He is the former head of the ACB, the governing body of the top-tier level Spanish professional club basketball league, and the former head of ULEB, the Union of European Leagues of Basketball.

Portela, along with Jose Antonio Gasca, founded the ACB.

The ACB has since organized Spain's top-tier professional club basketball league, the Liga ACB, since the 1983–84 season.

[1] In 1991, he was also one of the founders of ULEB,[2] the Union of European Leagues of Basketball, along with Gianluigi Porelli.

This biographical article relating to a Spanish basketball figure is a stub.