Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, OM[1], commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football.
Founded on 28 September 1893, Porto is one of the "Big Three" clubs in Portugal that have never been relegated from Primeira Liga, along with Lisbon-based rivals Benfica and Sporting CP. FC Porto are nicknamed dragões (Dragons), for the mythical creature atop the club's crest, and Azuis e brancos (Blue-and-whites), for the shirt colours. Those colours are in stripes with blue shorts. The club supporters are called portistas. Since 2003, Porto have played their home matches at the Estádio do Dragão, which replaced the previous 51-year-old ground, the Estádio das Antas.
Porto is the second most decorated club in Portuguese football, with 86 major trophies.[5] Domestically, these comprise 30 Portuguese league titles (five of which won consecutively between 1994–95 and 1998–99, a Portuguese football record), 20 Taça de Portugal, 4 Campeonato de Portugal, 1 Taça da Liga and a record 24 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira. Porto is one of two teams to have won the league title without defeats, in the 2010–11 and 2012–13 seasons.[6] In the former, Porto achieved the largest-ever difference of points between champion and runner-up in a three-points-per-win system (21 points), on their way to a second quadruple.
In international competitions, Porto is the most decorated Portuguese team, with seven trophies. They won the European Cup/UEFA Champions League in 1987 and 2004, the UEFA Cup/Europa League in 2003 and 2011, the UEFA Super Cup in 1987, and the Intercontinental Cup in 1987 and 2004. In addition, they were runners-up in the 1983–84 European Cup Winners' Cup, plus the 2003, 2004 and 2011 editions of the UEFA Super Cup. Porto is the only Portuguese club to have won the UEFA Cup/Europa League, the UEFA Super Cup, the Intercontinental Cup, and to have achieved a continental treble of domestic league, domestic cup and European titles (2002–03 and 2010–11). The club has the fourth-most appearances in the UEFA Champions League group/league stage (27), behind Barcelona (30), Real Madrid (30) and Bayern Munich (29), ranking 9th in the all-time club ranking of the competition. At the end of the 2024–25 season, they ranked 18th in the UEFA club coefficient ranking.[7]
History
Early years (1893–1921)
The club was founded on 28 September 1893 as Foot-Ball Club do Porto by António Nicolau de Almeida, a local port wine merchant and avid sportsman, who became fascinated with football during his trips to England.[8][9][10] Porto played its first matches with other Portuguese clubs, including one against Lisbon's Foot-Ball Club Lisbonense on 2 March 1894. This match had the patronage of King Carlos I and Queen Amélie of Orléans, who travelled to Porto to witness the event and present a trophy to the winners.[11]
Almeida's enthusiasm and involvement with the club waned due to family pressure, and by the turn of the century, Porto had entered a period of inactivity. In 1906, José Monteiro da Costa returned to Porto after finishing his studies in England.
Crest and kit
The club's first crest was created in 1910 and consisted of an old blue football with white seams bearing the club name's initials in white. On 26 October 1922, the crest was changed to its present-day appearance after the club approved a design by Augusto Baptista Ferreira (nicknamed "Simplício"), a graphical artist and one of the club's players. In his proposal, the city's coat of arms – consisting at the time of a quartered shield (first and fourth quadrants: national arms; second and third quadrants: image of Our Lady holding baby Jesus and flanked by two towers holding above a banner with the Latin words "Civitas Virginis") surrounded by the collar of the Order of the Tower and Sword and topped by a crown supporting a green dragon with a red banner inscribed with "Invicta" (Undefeated [city]) – was added on top of the old crest, pushing the white letters down.[80]
In 1906, the club's first official team wore kits with a variety of colors and patterns, which included white shirts with red collars or vertical blue stripes, and even red shirts. This indefinition in the equipment was only solved in 1909, when through the initiative of Monteiro da Costa, Porto stipulated in its first statutes that the players had to use "a shirt with blue vertical stripes, black shorts, and personal footwear" as the club's uniform, at every training and match. Some argued that the kit should have included the city colours, green and white. Monteiro da Costa, however, defended the blue-and-white combination because he believed the colors "should be those of the country's flag, and not of the city's flag", hoping that the club would "not only defend the good name of the city, but also that of Portugal, in sporting feuds against foreigners."
In 1975, Adidas became the first sports apparel manufacturers to provide kits for the club.
