The Portuguese Longboard Association (APL) has demanded explanations from the Portuguese Surfing Federation after Portugal failed to send a national team to this year’s ISA World Longboard Championship, reportedly because of a lack of funds.
The championships are currently underway at El Sunzal, El Salvador, from October 16 to 22, bringing together 126 surfers from 37 nations – but Portugal is not among them.
In a strongly worded statement published on social media, the APL said Portuguese longboarders “deserve respect” and “deserve opportunities”, expressing its “deep concern and displeasure” at the national team’s absence.
“This decision raises questions that cannot remain unanswered,” the association said.
“Portugal has high-level athletes and international results that make us proud. It is difficult to understand that, after this journey, our athletes are prevented from fighting for a world title and representing the country in one of the biggest competitions in the discipline.”
One of the association’s main complaints is that, if money was indeed the problem, the wider longboard community was apparently not given an opportunity to seek another solution.
“If the issue was financial, why weren’t the athletes, clubs, partners and the longboard community given the opportunity to mobilise and try to raise the necessary funds?” it asked.
The APL is calling for greater transparency over the distribution of funds between surfing disciplines, clearer criteria behind such decisions and earlier communication with athletes and clubs.
“Longboard cannot only be remembered when its results contribute to the success of Portuguese surfing,” it said.
“It must also be valued when the time comes to guarantee conditions, opportunities and international representation.”
The association says it will now formally request explanations from the Portuguese Surfing Federation, including details of how funding allocated to longboard is managed and what measures could prevent a repeat of the situation.
Portugal finished 10th last year
The absence is particularly striking given Portugal’s performance at the same championships in 2025.
Portugal sent António Dantas, Francisco Freitas, Inês Martins and Carolina Mendes to El Salvador and finished 10th out of 44 countries, repeating its 10th place from 2024 and ending as the second-highest European nation behind eventual champions France.
Francisco Freitas was Portugal’s best individual performer in 2025, finishing 16th, followed by Dantas in 22nd. Inês Martins finished 25th in the women’s event, with Carolina Mendes 37th.
Portuguese longboarding also enjoyed a landmark result last year when António Dantas became the first Portuguese longboarder to win a European World Surf League title, a result national coach João Ferreira described at the time as “a historic milestone for Portugal”.
The Federation’s own website continues to list longboard among Portugal’s national surfing teams, describing it as a discipline represented internationally at European and World Championships.
‘We are on the athletes’ side’
For the APL, that recent record makes the lack of Portuguese representation in El Salvador even harder to accept.
“We have no memory of a situation of this nature regarding national representation,” it said.
The association stressed that its criticism was not intended to create division within Portuguese surfing.
“Our intention is not to divide, but to contribute to solutions, transparency and respect for those who work every day to elevate Portugal’s name.”
“We are on the athletes’ side. We are on longboard’s side. We are on the side of a Portuguese surfing community that should give opportunities to all its disciplines.”
The APL concluded: “Portuguese longboard deserves more. And our athletes deserve to be able to fight for their goals.”
What is longboarding?
Longboarding is a surfing discipline practised on larger, longer boards – typically around 275 centimetres or more – which offer greater stability and buoyancy than conventional shortboards.
The style places particular emphasis on smooth, controlled surfing, with classic manoeuvres such as cross-stepping and nose riding, alongside more modern turns and power surfing.
In competition, surfers are judged not only on difficulty and execution, but also on how well they combine traditional longboard style with progressive manoeuvres.