Vitória S.C.

Football club infobox
clubname = Vitória de Guimarães


fullname = Vitória Sport Club
nickname = White Angels,

founded = 1922
ground = Estádio D. Afonso Henriques,
Guimarães
capacity = 30,165
chairman = flagicon|Portugal Emílio Macedo
manager = flagicon|Portugal Manuel Cajuda
league = BWINLIGA
season = 2007-08
position = BWINLIGA, 3rd
pattern_la1=|pattern_b1=|pattern_ra1=
leftarm1=FFFFFF|body1=FFFFFF|rightarm1=FFFFFF|shorts1=000000|socks1=FFFFFF
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=000000|body2=000000|rightarm2=000000|shorts2=000000|socks2=000000

Vitória Sport Clube is a Portuguese sports club based in the cityof Guimarães, located 40 km northeast of Porto in Portugal. The club includes football, volleyball and basketball departments. The club is reported to have been established in 1922. In Portugal it is usually called Vitória de Guimarães (pron. IPA2|vi'tɔɾiɐ dɨ gimɐ'ɾɐ̃ĩʃ) to distinguish itself from Vitória FC, a club from Setúbal, known as Vitória de Setúbal.

Recent history

Although Vitória de Guimarães have never won the Portuguese Football Championship or the Portuguese Football Cup, it is one of the most respected clubs in Portugal, playing in the top division for the last few decades, usually challenging for a UEFA Cup place. However, in 2005/2006 season, the team was relegated to Segunda Liga after its worst championship performance in decades.

In the early 2000s, Vitória struggled to keep itself in the top Portuguese division (Superliga). Those years were marked by the decline of the leadership of Pimenta Machado, former president of the club. Machado was accused on charges of embezzlement. Despite this, Vitória had an impressive season. Progress continued in 2004-05, when they secured an impressive league fifth-place finish and qualified for European competition (the UEFA Cup). Vitoria's recent renaissance fell apart in 2005-06, as they finished 17th in the Superliga despite reaching the cup semi-final, having beaten SL Benfica in the quarter-final where Flávio Meireles scored a goal with his hand. They also failed to progress from their UEFA cup group, as eventual winners Sevilla FC, Premier League outfit Bolton Wanderers and Russian team Zenit progressed.

After the fall, everyone thought that Vitória would get back in the 1st Division quite easily, even though the team itself wasn't that great. Then, what happened was almost a bad nightmare for the fans. Vitória, in the middle of the season, was rounding the 10th place and lower, with very few chances of getting promoted. During the Winter stop, there was a change in the club's Direction and a new coach was hired (Manuel Cajuda). What followed next, was a dream. Vitória started winning game, after game, and in the end managed to get the 2nd place in the 29th game of the 2nd Division. Their promotion was guaranteed.

The promotion was crowned with a 3rd place in the 2007-2008 season, guaranteeing them a place in the 3rd qualifying round of the Champions' League. They lost to Swiss team FC Basel and dropped into the UEFA Cup first round. They played Portsmouth F.C. of the English "Premier League" over two legs. Portsmouth progressed winning 4-2 on aggrigate.

New stadium

Estádio D. Afonso Henriques is a football (soccer) stadium in Guimarães, Portugal. It was expanded and refurbished for the Euro 2004 competition, and it seats 29,865 people.

In 2004, a new leadership era began with Vítor Magalhães (former President of Moreirense, another team from Guimarães municipality) and the team finished the championship in 5th place. In 2006 the team was relegated. Vitória Sport Clube plays at D. Afonso Henriques Stadium, one of the host stadiums of Euro 2004.

After the "Big Three", Benfica, F.C. Porto and Sporting, Vitória is the club which attracts most supporters to the stadium, with average attendances of 20,000 per game. (Vitória usually has a higher average than all the other clubs, even when the club played in the 2 Division/League).

Minho rivalry

Aside from the loyalty of the supporters, which earned the White Angels the title "Best fans of the country" and became famous for the massive "invasions" to every city where Vitória plays, there is also a hooligan side, which often give the club a bad name.

