Boavista F.C.

Foundation and the chequered shirts (1903–1933)

The club was founded on 1 August 1903, in the Boavista area, in the western part of the city of Porto. The club was founded by two English brothers, Harry and Dick Lowe. Having received an imported football from their father in England, began to play football matches in Porto amongst fellow English and Portuguese workers and technicians from the William Graham factory, located in the western industrialized area of Boavista. Eventually they founded the club whose first name was The Boavista Footballers and started to play organized football matches against other teams, including another English club in the city, the Oporto Cricket and Lawn Tennis Club.

In 1909 the club faced a great setback after a religious dispute between the English Anglican and the Portuguese Catholic faction. While the English favoured Saturdays to play football and refused to play on Sundays, the Portuguese preferred the opposite. The Portuguese faction won the vote for matches on Sundays. As a result, many English members left the club. The club director's board subsequently became mainly Portuguese and the owner, William Graham withdrew financing of the club. In 1910, the name of the club was then changed to its current form, Boavista Futebol Clube, although the English version ("Boavista Football Club") was still used until as far as the 1940s. Since 1910, the matches took place at Campo do Bessa, an area near the Graham Factory that would later become the club's current ground, Estádio do Bessa, the oldest football ground in the city of Porto and one of the oldest still used for football in Portugal. The grounds were property of the Mascarenhas family, with António da Costa Mascarenhas being the first president of the club after the cision with the English members. The ground's inauguration took place on 11 April 1910 in a match against Leixões, watched approximately by 2,000 spectators, a record for a football match in Portugal. The final result was a 3–3 draw.

In 1914, Boavista won the first edition of the Porto Championship. However, the club faced another major setback in 1914 with the beginning of World War I, when many of its English members and athletes departed to fight in the war, some of them not to be seen again. The situation worsened after Portugal entered the war in 1916. In the following decade the club increased the number of sports practiced while the football team played against other teams that visited the city of Porto, including Real Madrid, Celta de Vigo and Vasas from Budapest. Several early important players of the club include Óscar Vasques de Carvalho, a defender that was part of the Portuguese squad for the 1928 Olympic Football Tournament while playing for Boavista; and goalkeeper Casoto, the first Boavista player to gain an international cap for Portugal in a 3–3 draw against Hungary on 26 December 1926 in Porto.

In 1933, the club adopted its now famous chequered black-and-white shirts and changed its crest to reflect their new identity. The shirts were first used in a 4–0 win in a friendly match against Benfica on 29 January 1933, a date seen as the second birth of the club.

Early League years (1934–1969)

Boavista was promoted to the Primeira Liga for the first time in 1935–36, after finishing runner-up on the second tier after Carcavelinhos. In the first participation in the league the club finished sixth place. The next year, the club won their first national title after defeating União de Lisboa 5–1 in the second tier of Portuguese football. For the next two decades, they were yo-yos bouncing between the Primeira and Segunda Divisão, with the highlight being the ten seasons between 1945 and 1955, where they played in the top flight with the exception of the 1949–50 season, where they won the secon division title. Their best classification was fifth place in 1951–52. The following decade was spent on the second division except the 1959–60 season, where the club was back on the top flight. Their lowest ebb was in 1966, when they were relegated to the Terceira Divisão. After two seasons, they were promoted back to the second tier, and a second consecutive promotion saw the club back the top tier of Portuguese football, and began building their reputation in earnest.

The Golden Era begins (1969–1980)

The first season after promotion was very difficult. The club lost all of their away matches, but their home record was much better as they were defeated only once, against Varzim. They avoided relegation by only one point after a 2–0 win against Braga in the last day of the season. Between 1969 and 1974, the club had several managers, most notably Fernando Caiado, a former star player of the club and Benfica in the 1940s and the 1950s, with 15 caps for Portugal. Another manager of the club was Aymoré Moreira, the 1962 Brazil winning manager of FIFA World Cup.

1974 saw the arrival of manager José Maria Pedroto and Valentim Loureiro, then head of the football department, that would later become one of the most influential presidents of the club. In the first year in charge, Boavista achieved their best classification ever, a fourth place in the 1974-1975 chanmpionship. In the same season Boavista won Taça de Portugal for the first time after defeating Benfica 2–1 in the final. The match was disputed at Estádio José Alvalade instead of the traditional Estádio Nacional because of the association of the national stadium with the fascist regime, since Portugal was living the revolutionary period after the Carnation Revolution. The club disputed a European competition for the first time in the following season. They eliminated Spartak Trnava in the first round of the 1975–76 European Cup Winners' Cup, being defeated 3–1 on aggregate against Celtic in the second round.

