FC Porto

Lore & Background

The club was founded on 28 September 1893 as Foot-Ball Club do Porto by António Nicolau de Almeida. Porto played its first matches with other Portuguese clubs, including one against Lisbon's Foot-Ball Club Lisbonense on 2 March 1894. Almeida's enthusiasm waned, 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, and on 2 August 1906, Porto was revived.

Shortly after, Porto rented its first ground and recruited a French coach named Adolphe Cassaigne. On 15 December 1907, Porto played its first match against a foreign team, hosting Spain's Real Fortuna. In 1912, Porto joined efforts with Leixões to establish the Porto Football Association. The 1921–22 season was marked by the creation of the first nationwide football competition – the Campeonato de Portugal.

After clinching its fourth consecutive regional title, Porto defeated Sporting CP in the inaugural edition and became the first national champions. In the following season, a second nationwide competition named "Campeonato da Primeira Liga" was provisionally established. Porto qualified for the first edition, winning it with 10 victories in 14 matches. Due to the success of its format, the Primeira Liga was made an official championship competition for the 1938–39 season.

Porto won the inaugural edition of the new league championship and successfully defended the title in the next season. In 1948, Porto defeated English champions Arsenal 3–2 in a friendly match. Having endured a 16-year title drought period, Porto returned to winning ways by taking the 1955–56 Primeira Divisão. Later that season, Porto beat Torreense to win its first Taça de Portugal and achieved its first double.

In 1958, Béla Guttmann took charge as coach of Porto and helped them win the Portuguese League title in 1959. One of the club's most tragic moments occurred on 16 December 1973, when during a league match against Vitória de Setúbal, the 26-year-old captain Pavão fell unconscious on the pitch and died later at the hospital. The following month, Porto presented Peruvian international Teófilo Cubillas.

Reader's Guide

Porto is one of the "Big Three" clubs in Portugal that have never been relegated from Primeira Liga. Domestically, Porto's major trophies include 31 Portuguese league titles (five of which won consecutively between 1994–95 and 1998–99, a Portuguese football record), 20 , 4 Campeonato de Portugal, 1 and a record 25 . Porto is one of two teams to have won the league title without defeats, in the 2010–11 season. 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.