Portuguese Football in English
To kick off our Book Corner section of the site, we bring you A Journey Through Portuguese Football, the most in-depth English-language book ever written on Portuguese football, penned by members of the PortuGOAL.net team and some very special guest authors.
For a detailed description of the book, the introduction is reproduced below.
Answer the question at the bottom of the page to be in with a chance of winning the book. We are giving away three copies to the competition winners.
By the late 1980s, it had become crystal clear that Portuguese football had changed forever. The once proud clubs of the River Tejo south bank area and the Setúbal district, which had previously populated the first tier, were no more. Most ended up bankrupt, lost in the lower leagues forever, while others struggled to compete in the professional divisions.
The geography of football had changed with Madeira and the Algarve gaining traction, Trás-os-Montes and the Coimbra, Leiria and Aveiro districts increasingly relevant as well, but the biggest shift happened north. The change of the economic blueprint of the now fully democratised nation, particularly after entering the European Union, made the Ave valley the new cornerstone of Portuguese football, something that has lasted ever since. It was from this region that the last three one-time league contestants came, in a period that spanned almost two decades.
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Associação Desportiva de Fafe: 1988/89Sitting in a small valley as the road leads up to the mighty Gerês, Fafe remains a place profoundly identifiable with the Minho culture. Its closeness to Guimarães (14 km away) diminished somehow how popular they were, but as the industries in the Ave valley blossomed, Fafe was one of the areas that most benefited from it. Local textile companies started to gain relevance nationwide, and as money began flowing more readily, it ended up reaching the local football club, as with many other areas in northern Portugal at the time.
Associação Desportiva de Fafe was already a club that resulted from the fusion of several smaller local clubs in the first decades of the past century. They adopted the yellow and black colours as the clubs that merged to give way to this new entity were from supporters of either Sporting or Porto, and used their colours. The yellow and black was a compromise decision that stuck as the club comfortably found themselves among one of the most accomplished sporting sides in the Braga district for decades. They were second-tier regulars since the early 1970s, and come 1986, something started to brew in the area.
Manuel Gomes, popularly known as Professor Neca, coached them in the 1986/87 season when Fafe were close to getting promotion to the first tier for the first time in their history. In the following campaign, he found himself replaced by José Rachão, and it was he who guided the Fafenses to their most memorable hour. Due to legal adjustments, the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) was forced to increase the number of sides taking part in the first division up to 20 for the first time in history. That meant two sides from each second tier got promoted instead of the usual one.
Fafe was one among the many candidates for both vacancies, alongside the likes of Famalicão, Tirsense, Leixões, Desportivo das Aves, Gil Vicente, Vizela and Paços de Ferreira. Some already had first division experience, while others were on the brink of achieving it in the upcoming seasons. It was a tough league right until the end, with Leixões, Fafe and Famalicão reaching the final day with a shot at promotion after thirty-seven matches played. In the end, luck favoured Famalicão and Leixões, but weeks later, news broke that the blue and whites from Famalicão had bribed Macedo de Caveleiros to lose a match that would help them get promoted. Years later, it was proved that payment was only related to the ticket allocation and had nothing to do with corruption, but the harm had been done.
Famalicão, who had already played against Académico Viseu and Estrela da Amadora – the other second-tier champions – for the trophy of best side in the second division, were relegated to the third tier alongside Macedo de Cavaleiros, and Fafe were officially announced as a first division side against all the odds. The fact it was Fafe who were the ones who presented a claim against Famalicão did nothing for the club’s popularity in the area. It remains a relationship forever tarnished between the two institutions and sets of supporters.
The event is still known today in Famalicão as “The Great Theft”, but nobody in Fafe actually cared, as they were on their way to glory. Rachão remained as head coach as the club signed the former Benfica international Bastos Lopes and the Bulgarian veteran midfielder Jivko Gospodinov to their ranks. The squad included the likes of former FC Porto goalkeeper Quim alongside Benfica loanee Padinha and players like Carlos Ferreira, Sérgio Abreu, Figueiredo, Guedes and Dinis. They were names that weren’t fashionable but that resonated with supporters of the day.
With all the chaos surrounding the prospect of a 20-team league campaign, where five were going down at the end of the season, it became easy to mark Fafe as an easy target to finish in the bottom places. The Black and Yellow boys, however, put up a good fight right until the last minute. They began the campaign with a defeat against Vitória Setúbal away, but then beat Farense at home and claimed consecutive draws against Estrela, Belenenses and Académico. The highlight came when, after predictably losing against Sporting, Benfica and Boavista, Fafe held FC Porto to a 0-0 draw at home, one of the most iconic football matches ever to be played in town.
Sadly, it was one good result too many. Four consecutive defeats against direct opponents meant Rachão was sacked and replaced by Manuel de Oliveira, who, somehow, managed to steady the ship. Wins against Portimonense, Académico, Nacional and Marítimo brought hope back as Fafe were starting to climb positions, but, once again, it proved to be a bridge too far. They won only three of the following seventeen matches played and came to the final day of the season in need of a miracle after a decisive away loss against Portimonense; had the result gone the other way, Fafe would have been practically off the hook.
