Boavista FC - last updated on 12 May 2008
(Courtesy of Johnny Beaufays)
Club name: Boavista Futebol Clube
Foundation: August 1st 1903
City: Porto
Colours: Black and white
Website: www.boavistafc.pt
Honours:
Portuguese Liga - 1 (2001)
Portuguese Cup - 5 (1975, 1976, 1979, 1992, 1997)
Portuguese Super Cup - 3 (1979, 1992, 1997)
A bit of history:
Boavista Futebol Clube, often simply known as Boavista, is a sports club from Porto, Portugal that was founded in 1903. Boavista grew to become Porto's second greatest club with sections dedicated to several sports, such as volleyball, chess, gymnastics, bicycle racing and futsal (among others), being the most notable the football section. The trademark of the team are the checkered white and black shirts. Estádio do Bessa, their stadium, was built in 1973 and remodeled in time for the Euro 2004, but plans for renewal already existed. Internally, Boavista grew from a minor team in the 70's to a regular fixture in Europe since then. The first "threat" to the The Big Three title domination was in 1975-76 under guidance of José Maria Pedroto, when Boavista finished second, achieving the same position later in 1998-99. Finally, in 2000-01 Boavista won the SuperLiga (on 18 May 2001, after beating Desportivo das Aves 3-0), finishing second to Sporting in 2002.
In Europe, Boavista was commonly known as the club with the strange shirts, and achieved moderate success. The highlight is still the brilliant UEFA Cup run in 2003, when they were knocked out by Celtic F.C. in the semi-finals, in a year which saw FC Porto lift the trophy. In the same competition: In 1981-82 Boavista FC eliminated Atlético Madrid 5-4 in the first round. In 1986-87, Boavista beat ACF Fiorentina but lost to Rangers FC in a tense second round game at the Ibrox Stadium. In 1991-1992, they managed to knock out Inter Milan 2-1 in the first round, making it to the quarterfinals in 1993-1994, after knocking out Greece's OFI Crete and S.S. Lazio of Italy.
Boavista has played twice in the UEFA Champions League. After a first, modest, participation in 1999, Boavista surprised Europe in 2001 by beating and knocking out German giants Borussia Dortmund in the first group stages. The panthers went through to the second phase where they met stronger challenges like Manchester United and Bayern Munich. With their financial objective more than complete, new horizons were rising for the team, as they started their group by surprising FC Nantes at home winning by 1-0, and reaching the top of the group after the draw between Manchester and Bayern. The team eventually finished a respectable third.
The football side has reputation in Portugal and, to some extent, abroad, as a result of its aggressive style, resulting always in hard-fought matches for their opponent team, even in defeats. One shining example of this is the 2001 Portuguese title, where the team finished first in goals conceded, with one of the best attacks. This style was mainly the brainchild of coach Jaime Pacheco. With his departure for RCD Mallorca in 2003-04, the team started to play a less attractive football, which kept for the next two years. This image started to change when Pacheco was replaced by Carlos Brito for the 2005-06 season, but, ironically, Pacheco came back to replaced sacked Željko Petrović in October 2006 (who in turn was a late replacement for FC Porto-bound Jesualdo Ferreira (who departed before the first matchday)) and that reputation caught back with the club.
Club crests: (roll on the crest to get more informations)
Boavista FC - Founded on August 1st 1903