Home stadiums
The club's first ground was the Campo da Rainha (Queen's Field), inaugurated in 1906 with an exhibition game against Boavista. The site was located near the residence of Monteiro da Costa and was the property of the city's horticultural society. Aided by his father, a horticultor by profession, Monteiro da Costa rented a portion (30 by 50 meters) of uncultivated terrain to create the first dedicated football pitch in the country. Later that year, the society's vivaria were transferred to another location, allowing Porto to increase the pitch area to match the sport's official dimensions. The ground had capacity for 600 people, including a VIP tribune, and possessed a changing room equipped with showers and sinks, a bar and a gym. The first match between Porto and a foreign team took place at the Campo da Raínha, on 15 December 1907, when the hosts played Spanish side Real Fortuna.[82]
By 1911, the Campo da Raínha was becoming too small for the rapidly growing attendances. After being notified about the sale of the ground for construction of a factory, the club searched for a new ground and rented a terrain near the Constituição street for an annual fee of 350$00. The Campo da Constituição (Constitution Field) was opened in January 1913 with a match against Oporto Cricket and Lawn Tennis Club and hosted Porto's home matches for the regional championship. Eventually, the larger capacity of this ground also became insufficient for the ever-increasing crowds attending the games, particularly against high-profile opponents.[83]
Rivalries
Porto's biggest rivalries are with the other Big Three members and regular league title contenders, Benfica and Sporting CP. They stem from the historical, political, economical and cultural clash between the cities of Porto and Lisbon, where the other two clubs are based.[91][92] These rivalries became more intense in the past decades, particularly since Pinto da Costa assumed Porto's presidency in 1982 and adopted a regionalistic and confrontational speech towards Lisbon.[93] In the following years, the club began establishing its dominance in Portuguese football, at the expense of Benfica and Sporting, who had been the traditional powers since the 1940s.[91]
To Porto, the rivalry with Benfica is the strongest and most passionate, and it opposes the most representative football emblems from each city as well as the current most titled Portuguese clubs. The first match between Porto and Benfica – traditionally referred to as O Clássico (The Classic)[94]
Records and statistics
Former defender João Pinto holds the record for most matches played in all competitions (587) and in the Primeira Liga (408), while former goalkeeper Vítor Baía has the most appearances in international competitions (99).[8] Baía is also the most titled player, having won 25 trophies during his career in Porto. Portuguese striker Fernando Gomes is the all-time club goalscorer in all competitions (352), having also scored the most league goals (288). In European competitions, Porto's record goalscorer is Radamel Falcao, with 22 goals.[8]
José Maria Pedroto is the longest-serving coach, having taken charge of the team for 327 matches in nine seasons, while Jesualdo Ferreira became the first Portuguese coach to win three consecutive league titles (2006–2009). André Villas-Boas's victorious campaign in the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League made him the youngest coach ever to win a European competition.[103]
The 2010–11 season was particularly strong in record achievements. Porto played the most matches (58) and secured the most wins (49) and highest winning percentage (84.4%). For the league, it had the most consecutive wins (16) and suffered the fewest defeats (none).
Honours
As of 3 August 2024, Porto have 86 major trophies in senior football. Domestically, they have won 30 Portuguese league titles, 20 Taça de Portugal, 1 Taça da Liga, 4 Campeonato de Portugal (a record shared with Sporting CP), and a record 24 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira. Porto is the most decorated Portuguese team in international competitions, having won two European Cup/UEFA Champions League, two UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League, one UEFA Super Cup and two Intercontinental Cup trophies. In addition, it is the only Portuguese team to have won either the UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League, the UEFA Super Cup or the Intercontinental Cup.[106]
Porto have achieved four titles in a single season on two occasions: in 1987–88 (UEFA Super Cup, Intercontinental Cup, Primeira Liga and Taça de Portugal) and in 2010–11 (Supertaça, Primeira Liga, UEFA Europa League and Taça de Portugal). The latter also included the club's second continental treble, after the one achieved in 2002–03 (Primeira Liga, Taça de Portugal and UEFA Cup). The club also reached the Cup Winners' Cup final in 1983–84 (losing to Juventus) and made three more appearances in the UEFA Super Cup (2003, 2004 and 2011).
Players
Current squad
Out on loan
Personnel
Technical staff
<section begin="Staff" />
{| class=wikitable !Position !Staff 🇦🇷 Lucho González Lino Godinho André Castro Felipe Sánchez 🇪🇸 Iñaki Ulloa José Mário Almeida Manuel Vitor Joca José Ribeiro Nuno Vicente Rúben Silva <section end="Staff" />
- -
- -
- Head coach || 🇮🇹 Francesco Farioli
- -
- Assistant coach(es) || Dave Vos
- -
Organisation
After going public in 1997, Porto created several satellite companies:
The FCPorto SAD is listed in the Euronext Lisbon stock exchange.
- FC Porto – youth football, basketball, handball, roller hockey, athletics, club's magazine, etc.
- FC Porto – Futebol SAD (professional football company); SAD stands for Sociedade Anónima Desportiva
- Porto Estádio (stadium management)
- Porto Multimédia (official site and multimedia products)
- Porto Comercial (merchandising)
- Porto Seguro (insurance)
Media
Porto Canal is a television channel owned and operated by Porto, which broadcasts generalist, regional, and club-related content through cable, satellite and IPTV. The channel's programming includes live transmission of the home matches of the reserve and youth football teams, as well as of the senior basketball, handball and roller hockey teams. Founded in 2006, the channel began a managing partnership with Porto in 2011,[108] and on 17 July 2015 was fully purchased and integrated into the club.[109][110]
The club also issues Dragões, an official monthly magazine that publishes articles and interviews of the teams, players and other club-related content and a daily newsletter called Dragões Diário.[111][112]
Other sports
Active sections
Men
Women
Mixed
- Basketball pictogram.svg Basketball
- Basketball pictogram.svg Basketball (intellectual disability)
- Football 7-a-side pictogram (Paralympics).svg Football (cerebral palsy)
- Futsal pictogram.svg Futsal (intellectual disability)
- Goalball pictogram (Paralympics).svg Goalball
- Handball pictogram.svg Handball
- Roller hockey pictogram.svg Roller hockey
- Table tennis pictogram (Paralympics).svg Table tennis (intellectual disability)
- Wheelchair basketball pictogram (Paralympics).svg Wheelchair basketball
See also
- List of world champion football clubs
- FC Porto de Macau
Bibliography
External links
References
- Cidadãos nacionais agraciados com Ordens Portuguesas Presidency of the Portuguese Republic, retrieved 23 April 2014^
- A data da fundação dos clubes é mais um pretexto para as polémicas 25 October 2018^
- A fundação e a refundação do Dragão