Fafe had to beat Chaves at home, and hope results went their way in several other pitches across the land. They had 28 points to their name while Espinho sat on 30, Farense on 31 and Beira-Mar on 32, with only one side able to save themselves from drowning. Eventually, Fafe did win, 2-0, but so did Espinho, who were also relegated, while Beira-Mar held onto a precious home draw against Vitória FC that guaranteed they would enjoy another season at the top.
At the end of the match, the crowd applauded, perhaps aware that this might have just been a one-off experience. Three years later, when the Portuguese Football Federation created a single national second tier, Fafe were not included, and in 1995, they ended up being relegated to the fourth tier. They spent the rest of the decade jumping between the third and fourth divisions, as the local economy also began to flounder. While several other regional rivals like Gil Vicente, Paços de Ferreira, Famalicão and Rio Ave prospered, they couldn’t recapture their former glories, and the 1988/89 experience remains, to this day, the only time first division football has visited town in one of the longest and craziest seasons ever in the history of Portuguese football.
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Futebol Clube Felgueiras: 1995/96A few kilometres south of Fafe sits Felgueiras. It became known in the 1990s as the place that holds the biggest concentration of registered Ferraris in Portugal. Not Lisbon. Not Porto. Felgueiras. The reason? Much like other similar small towns that grew as industrial centres during the 1980s, it was the textile companies from the region. As business grew, money flowed in almost without control, so much so that the mayor of Felgueiras – curiously named Fátima Felgueiras – was indicted for corruption and had to leave the country in haste. That money reached the local football club, a club that no longer exists. Futebol Clube Felgueiras was pronounced dead almost twenty years ago. Football still thrives in the region as a new FC Felgueiras, founded in 2025, competes nowadays in the second tier, but their story is inevitably linked to the former Blue and Reds who made history in the mid-1990s.
By the late 1980s, Felgueiras was just one of many clubs from the region that populated the second division, bankrolled by local businessmen who usually had textile companies to their name. They had played in the third tier for most of their previous history. In 1991/92, when the FPF reorganised the pyramid of national competitions, Felgueiras remained in the third tier – still called Segunda Divisão B – in the northern division, and they won the league, getting promoted for the first time ever to a national competition, the Segunda Liga.
Felgueiras remained there for the following four campaigns as a mid-table side that rarely fought for promotion but never got relegated. Those results seemed the work of one man alone. After visiting Johan Cruyff at Barcelona, Jorge Jesus arrived back in Portugal convinced he was bringing the future of football to the Portuguese game and started implementing many of the Cruyffian ideals at Felgueiras, a side that, funny enough, dressed like FC Barcelona.
The former Amora manager, who had already played for neighbouring Riopele, and knew all about the potential of football in the region, made Felgueiras his lab. For three campaigns he perfected his tactical model that included playing with three men at the back, quick wingers and a creative diamond supporting a sole striker. By 1994/95 he had ticked all the boxes, and Felgueiras was ready to put on a promotion fight.
They had to face though opponents such as Estoril, Paços de Ferreira, Académica, Espinho and Famalicão, all sides with first division experience, but it became a season where everything that was expected didn’t happen. Come the final day of the campaign and it was all to play for. The league table was led by Leça, followed by Campomaiorense, two surprising sides that had all but guaranteed a place in the top flight, while third-place Paços de Ferreira hosted Sporting Espinho and fourth and fifth-place Felgueiras and Estoril played a match that could be either decisive or not, depending on what happened at the other grounds.
Both Leça and Campomaiorense won, but Paços were held at home by Espinho while Felgueiras managed to beat Estoril by a single goal, netted by Krstic. The party ensued as the city braced itself for a memorable first year at the top. Jesus was convinced his side had everything they needed to be competitive, but the addition of a young FC Porto loanee, Sérgio Conceição was going to be decisive. Conceição wasn’t the only player signed by Felgueiras, as the likes of Erivonaldo, Roberto, and Zé Nando also joined, but Jesus remained Felgueiras’ biggest asset. His usual first eleven included the likes of Zé Carlos in goal, Joaquim, Abel and Rui Gregório as centre-backs, with Acácia and Leal operating in the wings, as Bozinovski, Vicente and Costa held the midfield, granting freedom for Sérgio Conceição and Lewis to roam in attack.
Felgueiras began the campaign with a home draw against Chaves, followed by a promising win away at Marítimo. A defeat against Leça was a sign that not everything was okay and it would prove decisive in the end. They then famously held FC Porto to a 1-1 home draw, and then beat Boavista, Campomaiorense, Farense and Belenenses. Come round 14, and they had only lost on three occasions and sat sixth, aiming for a European spot. There was no way around it; Felgueiras had become the flavour of the month, and Jesus felt vindicated.
The next fixture however, was a demolishing defeat against Sporting, followed by another setback versus Benfica. Although both defeats were to be expected and were followed by draws with Gil Vicente and Leiria, everything started to fall apart in the second half of the campaign. In ten matches, Felgueiras lost eight, only winning against Salgueiros and Estrela da Amadora, and suddenly, they were fighting for their lives. The worst part was that the final set of matches was even tougher, and after they lost against Sporting and Benfica once more, it became clear that only a miracle would save them from relegation.
