Boavista Futebol Clube, commonly known as Boavista (Portuguese pronunciation:[boɐˈviʃtɐ]), is a Portuguese professional sports club from the city of Porto. Founded on 1 August 1903 by British entrepreneurs and Portuguese textile workers[1] (thus the "FC" being appended – the British way as opposed to the more common Portuguese way of being prepended to the club's name), it is one of the oldest clubs in the country and plays in the Primeira Liga, Portuguese football's top flight.
Boavista grew to become an important sports club in Portugal, with sections dedicated to several sports including football, chess, gymnastics, bicycle racing, futsal, volleyball, rink hockey and boxing, among others, with the most notable being the football section with their trademark chequered white and black shirts. The club is the most eclectic one in the North region of Portugal, and one of the most eclectic sports clubs in Portugal, practicing a total of 16 sports.[citation needed]
With 9 major domestic trophies won (1 Championship, 5 Portuguese Cups and 3 domestic Super Cups, all during the presidencies of Valentim Loureiro or João Loureiro, of the Loureiro family), Boavista is the most decorated Portuguese football club after the "Big Three" (Benfica, Porto and Sporting CP). Boavista spent 39 consecutive seasons in the Primeira Liga (50 in total) and, together with Belenenses, is the only team outside the "Big Three" to have won the Portuguese Championship, in the 2000–01 season. Boavista has a rivalry with fellow city club Porto;[2] the matches between the clubs are sometimes called O Derby da Invicta.
Its stadium, Estádio do Bessa, was built in 1973, although football has been played there at the former 'Campo do Bessa' since the 1910s, and was revamped for use in Euro 2004.
History
Foundation and the chequered shirts (1903–1933)
Boavista in June 1923, in their previous all-black shirts.
The club was founded on 1 August 1903, in the Boavista area of the western part of the city of Porto, by two English brothers, Harry and Dick Lowe.[3] Having received an imported football from their father in England, they founded The Boavista Footballers, and an early rival was another English club in the city, the Oporto Cricket and Lawn Tennis Club.[4] The team had an early schism as its British contingent refused to play on Sundays due to their Anglican faith, while the Catholic locals could only play on Sundays due to work commitments; the locals won, drastically changing the demographics of the club.[4] In 1910 the current name was adopted, and on 11 April that year the ground now occupied by the Estádio do Bessa was inaugurated with a match against Leixões SC.[3] In 1913–14, the team won the inaugural Porto Football Association.[3]
In the 1920s the club increased the number of sports practiced.[4] The team boasted "the best defensive trio of the North": goalkeeper Casoto and defenders Lúzia and Óscar Vasques de Carvalho.[4] In the following decade, the club lobbied for the legalisation of professionalism after being sanctioned, having been investigated after complaining that FC Porto had paid Boavista's Nova to join them.[4] In 1933, the club adopted its black-and-white shirts, based on a French team that club president Artur Oliveira Valença had watched.[4]
League entry and golden 1970s (1934–1980)
Boavista's first decades in league football saw the club bounce between the Primeira and the Segunda Divisão, winning the latter's title in 1937 and 1950. In 1966, they fell to the Terceira Divisão, and stayed there for two years.[5]
Experienced English manager Jimmy Hagan led the club to its third Taça de Portugal win in five years after defeating Sporting CP 1–0 in the replay of the 1979 final, after a 1–1 draw occurred the day prior.[7] At the beginning of the following season, Porto and Boavista organised the first edition of the Portuguese Supercup, a season-opening match between the league and cup holders. The match was contested at the Estádio das Antas, and Boavista (with new manager Mário Lino) beat Pedroto's Porto 2–1 in a violent match where Boavista had two men sent off.[8]
From contenders to champions and European forays (1980–2003)
In 1997, Valentim Loureiro was succeeded as president by his son João, who at 34 was the youngest in the whole league.[6] Also, former Portugal international Jaime Pacheco was appointed manager, and led the club to runners-up in 1999 and fourth place in 2000. In 2000–01, they won the derby in the second half of the season against Porto and went on to win the league with a 3–0 win over C.D. Aves on 18 May.[9] This was only the second time that a team from outside the Big Three won the league, after C.F. Os Belenenses in 1946. Pacheco's team conceded just 22 goals in 34 games and lost at home only once.[9] The team featured Ricardo in goal, academy product Petit in midfield, Bolivian free-kick specialist Erwin Sánchez in attacking midfield, Duda and Martelinho on the wings, and Brazilian striker Elpídio Silva was the club's top scorer with 11 goals.[9]
