Football in Portugal

= History =

Football started to gain popularity in Portugal in the late 19th century, brought by Portuguese students who returned from England.

The first person responsible for its implementation would have been Guilherme Pinto Basto (according to some people, his brothers Eduardo and Frederico would have brought the first ball from England). It was he who had the initiative to organise an exhibition of the new game, which took place in October 1888, and it was also him who organized the first football match in January of the following year. The match, played where today the "Campo Pequeno" bullring is located, involved opposing teams from Portugal and England. The Portuguese won the game 2-1. Consequently, football started attracting the attention of the high society, being distinguished by the Luso-British rivalry.

Later, the game spread, being practised in colleges and leading to the foundation of clubs all over the country. Until the end of the century, associations such as "Clube Lisbonense", "Carcavelos", "Braço de Prata", the "Real Ginásio Clube Português", the "Estrela Futebol Clube", the "Futebol Académico", the "Campo de Ourique", the Oporto Cricket, and the "Sport Clube Vianense" were founded to practise this sport or created sections for competing.

The first match, between Lisbon and Porto, took place in 1894, attended by King D. Carlos.

The "Clube Internacional de Futebol" (founded in 1902) was the first Portuguese team to play abroad defeating "Madrid Futebol Clube" in 1907, the game took place in Madrid.

Club football

The main domestic football competition is the Portuguese Liga where the dominating teams are SL Benfica, FC Porto and Sporting CP.

Currently, the oldest professional team is the "Boavista Futebol Clube", which was founded in 1903. The "Futebol Clube do Porto", after an unsuccessful attempt in 1893, appeared in 1906, stimulated by José Monteiro da Costa, among others. The "Sporting Clube de Portugal" was founded in 1906 by the Viscount of Alvalade and his grandson José de Alvalade. Sport Lisboa e Benfica, was born in 1904 (the club maintained the foundation date of Sport Lisboa, founded in 1904, when in 1908 assimilated the Grupo Sport Benfica, founded in 1906). They are all clubs that traditionally have several sports activities but they give great distinction to football, making use of teams of professional players, which frequently participate in European competitions.

National team

In May 2006, the Portuguese national team was ranked 7th out of 205 countries by FIFA.

Portugal hosted EURO 2004, they were defeated in the final by winners Greece. The Portuguese national team also reached the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup twice, in 1966, when Eusébio was the top scorer, with 9 goals, and also in 2006. This was the first time since 1966 that the Portuguese football team had advanced to a such a high qualifying round in a World Cup tournament.

Famous players

*Eusébio is still a symbol of Portuguese football.
*Luís Figo was voted 2001 Player of the Year by FIFA, after finishing 2nd in 2000.
*Rui Costa has played in many strong clubs, like AC Milan.
*Nuno Gomes one of the best Portuguese goalscorers of all times, captain of national football team.
*Cristiano Ronaldo is right now regarded the best player in the world.
*Vítor Baía is the player in history with most titles won, including all European club cups.
*Ricardo Quaresma won Portuguese Footballer of the Year in 2005 and 2006. He also won the Portuguese Golden Ball in 2007.
*José Mourinho is regarded as one of the most successful football managers in football's history. He is also the only manager to win uefa manager of the year 3 times in a row.

ee also

*Sport in Portugal