The decisive match came away at Gil Vicente, a 2-0 defeat that left them below the relegation zone for the final day of the campaign. They hosted Leiria and needed a win and a Leça or Chaves defeat – or both if Tirsense also won – to stay safe. While the Santo Tirso side were beaten by the already relegated Campomaiorense, Chaves managed to beat Gil Vicente and, more surprisingly, Leça held Sporting to a draw to grab a decisive point that kept them in the first tier for another campaign. Jesus’s men, who had once reached for the stars, were now back in the second tier.
The club never recovered from the setback. While Jesus’ career blossomed after that, as did Conceição’s, Felgueiras went bankrupt not even a decade after their sole first division experience. The club were extinct but later revived by local supporters who managed to keep hope alive of once again enjoying first division football in town. However, it will not be the old FC Felgueiras, a club that is no more, but whose memory of that first round of the 1995/96 campaign will forever linger in the memory of supporters nationwide.
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Clube Desportivo Trofense: 2008/09The last time a Portuguese club got promoted to the top tier and remained only a season, never to return – until now at least – was back in 2008. The Ave valley region was not as dominant as it had once been, with the economics of the nation shifting to the suburbs of Lisbon and Porto, but they remained relevant. If Tirsense had enjoyed the heights of first division football in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and Desportivo das Aves had also tasted football at the top – and would, in the future, win a Cup final before being dismantled to give way to a new institution called AVS – Trofense was a club that didn’t hold the same tradition.
Trofa is part of Santo Tirso, a small town between Maia and Famalicão, close enough to Porto to benefit from the booming of its industry and services in the 21st century but also far enough to have its own identity. The Clube Desportivo Trofense was founded in 1930 but remained a local minnow for most of its existence. Trofa was, then, a rural site with not much to offer, and the game didn’t particularly thrive for decades. During the 1980s, they settled in the second tier but were never too close to fight for promotion, spending the following two decades jumping between the fourth and third tiers.
Come 2005, the side finally got promoted to the Second Division, and they finished mid-table in their first campaign at the national level, a fairly good result for a side that had never experienced such heights. The surprise came the following season when, out of the blue, Trofense rocked the Segunda Liga to claim the title with 52 points, one more than Rio Ave and two more than Gil Vicente and Vizela, with all four sides having a good chance of getting promoted on the last day of the season.
It was a remarkable result for a side coached by António Conceição, who included a mix of first division veterans like Areias, Rui Borges, Delfim, Sérgio Carneiro and Hugo Leal and promising newcomers such as Hélder Barbosa. The young Braga-born prodigy, who had once been signed for Porto to be the next big thing, ended up enjoying his time in Trofa, leading the attacking line alongside veteran striker Reguila, in front of a midfield trio that included Leal, Delfim and Mércio. Paulo Lopes, later of Benfica, was in goal, and Paulinho, Miguel Angelo, Valdomiro, Milton do Ó and Tiago Pinto were usually the chosen back five.
Contrary to what happened to the other newcomers, Trofense’s baptism of fire was a mess for the newly promoted team. They only won their first match in round five, against Leiria, after being beaten by Nacional, Sporting, Leixões and Naval, the last of whom were rivals for relegation. Back-to-back wins against neighbours Vitória SC and Estrela da Amadora might have looked promising, but the storm hit hard later in the autumn with consecutive defeats against Marítimo and Nacional.
Out went Toni, in came Tulipa, a former FC Porto and Belenenses player, to reverse the situation, but Trofense proved to be unreliable at best. They were rarely off the last position in the league table, and after consecutive defeats against Nacional, Rio Ave and Braga, their fate seemed doomed. A win against Belenenses and a surprising draw versus Benfica dropped a shed of hope, but when Porto came to town and clinched a 4-1 defeat, the side were officially relegated. A last poor performance away at Paços de Ferreira and another defeat meant they were one of the poorest sides ever to grace the first division in all its history. The club dropped back to the Segunda Liga and were eventually demoted to the third tier in 2014 were they stayed for the following decade before a brief promotion to the second tier was followed by another relegation in recent years, with the club now firmly established in the Liga 3.
Trofa has thrived economically, not only due to the famous Hospital da Trofa brand, but also with local companies and multinational service hubs in the area, but its football club was never quite up to the challenge. From the three sides of the municipality, including Tirsense and Aves, they remain the one with the worst result in the top division, and it’s hard to imagine they will be back in the top tier anytime soon.
Related: One-season wonders – Part I: União Lisboa, Oliveirense, União de Coimbra
Related: One-sason wonders – Part II: Riopele, Alcobaça and Águeda
It wasn’t a stadium. It was a cathedral. A football temple like Portugal had never seen. Sport Lisboa e Benfica’s Estádio da Luz captured the club’s soul to the fullest. It was not just about the sheer size of it, but what it meant. Finally, a home for a wandering club, finally a place of worship for the thousands of faithful. Finally, a place where their unforgettable conquests would forever be remembered. For half a century, the Estádio da Luz wasn’t just Portugal’s biggest football ground. It was an intrinsic part of the club’s very soul.
