FC Porto

Also written as Porto.

The club

Futebol Clube do Porto were founded on 28 September 1893 as Foot-Ball Club do Porto by António Nicolau de Almeida, a port wine merchant. They are nicknamed the Dragões, the Dragons, and the Azuis e Brancos, the blue-and-whites, and play in blue and white vertical stripes with blue shorts. With 88 major trophies they are one of the most decorated clubs in Portugal.

The ground is the Estádio do Dragão, opened in 2003 with a capacity of 50,033. Before that the club spent 51 years, from 1952 to 2003, at the Estádio das Antas.

The president is André Villas-Boas, elected on 27 April 2024, ending the long presidency of Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa, who was still in office through the 2023/24 season. The head coach is the Italian Francesco Farioli, appointed on 6 July 2025 after the departure of Martín Anselmi; Anselmi had himself only arrived in January 2025 to replace Vítor Bruno.

Recent seasons

Porto won the Primeira Liga in 2021/22 with 91 points. In 2022/23 they were second with 85 points, two behind champions Benfica, from 27 wins, 4 draws and 3 defeats, but won both the Taça de Portugal, going through the competition with seven wins from seven and 21 goals scored against 3 conceded, and the Taça da Liga; Mehdi Taremi scored 22 league goals and 31 in all competitions. In 2023/24, Sérgio Conceição's last season, they slipped to third on 72 points but won the Taça de Portugal again, beating Sporting CP 2-1 after extra time in the final on 26 May 2024 with goals from Evanilson and a Taremi penalty.

2024/25 was turbulent. Vítor Bruno started the season, was replaced on 20 January 2025, José Tavares took the team briefly, and Martín Anselmi arrived on 27 January. Porto finished third on 71 points, went out of the Taça de Portugal in the fourth round, won the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira 4-3, and went winless at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup group stage with two draws and a defeat. Samu Aghehowa scored 19 league goals.

In 2025/26, Francesco Farioli's first season, Porto won their 31st league title with 88 points from 34 matches, 28 wins, 4 draws and 2 defeats, 66 goals scored and only 18 conceded, ahead of a Sporting side whose Luis Suárez topped the league's scoring with 28 goals. Samu Aghehowa led Porto with 13 league goals and 20 in all competitions. Diogo Costa, the Portugal goalkeeper, captained the side.

Honours and landmarks

Thirty-one Portuguese league titles, including five in a row from 1994/95 to 1998/99, and twenty Taças de Portugal. Porto won the European Cup in 1987, beating Bayern Munich 2-1 in Vienna, and the Champions League in 2004, beating Monaco 3-0 in Gelsenkirchen under José Mourinho. They won the UEFA Cup in 2003, beating Celtic 3-2 after extra time in Seville, and the Europa League in 2011, beating Braga 1-0 in Dublin under André Villas-Boas. Both European Cup wins were followed by the Intercontinental Cup, in 1987, a 2-1 win over Peñarol in Tokyo, and again in 2004.

Porto went through the entire league season unbeaten twice, in 2010/11 and 2012/13, and hold a record unbeaten run of 58 league matches.

Notable scorelines

The club's biggest European home win is 9-0 against Rabat Ajax of Malta in the 1986/87 European Cup, and the biggest away win 8-1 at Portadown in 1990/91. The heaviest Champions League defeat is 6-1 to Bayern Munich in 2014/15. Porto's all-time domestic record win and record defeat were not established from the sources read here.

European record

Porto first appeared in Europe in the 1956/57 European Cup, losing 3-5 on aggregate to the Spanish champions from Bilbao, then playing as Atlético Bilbao, 2-1 at home and 3-2 away. Their first European final was the 1984 Cup Winners' Cup, lost 2-1 to Juventus in Basel.

The first triumph came in the 1987 European Cup final at the Praterstadion in Vienna. Bayern Munich led 1-0 until the 77th minute, when Rabah Madjer's backheel equaliser became one of the most remembered goals in a European Cup final; Juary scored the winner three minutes later.

