History Of FC Porto
Futebol Clube do Porto is a Portuguese sports club best known for its footballing exploits. It was founded in Porto in 1893. The club is considered one of the "Big Three" clubs in Portugal. It holds the best European record by a Portuguese team, having won the European Cup and the Intercontinental Cup twice each. In 2003, it brought Portugal's first UEFA Cup and it brought Portugal's first UEFA Supercup. Domestically it holds the second best record (behind rivals Benfica), having won the league 22 times, the Portuguese Cup 14 times and Portuguese Supercup 15 times.
The football home ground is the Estadio do Dragao, which replaced previous home Estadio das Antas in 2003. FC Porto is also a leading force in other sports: the handball and basketball teams are regular contenders for the national titles and the roller hockey section is amongst the best in the sport worldwide. The new multi-sport arena near the stadium will be completed soon; in past years the non-professional home grounds were scattered around neighbouring cities (such as Gondomar, Matosinhos and Espinho).
Its first official trophy, the "Union of the North cup", was won in 1911. In the following years it became one of the biggest clubs in Portugal, but not to the extent of its Lisbon rivals. In spite of this, the team still went on to win the first two Portuguese championships. Porto were always a struggling team after those two championships, so they went to win only 6 championships in 41 years of dictatorship, with many of the F.C. Porto's presidents being fans of one of the Lisbon sides. But after the Carnation Revolution, the history of Portuguese soccer saw a new title contestant, and a new European team. In the following years, Porto won 16 titles,10 Portuguese cups, 1 European Champions Cup and the new Champions League, 1 UEFA cup, 1 European Super Cup, and 2 Intercontinental Cup. A wonderful rise for a team that was used to, as was said at the time, starting away games 1-0 down.
Two of the biggest reasons for this change of fortunes were Pinto da Costa who took control of Porto in 1982 and José Maria Pedroto whom he had brought back with him to manage the team. The duo quickly caused the team damage, with Pinto da Costa as football director and Pedroto as manager, winning two titles previously, and making controversial remarks about the centralization of Portuguese football, which caused them problems with the directing board, and consequently they left. After quitting, in 1982 Pinto da Costa ran for presidency and won bringing back Pedroto. The following decades turned what was the third team in the overall history of Portuguese football into the biggest title winner of the past 20 years. Since 1982, Porto has won 14 titles, achieving the record Penta (five leagues in a row) in 1999 and since 1976 never finished below 3rd place, eight Portuguese cups, and has a majority of Supercups, having won 15 out of a possible 27.
Honours
European Cup/Champions' League: 1986/87, 2003/04European Super Cup: 1986/87
Intercontinental Cup: 1987, 2004
UEFA Cup: 2002/03
Portuguese First League Championship: 1934/35
Portuguese First Division Championship: 1938/39; 1939/40; 1955/56; 1958/59; 1977/78; 1978/79; 1984/85; 1985/86; 1987/88; 1989/90; 1991/92; 1992/93; 1994/95; 1995/96; 1996/97; 1997/98; 1998/99; 2002/03, 2003/04, 2005/06, 2006/07
Portuguese Championship: 1921/22; 1924/25; 1931/32; 1936/37
Portuguese Cup: 1955/56; 1957/58; 1967/68; 1976/77; 1983/84; 1987/88; 1990/91; 1993/94; 1997/98; 1999/00; 2000/01; 2002/03; 2005/06
Portuguese Super Cup: 1980/81; 1982/83; 1983/84; 1985/86; 1989/90; 1990/91; 1992/93; 1993/94; 1995/96; 1997/98; 1998/99; 2000/01; 2002/03; 2003/04; 2005/2006
Joan Gamper Trophy: 1987
Viareggio Tournament: 1989
Teresa Herrera Cup: 1991
"Ciudad de Sevilla" Tournament: 1992
Centennial Cup: 1993
Thailand Premier Cup: 1997
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "F.C. Porto"