Football in Portugal

Football fans at the Estádio da Luz

Association football (Portuguese: futebol) has a long and storied history in Portugal, following its 1875 introduction. The country's top domestic league, the Primeira Liga, was founded in 1934 and is home to internationally successful clubs such as S.L. Benfica, F.C. Porto and Sporting CP, the Big Three who usually dominate the league. In total, Portuguese clubs have won the UEFA Champions League (European Cup), the most prestigious club competition in European football, four times and the Europa League (UEFA Cup) twice.

Football is the most popular sport in Portugal and in the 2011–12 Primeira Liga season Benfica had an average attendance of 38,029 people, Porto 34,843 and Sporting 30,638 with the season overall having an average attendance of 10,958 and a total attendance of 2,629,950.

Internationally lauded players such as Eusébio, Luís Figo, Rui Costa and Cristiano Ronaldo have played for the Portugal national football team. The national team were third in the 1966 World Cup and fourth in the 2006 World Cup. The country hosted Euro 2004, where they were runners-up. A Selecção were also semi-finalists in Euro 1984, Euro 2000 and Euro 2012.

History

Monument in Camacha, celebrating the first ever organised football game in Portugal

Football started to gain popularity in Portugal in the late 19th century, brought by Portuguese students who returned from England.

The first organized game in the country took place in 1875 in Camacha, Madeira, organized by Madeira-born Harry Hinton.^{[citation needed]}

The person responsible for its spread was Guilherme Pinto Basto (according to some people, his brothers Eduardo and Frederico brought the ball from England). He organized an exhibition in October 1888 and a match on in January the following year. The match, played where today's Campo Pequeno bullring is located, involved opposing teams from Portugal and England. The Portuguese won the game 2–1. Consequently, football started attracting the attention of high society, distinguished by the Luso-British rivalry.

The game reached colleges and led to clubs across the country. By century's end, associations such as Clube Lisbonense, Carcavelos Sport Club, Braço de Prata, Real Ginásio Clube Português, Estrela Futebol Clube, Futebol Académico, Campo de Ourique, Oporto Cricket, and Sport Clube Vianense had been founded.

The first domestic match, between Lisbon and Porto, took place in 1894, attended by King Carlos.

Clube Internacional de Futebol (founded in 1902) was the first Portuguese team to play abroad, defeating Madrid Fútbol Clube in 1907 in Madrid, Spain.

On 31 March 1914, the 3 regional associations that existed in Portugal (Lisbon, Portalegre and Porto), merged to create a national association called "a União Portuguesa de Futebol" the ancestor of the current national association "Federação Portuguesa de Futebol" which was formed on 28 May 1926.

Club football

The main domestic football competition is the Primeira Liga. The dominant teams are Sport Lisboa e Benfica, Futebol Clube do Porto, and Sporting Clube de Portugal.

The oldest team is Académica, which was founded in 1876. Futebol Clube do Porto, after an unsuccessful attempt in 1893, appeared in 1906, stimulated by José Monteiro da Costa among others. Sporting Clube de Portugal was founded in 1906 by the Viscount of Alvalade and his grandson José de Alvalade. Sport Lisboa e Benfica was born in 1904 (the club maintained the foundation date of Sport Lisboa, founded in 1904, when in 1908, the two assimilated into the Grupo Sport Benfica, founded in 1906). These clubs sponsor several sports activities, but give great emphasis to football, making use of teams of professional players, which frequently participate in European competitions.

List of Teams (2012–2013 season)

Main article: List of football clubs in Portugal

Conventional name	UEFA short name	Official name	Location
Académica de Coimbra	A.Académica de Coimbra	Associação Académica de Coimbra	Coimbra
Beira-Mar	SC Beira-Mar	Sport Clube Beira-Mar	Aveiro
Benfica	S.L. Benfica	Sport Lisboa e Benfica	Lisbon
Braga or Sporting de Braga	SC Braga	Sporting Clube de Braga	Braga
Gil Vicente	Gil Vicente F.C.	Gil Vicente Futebol Clube	Barcelos
Estoril or Estoril-Praia	GD Estoril-Praia	Grupo Desportivo Estoril-Praia	Estoril
Marítimo	CS Marítimo	Club Sport Marítimo	Funchal, Madeira
Nacional or Nacional da Madeira	CD Nacional	Clube Desportivo Nacional	Funchal, Madeira
Moreirense	Moreirense FC	Moreirense Futebol Clube	Moreira de Cónegos
Olhanense	SC Olhanense	Sporting Clube Olhanense	Olhão
Paços de Ferreira	F.C. Paços de Ferreira	Futebol Clube Paços de Ferreira	Paços de Ferreira
Porto	F.C. Porto	Futebol Clube do Porto	Porto
Rio Ave	Rio Ave F.C.	Rio Ave Futebol Clube	Vila do Conde
Sporting	Sporting Clube de Portugal	Sporting Clube de Portugal	Lisbon
Vitória de Setúbal or Setúbal	Vitória FC	Vitória Futebol Clube	Setúbal
Vitória de Guimarães or Guimarães	Vitória SC	Vitória Sport Clube	Guimarães

National team

Portuguese football fans supporting the national team

As of 26 May 2010, the Portuguese national team was ranked third in FIFA world ranking, their highest ever. Their lowest rank was 43rd overall in 1998.

Portugal hosted UEFA Euro 2004, but were upset by champions Greece in the final. The Portuguese national team reached the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup twice; in 1966, when Eusébio was the top scorer, with nine goals, and also in 2006, led by Cristiano Ronaldo and Luís Figo. This was the first time since 1966 that the Portuguese football team had advanced this far in a World Cup tournament.

Future for the Portuguese Program

Many of the players of the "golden generation" have retired or are rapidly approaching retirement. As a result, a new era of players, lead by Cristiano Ronaldo are on the rise. However, the team has not had much more success than in the past, with an exit from the 2010 World Cup by Spain, the winners of the tournament.

Stadiums in Portugal

Estádio da Luz Capacity: 65,647   Estádio do Dragão Capacity: 50,948   Estádio José Alvalade Capacity: 50,466   Estádio Nacional Capacity: 37,593   Estádio Municipal de Aveiro Capacity: 30,498

See also

• Sport in Portugal
• 2010–11 in Portuguese football