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Futebol Clube do Porto - short: FC Porto
or FCP - 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 in 1987 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 Estádio do Dragão,
which replaced previous home Estádio 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 Santo Tirso). Supporters and players of the club
are nicknamed portistas.
It was founded in the northern city of Porto on September 28,
1893, by wine-salesman António Nicolau de Almeida' who
had his first contact with the game of football on one of his
trips to England. The club was revived in 1906 by Monteiro da
Costa.
Commercially, the club has several stores called Loja Azul (English:
Blue Store) scattered around the city, including two used with
official supplier Nike. Since 1994, a merchandising goods fair
called Portomania is organized during the pre-season. FC Porto
publishes one of the older club-related publications in Europe:
a monthly 60-page full-colour magazine called Dragões
(Dragons) that has existed since the early 1980s.
Presidents
Nicolau d`Almeida, Monteiro da Costa, Dummond Villares, Carmo
Pacheco, Borges de Avelar, Henrique da Mesquita, Pinto de Faria,
Neves Reis, Urgel Horta, Carlos Costa, Angelo César,
Ferreira Alves, Júlio Ribeiro, Cesario Bonito, Paulo
Pombo, Nascimento Cordeiro, Pinto Magalhães, Américo
de Sá, Pinto da Costa.
History
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.
Estádio do Dragão
Estádio do Dragão (English: Dragon Stadium) is
a football stadium in Porto, Portugal that has an all-seated
capacity of 50,948.
The
stadium was built as a replacement for FC Porto's old ground,
Estadio das Antas (Dolmens' Stadium), and as a venue for EURO
2004. It was completed in 2003, some months after what was expected
since in the February 2001, Porto mayor Rui Rio changed the
estate distribution, criticizing the plan because it included
high-scale housing and shopping for the area and forcing the
chairman of FC Porto Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa to halt all building
operations, which were only resumed after a consensus was agreed.
As of today, the stadium, housing and shopping areas have been
built but the city hall has apparently let go of its interest
to build the school and public gardens which are part of the
plan, causing old arguments about the mayor's decision in 2001
to resurface. As requested by UEFA, the old stadium was demolished,
and the space used for the media during the Euro 2004, and in
the following months, the construction of the buildings that
will form the new urban settlement called "Cidade das Antas"
(City of Antas) began.
Designed by Manuel Salgado and built by the Grupo Amorim, it
cost €97.755.318, of which €18.430.956 was supported
by the Portuguese taxpayers. To support costs, each stand carries
one or two sponsor names, edp for the South (Sul) end, tmn and
Sapo adsl in the East (Nascente) stand, PT and TV Cabo for the
West (Poente) stand and finally Coca-Cola in the North (Norte)
Stand. Away fans are placed in the left corner of the North
stand, while FC Porto supporter groups (SuperDragões
and Colectivo Ultras 95) are at each end, although initially
both groups were in the South stand.
The
stadium's name is derived from the presence of a dragon on the
crest of FC Porto, which is composed of an old football under
the old crest of the City of Porto.
It
is also the nickname of FC Porto fans. Other alternatives were
considered, such as Estádio das Antas (officially, unlike
the former stadium) or named after Artur de Sousa Pinga, José
Maria Pedroto (former players and managers) or Pinto da Costa
(running president for over 20 years).
Inaugurated
in 16 November 2003 against FC Barcelona, FC Porto won 2-0 with
goals by Derlei and Hugo Almeida. However, due to severe turf
problems, FC Porto was forced to play in the Estádio
das Antas, until the turf was replanted by mid February 2004.
The
stadium further cemented its reputation as an all-round sports
and entertainment venue when it secured the Portuguese leg of
The Rolling Stones 2006 world tour, fighting off competition
from stadia in Lisbon. This represents something of a coup for
the city of Porto over the capital.
Official Song
Hino do F.C. Poto foi composto em 1922. A letra é da
autoria do escritor e dramaturgo Heitor Campos Monteiro e a
música foi composta pelo maestro António Figueiredo
e Melo. O hino do FC Porto foi interpretado e gravado pela cantora
Maria Amélia Canossa. Oiça o Hino do F.C. Porto.
Oh
meu Porto onde a eterna mocidade
Diz à gente o que é ser nobre e leal
Teu pendão leva o escudo da cidade
Que na história deu o nome a Portugal
Oh
campeão, o teu passado
É um livro de honra de vitórias sem igual
O teu brasão abençoado
Tem no teu Porto mais um arco triunfal
Porto, Porto, Porto, Porto
Porto, Porto, Porto, Porto
Porto, Porto
Quando
alguém se atrever a sufocar
O grito audaz da tua ardente voz
Oh, Oh, Porto, então verás vibrar
A multidão num grito só de todos nós
Oh
campeão, o teu passado
É um livro de honra de vitórias sem igual
O teu brasão abençoado
Tem no teu Porto mais um arco triunfal
Porto, Porto, Porto, Porto
Porto, Porto, Porto, Porto
Porto, Porto
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