The following season saw the first "threat" to the league title domination by The Big Three when Boavista finished second. The club also won the Portuguese Cup for the second year in a row, after successfully defending their title by defeating Vitória de Guimarães, 2-1 in the final disputed at Estádio das Antas in Porto. Manager José Maria Pedroto left the club for Porto at the end of the season. The following season, Boavista again finished in fourth place, qualifying for UEFA Cup for the first time. After finishing seventh in the following season, Boavista hired experienced English manager Jimmy Hagan, who led the club to its third Taça de Portugal win in five years after defeating Sporting CP 1–0 in the replay of the final after a 1–1 draw occurred the day prior. At the beginning of the following season, the two main clubs from the city of Porto organized the first edition of the Portuguese Supercup, a season-opening match opposing the League winner (Porto, managed by José Maria Pedroto) and the Taça de Portugal winner. The match was contested at the Estádio das Antas, and Boavista (with new manager Mário Lino) won 2–1 in a violent match where Boavista finished with nine players after two players had been sent off, thereby claiming the first edition of the Portuguese Supercup.

From contenders to Champions and European forays (1980–2003)

They would be second place again in 1998–99, already in the presidency of João Loureiro. Finally, with the same president and with Jaime Pacheco as head coach, in 2000–01, Boavista won the national championship after defeating Desportivo das Aves 3–0, on 18 May—the first time in 55 years, and only the second time ever, that a side outside the "Big Three" had won the title. The following season saw them finish second to Sporting CP.

Erwin Sánchez, one of Bolivia's football legends, is widely considered to be Boavista's most influential player of the last 15 years, after helping the club win the 2001 league and captaining the team, while also participating in the over-achieving 2003 European campaign. A midfielder with an accurate and powerful long-range shot and a free-kick specialist, he was a leading player for Bolivia both in the 1994 World Cup qualifiers and finals. Sánchez left the club in March 2004 after a brief and unsuccessful spell as its manager. He would later come back to the club during the 2015–16 season, taking over after the departure of former teammate Petit. Despite losing the first few matches and seeing the team fall into the relegation spots, he managed to avoid relegation at the end of the season. He stayed with the team for the 2016–17 but was eventually sacked after a home defeat against historical rivals Belenenses, being replaced by Miguel Leal on October 11, 2016.

The panther is the club symbol and nickname.

In Europe, during the presidencies of Valentim Loureiro and of his son João Loureiro, Boavista have achieved strong success, and are referred to as 'the club with the strange shirts'. The highlight was their brilliant UEFA Cup run in 2002–03, when they were eliminated by Celtic in the semi-finals, just one match from what could have been an all-Portuguese and indeed all-Porto final with FC Porto. Boavista enjoyed several other high points in the same competition, including the elimination of Atlético Madrid 5–4 in the first round in 1981–82. In 1986–87, Boavista beat Fiorentina but lost to Rangers in a tense second round match at Ibrox Stadium. In 1991–92, they eliminated Internazionale 2–1 in the first round and, two seasons later, made it to the quarter-finals after eliminating Greek outfit OFI Crete and Lazio of Italy.

Boavista qualified twice for the UEFA Champions League. In 1999–2000, although having shown interesting football in the respective matches, they finished bottom of their group, therefore being eliminated. However, in two seasons later, they sprang surprise by defeating and eliminating German giants Borussia Dortmund and Dynamo Kyiv in the initial group stages, advancing to the next round with Liverpool. There, the Panthers met with stronger challenges like Manchester United and Bayern Munich. With their financial objective already met, new horizons opened up for the team as they began their group by surprising Nantes at home by winning 1–0, and went to the top of the group after the draw between Manchester United and Bayern, eventually finishing a respectable third, only one point behind the qualification.

