Futebol Clube do Porto or FC Porto, Porto, or FCP for short, is one of the Três Grandes, or Big Three, football clubs in Portugal, with Sport Lisboa e Benfica and Sporting Clube de Portugal being the other two clubs, FC Porto's two biggest rivals. It was founded in Porto in 1893.
FC Porto is an internationally lauded team, with a national record of six international titles, becoming European and World Champions twice each in the 1987 and 2004 seasons. In 1987, FC Porto also gained the UEFA Supercup (another first for Portugal) and, in 2004, it brought Portugal's first UEFA Champions League trophy, making FC Porto the most successful club internationally in Portugal. In 1987, FC Porto became one of a few teams in the World to hold in possession three major international titles simultaneously (the only one in Portugal). Domestically they hold the best record of five titles in a row, having won the Portuguese Liga 24 times. Other titles won by the club include the Portuguese Cup 18 times and Portuguese Supercup 16 times (58 national titles).
The football home ground is the Estádio do Dragão, which replaced the previous home, Estádio das Antas, in 2003. A new multi-sport arena near the stadium was recently completed to harbour FC Porto's other sports such as the handball and basketball teams, which are regular contenders for the national titles and the roller hockey section, amongst the best in the sport worldwide. Supporters and players of the club are nicknamed Portistas.
FC Porto was founded in the northern city of Porto on 28 September 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 (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.
FC Porto played in the Portuguese championship 74 times, playing 2048 games, winning 1333, drawing 375, losing 340, scoring 4542 goals, and conceding 1909, having 3342 points as of the end of the 2007–08 season. They were also one of the founding members of the now disbanded G-14.
FC Porto's 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 and went on to win the first national competition in the history of Portuguese football, the Campeonato da Liga 1934-35. Porto were always a struggling team after that championship, and went on to win only five championships in 41 years . But slightly before the new president Pinto da Costa took office, the history of Portuguese soccer saw a new title contestant, and a new European team. In the following years, since 1978, Porto won 19 titles, 11 Portuguese cups, 16 Portuguese supercups, 1 European Champions Cup, and the new Champions League, 1 UEFA Cup, 1 European Super Cup, and 2 Intercontinental Cup.
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 30 years. Since 1982, Porto has won 17 titles, achieving the record Penta (five leagues in a row) in 1999 and since 1976 never finished below 3rd place, 10 Portuguese cups, and has a majority of Supercups, having won 15 out of a possible 27.
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