Under José Mourinho, Porto won the 2003 UEFA Cup final against Celtic at the Estadio Olímpico in Seville on 21 May 2003, 3-2 after extra time. Derlei scored in first-half stoppage time, Henrik Larsson equalised twice either side of a Dmitri Alenichev goal, and Derlei settled it in the 115th minute under the silver goal rule, in front of 52,140 and what UEFA called the largest travelling support assembled for a single game, some 80,000 Celtic supporters in Seville. It was the first UEFA Cup win by a Portuguese club. A year later, on 26 May 2004 at the Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen, Porto beat Monaco 3-0 in the Champions League final, Carlos Alberto on 39 minutes, Deco on 71 and Alenichev on 75, in front of 53,053; Mourinho left for Chelsea a week later. On the way Porto had knocked out Manchester United, scoring in the 91st minute at Old Trafford.

The 2011 Europa League final at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on 18 May 2011 was the first all-Portuguese final in UEFA competition history, against Braga, a club only 47.4 kilometres away. Radamel Falcao's 44th-minute goal won it 1-0; his 17 goals that season were a competition record, and Porto's manager was the 33-year-old André Villas-Boas, now the club's president.

Recent campaigns have ended in narrow knockout exits. In the 2023/24 Champions League Porto won their round of sixteen first leg 1-0 against Arsenal, lost the return 1-0 after extra time, and went out 4-2 on penalties. The 2024/25 Europa League ended at the knockout phase play-off stage. In 2025/26 they were back in the Europa League, beat Rangers 3-1 and Malmö 2-1 at home in the league phase, won 2-1 at Stuttgart, then beat Stuttgart again over two legs in the round of sixteen, 4-1 on aggregate, before losing the quarter-final to eventual semi-finalists Nottingham Forest, 1-1 at the Estádio do Dragão and 1-0 at the City Ground, 2-1 on aggregate. Aston Villa won that Europa League, beating Freiburg 3-0 in the Istanbul final.

Quotes

José Mourinho, recalling the 2004 Champions League run and final for UEFA: "We went to Manchester and that's history now: in the 90th minute we were behind, we scored in the 91st minute and we qualified." And on the final itself: "I always say I didn't celebrate it like a Champions League final, because it didn't feel like a Champions League final - the game was very calm and controlled. I didn't feel like a European champion after the referee blew the final whistle: I felt like a champion of Europe long before the game was finished."

Right now (2026-27)

Francesco Farioli remains head coach and André Villas-Boas president. Porto opened the season by winning the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira 1-0 against Torreense on 1 August 2026, Froholdt scoring; the scorer's full name was not established from the sources read here.

The league defence has started perfectly: five wins from five and top of the Primeira Liga with 15 points, 11 goals scored and 1 conceded. They beat Alverca 2-0 at home on 9 August with two penalties, credited to Silva and Veiga, won 2-0 at Rio Ave on 15 August, beat Arouca 2-0 at home on 23 August with Veiga and Sainz scoring, won 3-0 at Académico de Viseu on 29 August, and beat Moreirense 2-1 at home on 6 September with goals from Bednarek and Gomes; the scorers' full names beyond these surnames were not established from the sources read here.

As Portuguese champions Porto are in the Champions League league phase, which begins on 8-10 September 2026. Their drawn opponents include Manchester City, Liverpool, Paris Saint-Germain, Napoli, RB Leipzig, PSV Eindhoven and Real Betis.

The summer business was substantial: in came Santiago Giménez on loan from AC Milan, Seko Fofana on loan from Rennes, Hwang In-beom from Feyenoord for 4.5 million euros, Gabriel Mec from Grêmio for 11 million, and the free agent André Silva; out went Rodrigo Mora to Roma for 25 million euros for half his rights, Deniz Gül to Galatasaray for 10 million and Stephen Eustáquio to Swansea City for 4 million.

Sources

Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.