Boavista has a reputation in Portugal and, to some extent abroad, as an attacking team, playing hard-fought matches, even in defeat. One shining example of this is the 2001 Portuguese title, during the golden João Loureiro's presidency, where the team was the best defence in terms of goals conceded, at the same time having one of the best attacks of the competition. It was only the second time a team other than the "Big Three" managed to win the title. The other was Belenenses back in the 1945–46 season. This style was mainly the brainchild of head coach Jaime Pacheco. With his departure for Mallorca in 2003, the team started to play less attractive football over the next two years and their results began to decline. Pacheco returned but their image only started to change when Pacheco was replaced by Carlos Brito for 2005–06. Ironically, he came back to replace sacked Željko Petrović in October 2006, who in turn was a late replacement for Porto-bound Jesualdo Ferreira, who departed before the first matchday.

Downfall (2003–2008)

2003 marked the latest appearance on the spotlight by the club. The construction of the modern and aesthetic 30,000 all covered seats Estádio do Bessa XXI (and the failure of the promised financing support from the government and municipality of Oporto for that construction^[3]) left a deep hole on the club's finances, and the less money to hire quality players, together with internal turmoil, contributed to the fall of the club. After three consecutive failures to achieve European competition, Boavista lived through a less brilliant period. Talisman coach Jaime Pacheco returned for a third stint as Boavista manager, but the club did not manage to advance past the second half of the table. The financial problems originated by the failure of the public entities promises prompted the club to a "back-to-basics" attitude, betting on younger players and resurrecting the club's youth academy, which launched the careers of well-known players as João Pinto, Petit, Nuno Gomes, José Bosingwa, Raul Meireles and many others.

After president João Loureiro went out in 2007, and during the hapless presidency of Joaquim Teixeira, despite finishing ninth in the 2007–08 season, Boavista was relegated in June 2008 to the second division because of its involvement in the corruption scandal Apito Dourado.

Back to the second and third tiers and to the first tier (2008–2014)

The club suffered greatly throughout 2008–09, and although finishing in 15th place was, at first, spared from relegation to the third level due to the irregularities-related demotion of Vizela. However, the club's financial debts led to an eventual demotion nonetheless. This was the first time they played in the Portuguese third tier in 41 years.

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 main Portuguese league.^[4][5] Also, after a negotiation with the creditors of the club, the debt was cut in half, which created much hope for the future with a solid number of fans of the club returning to the Bessa.^[6]

In February 2014, having averted bankruptcy for some years running, Boavista also negotiated an agreement with SIREVE (Companies' Recovery System through Extrajudicial Agreements) under which, a constructive debt restructuring with its creditors was worked out.

Back to the first tier (2014–Present)

In April 2014, the Executive Committee of the League approved the application for participation in the Primeira Liga in the 2014/2015 season. Through a statement,^[7] the Commission explains that the application of the club also received the assent of the Technical Study Group and Audit.

After a six-year absence, and with club president João Loureiro, Boavista returned to the Primeira Liga in the 2014–15 season, coached by Petit, a former champion in the club, debuting in Braga. On 14 September 2014, after three defeats in the first three matches, the club recorded their first win in the Primeira Liga with a 1–0 home victory against Académica de Coimbra. A draw at the Estádio do Dragão against Porto followed. At the end of the season, Boavista finished 13th in the table, managing to stay on the top tier, which was considered a success considering the budget the club had. The club also avoided relegation in 2015–16 under Bolivian head coach and former player of the club Erwin Sánchez. In the 2016-2017 season the club achieved its best performance of the decade finishing 9th. In 3 January 2018 the club announced that the number 29 would be retired in memory of 20-year old player Edu Ferreira who died of cancer on 24 December 2017.

Overview

• Biggest win: Boavista 8-0 Sliema Wanderers, 05/10/1979, Estádio do Bessa, Porto
• Biggest defeat: Lazio 5-0 Boavista, 28/09/1977, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
• Players with most UEFA appearances: Erwin Sánchez and Ricardo, 35 matches
• Top scorers in UEFA club competitions: Elpídio Silva, 11 goals

