A brief history...
With wine being so inextricably linked with the history of
the city, it seems only fitting that FC Porto were founded on 28
September 1893 by Antonio Nicolau de Almeida, a leading merchant of
Porto wines. He had discovered football on a business trip to
England and resolved to start a team of his own.
The club nonetheless disappeared for a number of years, until it was revived as a generalised sports association in 1906 under the presidency of Jose Monteira da Costa. They acquired their own headquarters in 1907, designed a club emblem in 1910 and finally established sporting facilities three years later.
Despite a few notable exploits along the way, including a 3-2 victory over Arsenal in 1948, Porto lived for a long time in the shadow of the clubs from the capital. They had to wait until 1956 to dispute their first European competition (against Athletic Bilbao), but everything began to change towards the end of the 1970s.
The club started to take on a whole new dimension, and that had much to do with coach Jose Maria Pedroto and extraordinary striker Fernando Gomes (topscorer in Europe in 1983 and 1985). They reached their first European final in 1984, only to lose to Juventus, but they were back three years later and overcame Bayern Munich 2-1, thanks in no small part to Algerian ace Rabah Madjer's famous backheel. Buoyed by that success, they picked up the Toyota Cup and European Supercup soon afterwards. It was a vintage year for Porto, and would be followed by several more from the same barrel.
However, the club had to wait until 2003 to reach those same heights on the European stage again. Pitted against Glasgow Celtic in the UEFA Cup final, the Portuguese side eventually emerged victorious, sealing a 3-2 win at the end of a breathtaking game. Charismatic coach José Mourinho was instrumental in the renaissance, and the Blue and Whites impressed with their efficient counter-attacking style, founded on an impregnable defence. The recipe was so successful, in fact, that Porto added a prestigious Champions League title to their list of honours the very next year, inflicting a heavy 3-0 defeat on AS Monaco in the final.