The city of Guimarães is often referred to as the "birthplace of the Portuguese nationality" and was the birthplace of Afonso I of Portugal, the first Portuguese king. This only adds fuel to the ever growing derby of Minho province with neighbours SC Braga.

This derby is considered one of Portugal's most intense matches as both clubs battle each year to reach a European competition.

Both clubs have even tested each other in Europe where in the 90's Vitória were one of Portugal's best in Europe beating sides like Parma AC, Atlético Madrid, Real Sociedad and Sparta Prague have been eliminated from European competitions by Guimarães.

The derby also intensified during UEFA EURO 2004 hosted by Portugal where both clubs were involved in new stadium reconstruction; both clubs looked for UEFA qualification but, despite reaching the 2005-2006 Portuguese Cup semi-finals and having a decent UEFA Cup participation, Vitória finally got relegated.

It didn't take much for Vitória to get back on top, and after just one year in the Portuguese 2nd division they earned the promotion. So, nowadays SC Braga had been better than Vitoria, but it doesn't mean they are less rival.

In 2007-08, the "duels" were exciting as always, providing great games and lots of supporters from both sides, both in Braga and in Guimarães. With Vitoria back in the BwinLiga (the Portuguese 1st Division/League) the emotion of one of the biggest derbies also got back, which pleased countless football fans.

Fans

Vitória de Guimarães possibly have the most different fans in Portugal. The biggest supporters group "claque" are the White Angels, their motto is "Somos únicos" (We are unique).

The Vitória fans are also known to be one of the few supporters group that has no preference for any of the "big three"Facts|date=August 2008, Guimarães does not have houses of the big clubs. The attempts of opening any in the city led to the houses being completely trashed. This shows the pride (and a kind of xenophobia) of the supporters for their home and its independence, even though it sometimes goes too far and ends up in some violent acts.

A self confessed Vitória fan is Fernando Meira who played at the club and now plays in Galatasaray (Turkey). Meira, as the captain of VfB Stuttgart, raised the trophy of German champions in 2006-07, holding a scarf of Vitória Sport Clube.Facts|date=August 2008

Current Squad

Notable former players

*flagicon|POR Vítor Damas
*flagicon|POR Silvino
*flagicon|POR Neno
*flagicon|POR Dimas
*flagicon|POR Paulo Bento
*flagicon|POR Pedro Barbosa
*flagicon|POR Capucho
*flagicon|POR Pedro Mendes
*flagicon|POR Fernando Meira
*flagicon|POR Vitor Paneira
*flagicon|POR Bruno Alves
*flagicon|POR Nuno Assis
*flagicon|Portugal Alex
*flagicon|Portugal Duda
*flagicon|Portugal César Peixoto
*flagicon|Portugal Pelé
*flagicon|Portugal João Fajardo
*flagicon|Algeria Kamel Ghilas
*flagicon|Colombia Edwin Congo
*flagicon|Denmark Sebastian Svärd
*flagicon|France Yves Desmarets
*flagicon|Mozambique Paíto
*flagicon|Poland Marek Saganowski
*flagicon|Slovenia Zlatko Zahovic
*flagicon|Sweden Fredrik Söderström
*flagicon|Tunisia Selim Benachour

Honours

*SuperCup Cândido de Oliveira 1988

League and Cup history

The club's 63 presences at the top level of Portuguese football make the 5th club with most presences, after FC Porto, Sporting CP, and SL Benfica (totalists, 73), and CF Os Belenenses) (65).

Colours

Home kit: white shirt and white shorts.

Away kit: black shirt and black shorts.

Basketball

Vitória S.C. men's basketball team has playing in the Proliga.

Volleyball

External links

* [http://www.vitoriasc.pt/ Official homepage]
* [http://www.vitoriasempre.net/ Vitória Sempre - unofficial website]
* [http://semprevitoria.blogspot.com/ SempreVitoria - unofficial blog]
* [http://www.pfutebol.com Portuguesefutebol.com] Your source for Portuguese football in English.