said of working alongside Guasch. “Domè came from Barcelona, and I come from Benfica. Our methodology is very similar. Of course, it’s not the same, but it’s very similar. The way that we look at the game and the way we look at players is very similar. This help us.
“Of course, we have our disagreements,” she admitted. “I like one player more, [he] likes another player more. But the most important thing I feel is that Domè believes in my work, believes in me. And I believe a lot in what Domè is starting to build here.”
Having successfully navigated the visa process, Patão is now officially living in the Boston area. She noted she’s had limited opportunities to explore the area, but already detects its energy and passion for sports.
“When I started to walk around Boston, the people were so warm,” she said. “The way that they have all these sports [teams], I thought, ‘How is it possible for one city to have a lot of sports, different sports?’ But everybody supports [them].’
“When I [saw] this, I started to understand, ‘OK, I can live here. I can have this energy, I can breathe this air.’ So it was easy for me to make this decision.”
As for trying local cuisine, the former Lisbon resident singled out one dish in particular.
“The lobster roll! I’ve never eaten something like this, with bread and lobster,” Patão joked. “It was like, how? But I’m this type of person, to have new experiences, and try new things. Don’t be afraid to have the experience even if it’s different.”
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