Football

Futebol Clube do Porto - short: FC Porto or FCP - is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. It was founded, that’s right, 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 (Taça Cup) 13 times and Portuguese Supercup 15 times.

FC Porto Hightlights!

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, they went on to win only 6 championships in the 41 years under military 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 domestic league titles,10 Portuguese Cups, 1 European Champions Cup and the new Champions League, 1 UEFA Cup, 1 European Super Cup, and 2 Intercontinental Cups. 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.

International titles

1987 - European Champions Cup

When Pinto da Costa joined as president, Porto was the only club from the "big three" without European honours, but that quickly changed. The first final was played against Juventus F.C. for the 1984 Cup Winners' Cup, but Porto lost. Three years later, the team led by Artur Jorge, the name hand-picked by Pedroto, won its first European honour, in a thrilling 2-1 victory over Bayern Munich in the European Cup 1986-87.

The following year Porto won the European Super Cup, against Ajax Amsterdam, and the Intercontinental Cup, against Peñarol, making them the first Portuguese winners of the two cups.

1988-2002

The following 16 years saw Porto as a midrange team - often in the final 16, but not progressing much further. The exception was in 1994, when Porto reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League. The semi-final, decided on a single game, resulted in a heavy loss (3-0) at the hands of Johann Cruyff's FC Barcelona, in the Nou Camp.

2003 - UEFA Cup

In 2003, under the guidance of José Mourinho, Porto made a thrilling UEFA Cup run, topped with a victory in a fantastic final against Celtic in Seville.

2004 - Champions League

The following season set a greater challenge, but despite a slow start which included a 1-3 loss against Real Madrid, Porto never lost again in the Champions League, relegating O. Marseille to the UEFA Cup (where they reached the final), Manchester United at Old Trafford in the dying minutes of play, O. Lyon and Deportivo. Porto beat Monaco 3-0 in the Final played in Arena AufSchalke.

After the victory, Porto became the Portuguese side with the most European cups won - 2 CL/ECC, UEFA Super Cup plus a UEFA Cup, compared with the two ECC by Benfica and the one CWC by Sporting.

However the victory was the pinnacle of their success, as José Mourinho left to take over as coach at Chelsea FC, many players also departed. They also went through several coaching changes during the 2004/05 season, ending up finishing second to Benfica in the league, and were eliminated in their Champions League cup defense in the Round of 16 by Internazionale.

On December 12, 2004, FC Porto won the last-held Intercontinental Cup, by beating Once Caldas from Colombia at an impressive 8-7 after penalty shoot-out.

Porto was also one of the founding members of G-14, now defunct, mercifully for European football.

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.