Rui Lança is a seasoned sports executive, author, and leadership expert with over 25 years of multidisciplinary experience across elite sports, education, and corporate consulting. He currently serves as Executive Director of Other Sports at Al-Ittihad Club in Saudi Arabia, where he oversees the development and strategic management of the club’s basketball, volleyball, and other non-football divisions. In this role, he is responsible for building high-performance infrastructures, optimizing athlete development systems, and integrating international best practices into one of the Gulf region’s most ambitious multi-sport institutions.
Before joining Al-Ittihad, Rui held senior leadership roles at Sport Lisboa e Benfica, where he was Director of Pavilion Sports (male and female). During his tenure, Benfica’s handball team won the EHF European League title for the first time in the club’s history, while the volleyball and basketball teams consistently secured national championships. Rui’s leadership professionalized team operations, introduced data-informed performance strategies, and established a culture centered on discipline, leadership, and sustainable success.
In addition, Rui worked at Vitória Futebol Clube (Setúbal) in professional football in Portugal during the 2016/17 season, as part of the coaching staff under head coach José Couceiro. He worked directly with several football coaches in performance and coaching, with a specific focus on leadership. Rui has also been a university lecturer for 20 years, a certified leadership trainer, and a corporate consultant, delivering workshops and advisory programs for executive teams and high-performance organizations. A former futsal coach, he is the author of six books on leadership, coaching, and team culture, earning recognition across both sports and business sectors. He holds a degree in Sports Sciences and a master’s degree in Sports Management, combining academic depth with practical leadership.
Rui Lança is known for his ability to lead complex organizations, cultivate elite talent, and translate the mindset of sport into long-term performance models. His people-centered approach continues to shape the future of sports leadership on a global scale.
Our Exclusive Interview with Rui Lança
Who is Rui Lança outside of his professional life?
For those who work in sports, especially across multiple disciplines, it’s hard to fully disconnect, as it’s something people talk about constantly, wherever you go. Fortunately, I do what I love, which is working in high-performance sport and leading people. Beyond that, I’m just a normal person. I love to travel, discover new places and cultures, listen to music, read, and write. I enjoy simple things like spending time with family and friends. Volunteering is also something I did for many years around the world, and it brought me a great sense of fulfilment.
What core values guide your leadership approach in both sports and business environments?
First and foremost, I genuinely like people. I enjoy understanding them, observing, interacting, and working with them. Whether it’s in the competitive world of sports or in business, that’s my guiding principle. I like helping people become better, developing them, and investing time in that process.
Then, of course, each context has its own specific rules and norms. Some environments are harsher than others, where results heavily influence our decisions and where we compete with everyone, as everyone wants to win. There are also environments where leadership can focus more on the medium to long term, allowing us to take a different approach.
How has your experience working in different countries and cultures shaped your management style?
I’ve been fortunate to work in several countries across Europe and to have done volunteer work, particularly in some African countries. That kind of experience gives you a set of soft skills that you simply can’t develop in more comfortable or familiar contexts. You get to know yourself better and gain a deeper understanding of differences in people, leadership styles, conflict management, and team dynamics, for example.
Over time, the way you approach urgency, handle conflict, and lead others is shaped by the soft skills you acquire along the way.
What was the most transformative project or achievement in your career so far?
Working in Saudi Arabia, at the country’s oldest club, and having to build almost everything from scratch, like a start-up but within a club with an impressive track record in football and other sports, makes the project extremely challenging. You really feel like you’re building history, and that’s incredibly rewarding.
The intersection of cultures and different working methods means that 1 + 1 is always unknown. Some differences can create great added value, while others may not. Fortunately, our first full season at Al-Ittihad was very successful, both from a sporting and organizational perspective, as we managed to implement several processes that are essential for achieving positive outcomes.
In what ways do you integrate academic research into your day-to-day leadership practices?
I believe that the academic world is sometimes too closed off when it comes to certain good organizational practices, and the opposite also happens. I always like to learn more, and one of the ways I grow is through writing books. It allows me to structure my thoughts and knowledge, and to interview and speak with professionals from completely different fields and parts of the world.
At the end of the day, we are the sum of who we are, what we’ve learned, and the people we interact with on a daily basis. I don’t like doing things just for the sake of it. I really like to understand the reason behind them and give them meaning. I believe there’s a balance in all of this.
What are your future goals and areas of focus in the evolving landscape of global sports?
To keep doing what I love and to stay involved in projects that are truly challenging. I want to continue working in the field of performance, whether in sports or within organizations and with people. There are many ways to add value and be part of these types of projects.
New events, new approaches to club management, and consulting work are increasingly necessary to help organizations prepare and evolve. There will always be people and teams who need to raise their standards of efficiency. Fortunately, there’s still so much good work to be done.