LISBON, Portugal (AFP) –Portuguese giants Benfica are demanding ¤7.5 million (US$8.3m) compensation from former coach Jorge Jesus who joined bitter rivals Sporting Lisbon last June, a club official told Portguese daily Expresso yesterday.

Jorge Jesus “unilaterally terminated the contract that bound him to the club and must pay the required compensation”, club spokesman Joao Gabriel said.

Benfica are also refusing to pay 61-year-old Jesus his salary for the month of June on the grounds that their Lisbon rivals officially hired him on June 5 on a three-year deal.

According to press reports, Jesus, who is in his sixth year at Benfica, guided them to three league crowns including the last two becoming the first Benfica coach since Sven-Goran Eriksson in the early 1980s to achieve successive championship titles, will be paid an annual salary of ¤6 million at Sporting, ¤2 million more than he received with Benfica where he coached for six years.

Sporting — for whom Jesus’s father played and where he himself came through their youth system — won the Portuguese SuperCup title on August 9, beating Benfica 1-0.

Benfica have won the league title a record 34 times, with Sporting being 18-time champions.

Sporting host CSKA Moscow today in a Champions League play-off first leg fixture.