When he was manager of the national team, Luis Filipe Scolari was hailed as a national hero, taking Portugal to the final of Euro 2004, the semi finals of the World Cup in 2006, and of course to the quarter finals of Euro 2008.
But once he announced that he was leaving to manage Chelsea, citing money as one of the reasons, then the accusations begin.
Unsurprisingly the Portuguese FA came out and accused him and Chelsea of upsetting the team after the match with the Czech Republic, causing them to lose against Switzerland. This was despite Portugal having got through the group stages, and the team against Switzerland being woefully under strength.
Now a Lisbon paper, Sol, has accused Scolari of salting away funds received from a business venture in 2006 in an offshore account, and not declaring income to the Financas (the Portuguese Inland Revenue). As a part of a long-running national fraud investigation, Operação Furacão, the Departamento Central de Investigação e Acção Penal (DCIAP) are investigating. All Scolari has said is that he has fulfilled his obligations towards the Financas, and nothing illegal or fraudulent has taken place. No details of the amounts are available.
Whether this will cast a shadow over his deal with Chelsea is not known, this sounds more like a small circulation newspaper digging around for dirt now that Scolari has announced his departure. I can't imagine this ever having been reported if Scolari had not announced his intention to leave. I also found it ironic that it was a paper called the Sun that started this story.
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