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The final day. Benfica hosted Santa Clara, a club that was the same red and white, had a similar crest and which had grown in awe of the reputation of the Eagles. It was a fitting finale for a place where so many memories had been sewn over decades. It was a traumatic event. The new stadium was being built next door, and the future was already contemplating the past, but somehow, there was a void that would never be filled again.
Benfica were already a great club before they landed at da Luz in 1954, but it was there that they became immortal, and you can’t just repeat that feeling. A Simão Sabrosa penalty was all that separated the sides as if the players, as well as the crowd, were not able to emotionally cope with that feeling altogether. The Brazilian singer Daniela Mercury performed before the match, and club legends like Sven-Göran Eriksson, Rui Costa, Eusébio and Toni were present to remember the many nights the club had enjoyed over the decades in style. Still, half a century had passed by too fast.
The “Luz” was more than just a home. It was Benfica’s first true own football ground. The club known as Sport Lisboa, founded near the banks of the River Tagus, in the Belém neighbourhood, had been forced to merge with Club Benfica, which was based in the borough of Benfica, then on the northern limits of the Portuguese capital. As Belenenses came to occupy the supporting areas of the Restelo, Benfica were forced to move somewhere else, not for the last time in their history.
The club already had followers from every side of town, but they didn’t have a particular place to settle in. They had played in the Feiteira, in Benfica and then the Amoreiras, a football stadium built near the city’s aqueduct in 1925 that belonged to the club and could host up to 20,000 supporters in the 1930s. It was there that they enjoyed their first major national trophies, as they claimed the Campeonato de Portugal, the newly created football league and their first Portuguese Cup.
Then, in 1940, big news. António de Oliveira Salazar wanted to improve the nation’s economy by building a set of infrastructures badly needed, following the example of America’s “New Deal” public works programme after the 1929 Wall Street crash. Housing, roads, hospitals and even football grounds became part of a national policy aimed at catapulting Portugal closer to its European neighbours and also as a way to fight unemployment and to increase wealth.
One of the most advanced plans was the highway that would connect Lisbon with the western areas of Oeiras, Loures and Sintra. To reach the city, the new road would end in a bridge that connected it downtown and whose blueprint determined it had to cross the lands where the Amoreiras ground stood. Benfica didn’t muster a word of complaint, and it was even promised that Salazar had an idea for a big national ground to be shared by all Lisbon clubs in the Monsanto Park, belonging to the city hall, but that plan never came through. The Jamor was the place where the new national stadium was built, further west, and Benfica were forced to rent the Campo Grande, a stadium that officially belonged to their city rivals, Sporting. To avoid misinterpretations, Sporting rented the ground to the city hall, who in turn did the same with Benfica, a situation that wasn’t well received by supporters who demanded a home of their own.
Six years later, the cabinet promised Benfica they would help find a location where they could build a new stadium in the Benfica area, so that they could return to what was, partially, their birthplace. Despite all those promises, construction on the land where the new stadium was to be built only began in 1953, six years after it had been promised.
It was the club’s members and supporters who financed the works, not only by contributing economically but also by buying concrete and lending a hand in the building of the stadium itself, particularly on weekends. Even rival clubs helped out, acknowledging it was time for Benfica to be able to have its own proper ground. The lands initially belonged to the city hall, and only in 1969 were the club able to buy them fully. By then, the ground was already known as The Cathedral.
After a year and a half, the Luz was finally inaugurated on the 1st of December. Like with all football stadiums of the time, the regime picked dates carefully, and the national holiday celebrating the reconquered independence from Spain (the Restauração da Independência national holiday) was a good example.
Despite being popularly known as Estádio da Luz because of its location in the Lisbon borough of Luz, the official name registered was Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica, and it remained so until its very end. Ironically, in its first years, the stadium was known as de Carnide, because it was located near the area with that name, although it officially belongs to the Benfica district. More than 40,000 people flocked into the ground to watch all the ceremonial events that preceded a friendly match between the home side and FC Porto. Salazar didn’t attend, but a statement from the head of state was read out loud by Francisco Craveiro Lopes, the President of the Republic, to public acclaim.
The first layout of the ground included two circular rings without a tarmac track – unlike Porto and Sporting’s new grounds – that created a vibrant atmosphere. It was an open bowl, with no covered stands, again, unlike what the new Antas and the upcoming José de Alvalade stadiums would sport. Porto had invited Benfica for the inauguration of their new home two years prior, when the Dragons were soundly defeated 8-2, and the northerners returned the favour by attending the celebrations. Again, the visitors took on the role of party poopers, Porto winning 3-1. But Benfica claimed a more important triumph, months later, that gave them the league title of the 1953/54 campaign. The first of many won at their new home.
Over the following years, it became clear that the stadium, although the biggest in Portugal, was proving too small by the day as Benfica surpassed city rivals Sporting to become the greatest sporting force in the land. The professionalisation powered by Otto Gloria and the careful scouting of African gems such as José Águas, Mário Coluna and then Eusébio, gave Benfica the right tools so that they could put their new ground to good use. The gate income also helped to muster a brilliant football side who claimed back-to-back European Cup trophies in 1961 and 1962 and several other finals lost in the same decade, as they also dominated the national league in style.
