The Portuguese Golf Federation (FPG) announced today the appointment of Patrícia Brito e Cunha as the director of Oeiras Green Valley - Municipal Golf Academy.
Her appointment is immediate and will extend until December 31, 2026, a crucial period for the launch and consolidation of the new municipal project.
To fully dedicate herself to this challenge, Patrícia Brito e Cunha has suspended her functions as a Member of the Board of the Portuguese Golf Federation (FPG). The decision aims to ensure the full implementation of the Sports Development Program Contract signed between the FPG and the Oeiras City Council (CMO), which requested prompt appointment to ensure the start of activities as soon as the ongoing rehabilitation works on the course are completed.
Currently, the golf course has been closed since August 2025, in parallel with a difficult and troubled negotiation aimed at transferring its ownership to the municipality of Oeiras. For more information, check out my article: Oeiras Golf, stories and vicissitudes of a sports facility.
In response to my request for clarification, the Golf Federation informed me that the opening of the golf course activities is scheduled for the 1st semester of 2026.
With a long and recognized career in national golf, Patrícia Brito e Cunha brings extensive experience as a coach and manager with PGA training. Her career includes directing several academies and golf courses - including a previous stint at Oeiras Golf that she now leads again, as well as ongoing work in training young athletes and national teams.
Pedro Nunes Pedro, President of the FPG, welcomed the appointment:
We are pleased with Patrícia's availability to lead this strategic project. Her history with golf in Portugal, her technical competence, and her management skills are crucial for Oeiras Green Valley to become an example of a municipal academy that combines sports activity, inclusion, and educational excellence.
Visibly excited about her return, Patrícia Brito e Cunha shared her vision for the future of the course:
For 10 years, I had the privilege of being the director of a golf and academy project that deeply captivates me. Today, I return with a clear purpose: to realize the project I have always envisioned: to transform this course into a space of excellence, innovation, training, and true golf spirit. Oeiras has the potential, has the location, and now, with the partnership and team of the FPG, it has the right ambition to get there.
The Journey of Oeiras Golf to Municipal Management
The field now renamed as Municipal Golf Academy - Oeiras Green Valley has a history marked by ups and downs. Inaugurated in September 2013 by ESIM, a company of the Espírito Santo Group, it was conceived as the jewel in the crown of the real estate development "Oeiras Golf & Residence".
However, the collapse of Banco Espírito Santo (BES) in 2014 plunged the project into a decade of uncertainty. Without the necessary investment, the field suffered progressive degradation, culminating in its permanent closure in August 2024, after the end of the concession contract with the company that managed it: "Orizonte Golf".
The intervention of Isaltino Morais, the mayor of Oeiras, was decisive. In 2025, the municipality negotiated and approved the acquisition of the land with the aim of creating the country's first municipal golf course. The municipal vision is to save an important sports facility, protect the real estate value of the area, and, fundamentally, create a Municipal Golf Academy open to the whole community, from schools to citizens of all ages, democratizing the sport. The reopening, now under new leadership, marks the beginning of a chapter focused on inclusion and local sports development.