After finishing runners-up to Sporting a year later, the squad began to break up, with Petit heading to Benfica and fellow midfielder Pedro Emanuel going to Porto; both skippered their new teams.[9] The club rebuilt the Estádio do Bessa for UEFA Euro 2004, contributing to their financial problems.[9] Pacheco left for Spain's RCD Mallorca in 2003, returning soon to replace Sánchez briefly as manager the following year, and came back again in October 2006.[10]
Boavista were regulars in UEFA competitions in the 1990 and early 2000s. In the 2002–03 UEFA Cup, they reached the semi-finals before a 2–1 aggregate loss to Celtic due to a late Henrik Larsson strike; they would have faced Porto in the final.[11]
Downfall and return (2008–present)
In June 2008, Boavista was sentenced to relegation for its part in the Apito Dourado (Golden Whistle) matchfixing scandal, for three games in the 2003–04 season.[12] A year later the club was relegated again: originally saved by promoted club F.C. Vizela being sanctioned for corruption, the team withdrew from the second division for financial reasons.[13]
In January 2013, João Loureiro, pressed by thousands of members of the club to return to the presidency, was elected president once again. After a long legal battle, in June 2013, Boavista was entitled the right to come back to the Primeira Liga.[14][15] Also, after a negotiation with the creditors of the club, the €65 million debt was cut in half.[16] After a six-year absence, Boavista returned to the Primeira Liga in the 2014–15 season, coached by Petit, a member of the title-winning side of 2001.[17]
In October 2020, Boavista's members approved of investment from Spanish-Luxembourgish businessman Gérard Lopez, owner of Ligue 1 club Lille OSC.[18] Petit returned as manager, leading the club to the Taça da Liga semi-finals for the first time in 2021–22.[19]
The club has made 55 appearances at the top level of Portuguese football and has won the Portuguese cup five times. In 1979, it also won the very first edition of the national supercup.
The Estádio do Bessa (later Estádio do Bessa XXI) is Boavista's home ground, used for football and occasionally for music concerts. The stadium was first used in 1911, then known as 'Campo do Bessa'.
The stadium had several renovations in its history, namely in 1967–72, where turf was installed as well as floodlights. Like other stadiums used in UEFA Euro 2004, the stadium was rebuilt for the competition, but on top of the old stands, and each one of them at a different time, allowing Boavista to continue playing there. It cost €45,164,726, from which €7,785,735 were supported from the Portuguese state, and featured an all-seater capacity of 28,263 spectators.[25] Plans for improvement actually existed before the organization of the Euro 2004 was given to Portugal in 1999, and by then, the first works were already underway. It was designed by Grupo 3 Arquitectura.
Boavista's black-and-white chequered shirt was introduced by journalist and club president Artur Oliveira Valença, based on a French team he had seen.[4]
The women's team is one of the strongest in Portugal, having won several titles in a row during the 1990s, as well as the formation U-19, U-17. U-15 and U-13 teams, that won all national championships, and brought up several talented and famous international players.
^Caetano, Filipe (31 July 2003). "Boavista, 100 anos: do profissionalismo ao abismo" [Boavista, 100 years: from professionalism to the abyss] (in Portuguese). Mais Futebol. Archived from the original on 27 July 2020. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
^"Sob o signo de Pedroto" [Under Pedroto's sign]. Record (in Portuguese). 25 May 2007. Archived from the original on 20 February 2020. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
^Tovar, Rui Miguel (3 August 2019). "Supertaça: No balneário é que é bom" [Supertaça: It's good to be in the changing room]. Sábado (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 27 July 2020. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
^Castro, Gaspar (11 August 2014). "O Boavista veio para ficar" [Boavista is here to stay] (in Portuguese). SAPO. Archived from the original on 20 February 2020. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
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