The third tier, popularly known as Terceiro Anel, was initially added in 1960 but was only completed after the club sold Chalana do Bordeaux in 1984, thus making Estádio da Luz one of the largest football grounds in the world. It could host up to 120,000 supporters, and when Portugal hosted Brazil for the 1991 Under-20 World Cup final, everyone agreed the number of people present far exceeded its official maximum capacity.
The ground had been built in an area that was already expanding in the 1950s, but by the 1980s, the Segunda Circular highway that passed alongside the ground had turned it into a football ground located in Lisbon’s new downtown and no longer on its outer rim. By then, the club had already enjoyed their finest hour, and the Inferno da Luz (Hell of the Luz) had earned fame beyond Portugal’s borders. Every time a side came to Lisbon to face the Eagles in European cups, they would be met with a passionate crowd that reverberated the ground as if another earthquake was about to hit Lisbon again.
Famously, Carlos Mozer, the Brazilian centre-back who played for Benfica before moving to Marseille, related how his teammates were scared of stepping back onto the pitch as the French champions visited Benfica for a decisive away leg of a European Cup semifinal, won by a famous Vata handball goal. The incredible explosion of noise and sheer ecstasy in the stands triggered by the goal is a perfect example of how the stadium would transform itself into an authentic cauldron.
It was not just the noise or the sheer size of it. The four towers at each end, where floodlights were installed in 1958, gave it a different aura, and later the statue built in honour of Eusébio served as a reminder of the emotional importance of the ground, not only in Benfica’s history but also in world football as well. Two years later, the club decided to modernise itself by opening a store where supporters could buy merchandising but by then the club was in a financial mess. In 1997, UEFA’s new legislation made it mandatory for all grounds to be seated, reducing capacity to 78,000, which was still one of the world’s largest stadiums at the time.
Come 1999, with Portugal winning the right to host the 2004 European Championship, talk of what to do with the Estádio da Luz ground dominated the news. Some wanted Benfica to remain where they were, with the stadium improved with better conditions for supporters and covered in its entirety. Others resuscitated the idea that Lisbon should build a mega stadium, the biggest in the world, to host both Sporting and Benfica matches, as with Italy’s San Siro for Inter and AC Milan. Both ideas were eventually discarded as plans for a new ground went ahead.
It would be built where the training pitches were, juxtaposing the old ground partially, and construction began in 2001, taking almost three years to complete. Benfica only played a third of the 2002/03 campaign in their home ground, moving briefly to the Estádio do Jamor for the rest of the season and the beginning of the following season before the new Luz was finally opened on 25 October 2003, nine months before the Euros. The fact that the previous years had been unhappy for the Benfica family made the event even more strange. The last league title celebrated had been in 1994, and for most of the late 1990s, Benfica played to a near-empty, dilapidated home.
Yet, the Cathedral meant much more. It was a symbol of the club’s golden age, a reflection of a time when they were indisputably one of the world’s greatest sides. It was physically huge and helped Benfica, as a club, as well as players on the pitch and supporters in the stands, feel as immense as the ground that was in their hearts. Over the past two decades, the new Estádio da Luz has created memories of its own, from the Euro 2004 final to the Champions League finals of 2014 and 2020, without forgetting Benfica’s Tetra championship triumphs won between 2014 and 2017.
But there was nothing quite like the place where it all began. They are memories tattooed in the hearts of those who experienced them first-hand as Benfica defied the odds to become football gods in their own right, the atmosphere in those huge concrete stands as exhilarating as the action on the pitch down below.
For a club that spent decades being considered one of the big names in Portugal, 1988/89 was more than just a special season. It was a sort of last hurrah, a reminder that the Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses were an indispensable part of the emotional DNA of Portuguese football. The Restelo side finished a brilliant campaign by lifting their last Portuguese Cup trophy, and they did it in style, with probably one of their most dashing ever football shirts on. The mix of the German manufacturer Adidas, their iconic Ipswich template, and the light blue of the Belém squad was something worth remembering.
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By 1988, Belenenses were on their fourth consecutive season with Adidas as their manufacturer. The relationship between the historical club and the Herzognaurach brand began in 1984 and became easily associated with their famous blue and white kit. In that first season, Belenenses, who had embraced the novelty of shirt sponsorship the previous campaign, signing an agreement with Lubritex, used the popular three-shoulder-striped shirt with their iconic crest, the Christ cross, emblazoned in red. In the following seasons, Belenenses struck a deal with Império Seguros, an insurance company, but kept the same stylish sober shirt template with the usual white shirt and blue shorts away combination as an alternative.
Then Euro 1988 came and everything changed. Adidas had already tested some more modern templates four years prior with the French national team kit, but it had been a one-off. In Mexico, for the World Cup, their templates were as sober as expected, while other brands, like Hummel, started to push the boundaries to more groundbreaking designs. Come Euro 1988, and Adidas decided it was time to join the pack, providing two iconic football shirt templates. The most famous, perhaps, was the one worn by West Germany, with the country’s jagged three-striped flag drawn through their chest, a model so popular that Franz Beckenbauer himself, then head coach, demanded it be used again in the World Cup played in Italy two years later. Germany won.