Matches

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Aggregate
1975–76	Cup Winners' Cup	First round	Spartak Trnava	3–0	0–0	3–0
		Second round	Celtic	0–0	1–3	1–3
1976–77	Cup Winners' Cup	First round	CSU Galați	2–0	3–2	5–2
		Second round	Levski Sofia	3–1	0–2	3–3 (a)
1977–78	UEFA Cup	First round	Lazio	1–0	0–5	1–5
1979–80	Cup Winners' Cup	First round	Sliema Wanderers	8–0	1–2	9–2
		Second round	Dynamo Moscow	1–1	0–0	1–1 (a)
1980–81	UEFA Cup	First round	Vasas	0–1	2–0	2–1
		Second round	Sochaux	0–1	2–2	2–3
1981–82	UEFA Cup	First round	Atlético Madrid	4–1	1–3	5–4
		Second round	Valencia	0–2	1–0	1–2
1985–86	UEFA Cup	First round	Club Brugge	4–3	1–3	5–6
1986–87	UEFA Cup	First round	Fiorentina	1–0 (3–1 (p))	0–1	1–1
		Second round	Rangers	0–1	1–2	1–3
1989–90	UEFA Cup	First round	FC Karl-Marx-Stadt	2–2 (aet)	0–1	2–3
1991–92	UEFA Cup	First round	Internazionale	2–1	0–0	2–1
		Second round	Torino	0–0	0–2	0–2
1992–93	Cup Winners' Cup	First round	Valur	3–0	0–0	3–0
		Second round	Parma	0–2	0–0	0–2
1993–94	UEFA Cup	First round	Union Luxembourg	4–0	1–0	5–0
		Second round	Lazio	2–0	0–1	1–1
		Third round	OFI Crete	2–0	4–1	6–1
		Quarter-finals	Karlsruher SC	1–1	0–1	1–2
1994–95	UEFA Cup	First round	MYPA	2–1	1–1	3–2
		Second round	Napoli	1–1	1–2	2–3
1996–97	UEFA Cup	First round	Odense	1–2	3–2	4–4 (a)
		Second round	Dinamo Tbilisi	5–0	0–1	5–1
		Third round	Internazionale	0–2	1–5	1–7
1997–98	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	First round	Shakhtar Donetsk	2–3	1–1	3–4
1999–00	UEFA Champions League	Q3	Brøndby	4–2 (aet)	2–1	6–3
		Group C	Rosenborg	0–3	0–2	4th place
			Feyenoord	1–1	1–1
			Borussia Dortmund	1–0	1–3
2000–01	UEFA Cup	Qualif. round	Barry Town	2–0	3–0	5–0
		First round	Vorskla Poltava	2–1	2–1	4–2
		Second round	Roma	1–1	0–1	1–2
2001–02	UEFA Champions League	Group B	Liverpool	1–1	1–1	2nd place
			Dynamo Kyiv	3–1	0–1
			Borussia Dortmund	2–1	1–2
		Group A	Manchester United	0–3	0–3	3rd place
			Nantes	1–0	1–1
			Bayern Munich	0–0	0–1
2002–03	UEFA Champions League	Q2	Hibernians	4–0	3–3	7–3
		Q3	Auxerre	0–1	0–0	0–1
2002–03	UEFA Cup	First round	Maccabi Tel Aviv	4–1	0–1	4–2
		Second round	Anorthosis Famagusta	2–1	1–0	3–1
		Third round	Paris Saint-Germain	1–0	1–2	2–2 (a)
		Fourth round	Hertha BSC	1–0	2–3	3–3 (a)
		Quarter-finals	Málaga	1–0 (4–1 (p))	0–1	1–1
		Semi-finals	Celtic	0–1	1–1	1–2

First-team squad

As of 12 September, 2018^[11]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Rafael Bracali 2 DF Gonçalo Cardoso 3 DF Raphael Silva 4 MF Nwankwo Obiora 5 DF Talocha 7 MF Rochinha 8 MF David Simão 9 FW Mateus 10 MF Espinho 11 FW Yusupha Njie 13 GK Assis 15 FW Ronald Rodrigues 17 MF Carraça 18 FW André Claro

No. Position Player 20 DF Edu Machado 21 MF Aymen Tahar 22 DF Stéphane Sparagna 23 MF Rafael Costa 24 MF Shuma Arakaki 27 DF Neris 28 FW Federico Falcone 31 FW Índio (on loan from Estoril) 33 FW Rafael Lopes 39 FW Vasco Paciência 42 MF Idrissa Mandiang (captain) 88 MF Samu 90 GK Helton Leite 94 MF Gabriel Nunes

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 6 DF Róbson (on loan at Baniyas)

Retired numbers

• 29 – Edu Ferreira, FW (23 April 1997 – 24 December 2017)

Kit evolution

Boavista's first home colours

Second home colours

Third home colours

Fourth home colours

1933–Present