Yet, the true winner in 1988 was the Ipswich template. Adidas moved to a style of shirt where several triangles juxtaposed themselves upwards to create a sensation of movement as the players ran on the pitch. The template was used by the Netherlands and the Soviet Union, only in their primary kits of Orange and Red, and both sides ended up reaching the final. It was a massive boost to the popularity of the brand and its new design. Swiftly, Adidas made it available for most of the clubs that had a commercial relationship with the brand, even if not all of them were convinced of its modernity. In Portugal, for instance, Benfica refused to move from the more sober and traditional template while Porto did use it, but on the secondary blue kit. Belenenses, who enjoyed a good relationship with the brand, also tested it, and they were rewarded with a memorable campaign on the back of it.
The blue shirt followed the Ipswich template to heart, with the three shoulder stripes and collar still designed in white to reinforce the contrast between both colours. The Christ Cross crest was emblazoned with a smaller plain white cross inside the larger dashing Maltese style red cross. The new sponsorship logo of O Trabalho Seguros was printed in full horizontally, perhaps taking a bit of the shine of the effect of the template at first sight. The usual white shorts – with blue shorts as an alternative – had the three stripes dashed vertically on the sides, and the first kit included blue socks.
The alternative kit didn’t go with the same shirt pattern, moving to the more traditional plain white, with the Adidas logo and three stripes designed in blue instead, and the sponsorship logo printed horizontally with a blue background similar to the first kit. There were also occasions when Belenenses used the same shirt from the previous campaign, but for the great majority of the season, the Ipswich template was the preferred one.
Coached by the great Brazilian manager and former international Marinho Peres, one of the most beloved foreign managers ever to grace the Portuguese game, Belenenses had high expectations as they returned to European football due to a UEFA Cup place booked in the previous season. Adão, Delei and Rafael were the most renowned signings in the transfer market, as the starting eleven didn’t change much from the previous campaign, with Jorge Martins in goal, usually accompanied by Teixeira, Sobrinho, José António and Zé Mario, while Adão joined Juanico and Macaé in midfield. Chiquinho Conde, who later moved to Vitória Setúbal, and Chico Faria, a cult player at the Restelo, sat alongside Bulgarian striker Stoycho Mladenov. The squad also included the likes of Paulo Sérgio (who later became Sporting manager), Paulo Monteiro, and Baidek, a Brazilian centre-back who became a football agent after hanging up his boots.
With Peres at the helm, Belenenses famously beat Bayer Leverkusen, the UEFA cup holders, in the first round after a brilliant away win, the match where the Ipswich template made its European debut. Sadly, two goalless draws against Velez Mostar in the following round meant Belenenses were out of continental football by September, at a time when their league fortunes didn’t seem as exciting as some had hoped. Defeats against Porto and Benfica were expected, with Farense and Beira-Mar not quite so, and three consecutive draws versus Braga, Chaves and Nacional, always wearing their new blue shirt, seemed enough to raise concerns.
The Cup campaign was another story altogether. They easily marched on from beating the likes of Sintrense, Covilhã and Portalegrense in the first rounds, and then surprisingly overcame favourites Porto with a single goal by Mladenov in extra-time. After toppling Espinho, they had to overcome Sporting in the semis, with a memorable 3-1 win that set up a final against Benfica on the last day of the season.
By then, the league had been wrapped up with Belenenses finishing seventh, on 40 points, five fewer than fourth-placed Sporting, behind Boavista, FC Porto and Benfica, who claimed the league title. For most of the league matches, Belenenses kept on wearing their famed blue shirt, except when they faced FC Porto away and Chaves away, when they decided to go for the alternative white kit. Come the day of the final, at Jamor, the often worn all-blue kit was back in style in time to face a Benfica side that wore a more traditional Adidas shirt.
It was a brilliant spring afternoon in Oeiras, as Belenenses completed a hat-trick of victories over Portugal’s traditional Big Three to claim the trophy with a 2-1 win over Benfica. A Juanico goal cancelled out Vata’s late equaliser, despite Belenenses playing with ten men for the last fifteen minutes, after Chico Faria had opened the scoring in the first half. It was the last Portuguese Cup won by the boys from Restelo, a testament to their greatness and with a shirt up for the challenge.
Funnily enough, despite the popularity of their home kit, the following year Belenenses broke their partnership with Adidas and signed with Diadora, who went for a more dashing pinstriped model, but in 1992 they were back in business with the German brand who kept on sponsoring Belenenses until 1996, when they moved to the British brand Umbro before changing to Lotto by the mid-2000s.
The Ipswich model, which had been replicated in shirts all over Europe, became one of the most popular in the history of Adidas, even though it seemed to be too much of a vanguardist design for many high-profile clubs that worked with the brand. Germany still used it as an alternative for their away green kit at the 1990 World Cup, but by the 1990s it was deemed out of fashion as Adidas moved to a different template that put more focus on their own stripes.
Belenenses’ 1989 Cup win is still remembered as one of the greatest moments in the club’s modern history, particularly as it came on the back of wins against all of their historical rivals, and the shirt is now considered a highly prized asset among collectors from all over the world. A testament to its uniqueness and brilliant story.
Deco the difference-maker in 2003 Clássico clash
Game. Set. Match. Come early March 2003, FC Porto were cruising to a memorable season. It seemed forever since they had looked lost under Octávio Machado’s leadership on course for a third consecutive year without winning the league, a record in what was then Pinto da Costa’s twenty-year era.
The trip to Lisbon to face Benfica was effectively a title decider. With ten matches to go in José Mourinho’s first full season in charge of Porto, the Dragons were ten points clear at the top and knew if they came out alive of the Estádio da Luz, nothing and no-one would be able to prevent them from celebrating come April. More than a match, it was the final Primeira Liga test in a season of epic proportions.
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José Mourinho had gotten his first big break with Benfica in the summer of 2000. Two and a half years later, he was one step closer to becoming one of the youngest managers ever to win the league, but not as Benfica coach. It was with their historical rivals FC Porto that history was about to be made. Mourinho had resigned as Benfica manager with his eyes on the Sporting job, a day after the Eagles had hammered the then league champions 3-0, in a succession of events that would shape the very history of Portuguese football. Mourinho was forced to lick his wounds and go back to near anonymity. He had played his cards poorly and ended up unemployed, but he wasn’t about to let that get in the way of his dreams. And Mourinho was someone who always dreamed big.
In the summer, he was surprisingly appointed as União de Leiria manager, a move that the club’s former coach, Manuel José, did not take kindly to at all. José had guided Leiria to their highest ever finish, fifth in the league, and it seemed difficult that the newcomer would top that with a club of such modest means. Come January, Leiria sat third in the table, above Porto and Benfica, only six points adrift from first place and in a fight for a Champions League position.
It seemed mad, and it probably was, but up north Porto president Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa for sure sympathised with the decision made by Leiria. He knew all about Mourinho when Bobby Robson made it clear that he would not accept the Porto head coaching job if he was prevented from taking his young assistant, who was much more than just a mere translator, with him. Mourinho spent two and a half years in Porto, impressing Pinto da Costa and many at the club, and then moved with Robson to Barcelona. When the Englishman was replaced by van Gaal, he managed to win the heart of the Dutchman, who took him even more seriously than Robson had done.
In January 2002, Porto were in a dismal position. The team were playing poorly under Octávio Machado. The coach had sent away the club captain Jorge Costa after a row about the captain’s armband, and the fans had turned against him. With the side languishing in fourth place, seven points adrift from the top of the league. Mourinho had already been talking with Pinto da Costa since late December, and in the following month events unfolded quickly. He was named Porto manager and won his first match at home, against Marítimo. In the next fixture he toppled his former side Leiria and on the last day of the campaign managed to claim third place from Benfica to clinch a ticket for the UEFA Cup the following season.
Crucially, his third match as Porto manager ended up being a Clássico against Benfica, at home. A 3-2 win was decisive for that final league position and also bought him time to experiment by winning the supporters’ trust. The following months were tricky with Porto playing poorly, Mourinho rotating players to see who fitted his idea of a title contender for the next season and with supporters looking in despair more than in hope to what was to come.
In the summer, with Porto in deep financial troubles, Mourinho set his eyes not only on his former club Leiria, bringing in the likes of Nuno Valente, Tiago and Derlei, but also by signing Paulo Ferreira from his hometown Vitória de Setúbal and a former player of his during his Benfica days, Maniche. Pedro Emanuel also came on a free transfer came from Boavista, who would be key in the first half of the campaign. With Jorge Costa back in the picture but without Carlos Paredes and Jorge Andrade, sold to allay the financial woes, and Benny McCarthy, whose loan ended after a brilliant short stint, he managed to formulate a competitive first eleven that supporters knew by heart by the time the side reached Christmas top of the league.
Many imagined Porto would struggle to keep the same pace in the second half of the campaign, particularly as the UEFA Cup campaign fared positively, and there was already talk that the Dragons could go all the way in the competition. With rivals Sporting and Benfica stumbling repeatedly, Porto seemed destined for glory, having lost a single match in round 23, against Belenenses, while dropping points in only three other matches.
In comparison, Benfica had been defeated on four occasions and Sporting on six, as the Lisbon duo hoped for a miraculous turnaround. For the Eagles, that miracle would have to start with winning the battle at the Luz. The old ground was ready to host its last Clássico with the new ground being built next door for the following year’s European Championship.
On a dreadfully chilly night, on 4th March, Porto descended on the capital knowing they had their fate in their own hands. Mourinho didn’t have Nuno Valente available and went with Ricardo Costa as left-back, as Pedro Emanuel – not Ricardo Carvalho, who was mainly used a substitute that season – and Jorge Costa lined up alongside Paulo Ferreira in front of a reborn Vítor Baía. With Maniche playing as a holding midfielder, instead of a suspended Costinha, and Dimitri Alenitchev chosen to partner Deco, in support of both Nuno Capucho, on the right, and Derlei on the left, and with Hélder Postiga as the sole striker, it was probably the most offensive lineup the Mourinho could conjure.
José Antonio Camacho, the former Spain manager who had been signed by Luís Filipe Vieira at the beginning of the season, and the only manager who prevented José Mourinho from winning a trophy during his glorious two-year stint at Porto, went with José Moreira in goal, with Miguel, Hélder, Ricardo Rocha and Argel playing in the back line. Petit and Tiago partnered Zlatko Zahovic in the midfield, while wide players Geovanni and Simão, alongside centre-forward Nuno Gomes, were expected to make a difference in front of goal. It was one of the best Benfica XIs in recent years, and the fanatical crowd at the Estádio da Luz were expecting them to be able to do what few had done during the campaign: stop Porto from dominating possession, and control the game.
The previous week, Benfica had come from two goals down against Setúbal and ended up winning 6-2 in a match that exposed their defensive frailties, often repeated during the campaign, but also showcased their offensive prowess. When the two sides stepped onto the pitch, it was a shocking view to grasp the once immense Luz ground already half its size due to the construction works of the new ground right next door. Only 50,000 fans were able to attend the match, and from the first minute it became clear that Porto would not be biding their time.
They went for the kill early on. Mourinho’s men got hold of the ball, moved it faster and with precision and quickly started to test Moreira’s goal in search of the opener. Deco was operating freely in the middle, always finding someone to play with, particularly Alenitchev, who was key to pushing Benfica into their own half from the get-go. Every time the hosts tried to pick off the Dragons on the break, the visitors would always find a way of getting the ball back and press again. The only time Benfica’s plan worked, Nuno Gomes hit the post after shooting from distance. Two minutes later, Porto scored.
Paulo Ferreira crossed from the right, and as the ball was cleared by Benfica’s defence. Maniche came running from behind and saw Deco unmarked before placing a perfect pass that the former Alverca and Salgueiros man – who had come to Portugal to play for Benfica but never did – executed a beautiful goal after receiving the ball, advancing and shooting while sliding on the grass. It was the perfect definition of what Porto were all about. High pressing, clear-minded and aesthetic at times. The strength of Maniche and the quality of Deco. Moreira was helpless.
The second half wasn’t much different. Porto kept control of events, creating chance after chance with the Eagles goalkeeper denying them as much as he could. At half-time, Camacho sent Tomislav Sokota on for Zahovic to try and change the game’s dynamics, but that only left his side even more exposed. Armando and Andersson came afterwards from the bench to replace Argel and Petit, both on yellow cards, but then Ricardo Rocha was sent off after a terrible foul on Deco. A minute prior Camacho had spent his last substitution, and by then he knew it was game over.
Mourinho, who had already replaced Alenitchev with Tiago, moving Maniche up the pitch, decided to play it safe and sent on Marco Ferreira and Edgaras Jankauskas for Capucho and Postiga to keep legs fresh in attack, but without pressing too much for the kill. He knew both the match and the league were done and dusted. Until the final whistle, Porto were always closer to scoring a second than Benfica to drawing level, and when it was all over, as the players ran towards the visiting supporters with Mourinho coolly rehearsed what would become his usual winning celebration, everyone was aware that his side had already become one for the ages.
Porto went on to win the league easily a month later with a 5-2 thrashing of Santa Clara at home, to celebrate an almost perfect campaign. By then, they had already found themselves on the road to the Portuguese Cup Final, where they beat União de Leiria, Mourinho’s former side, at Jamor. The season was crowned with a brilliant display in the UEFA Cup. After a poor home result against Panathinaikos and turning around the results in Athens, Porto did the unthinkable and came back from an early goal at home to smash Lazio 4-1 before a draw in Rome settled the score and sent them to their third continental final in Seville. In a breathtaking match, twice Celtic managed to equalise a Porto goal before Marco Ferreira and Derlei set up the winner in extra time.
It was the first time since 1987 that any Portuguese side had lifted a UEFA competition and only the fifth time it had happened, after Benfica’s back-to-back European Cup wins, Sporting’s Cup Winner’s Cup triumph and Porto’s own European Cup success. Few could imagine what would happen a year later. It seemed the zenith of a brilliant generation and a golden period for Portuguese football in general, a year before hosting the Euros.
Benfica finished the season second to claim a passport to the Champions League for the first time in six seasons, with Sporting finishing third. Camacho would stay for another season, during which he again led the Eagles to a second-place finish, with Porto going one better and claiming the Champions League trophy to crown José Mourinho’s astonishing stint at the Dragão. Days before the final in Gelsenkirchen, Benfica beat them at Jamor in the Portuguese Cup final. It was the only silverware available to Mourinho’s Porto in two seasons that they did not win.
It was also a sign that the Eagles were coming back to their former, greater self. A season later, under Giovanni Trapattoni, they would win their first league trophy in eleven seasons, thus putting an end to the so-called Vietnam era. That year’s triumph was the first in the post-Mourinho era as the manager rocked the Premier League as Chelsea manager, a period when, for a brief time at least, Portuguese football had proved itself ahead of the game.
By Miguel Lourenço Pereira, author of “Bring Me That Horizon – A Journey to the Soul of Portuguese Football”.
