Vitória Sport Clube, popularly known asVitória de Guimarães or justVitória, is aPortuguese professionalfootball club based inGuimarães that competes in thePrimeira Liga, the top flight ofPortuguese football, at theEstádio D. Afonso Henriques. The club also stands out on the national and international scene in sports such as athletics, volleyball, basketball, handball, water polo, swimming, jiu-jitsu, taekwondo and kickboxing, among others.[4]
It is currently the club with the fourth highest number of seasons at the top level of Portuguese football, totalling 81, and also the club with the fourth highest number of members, around 39,000.[5] It also has the fourth best average stadium attendance in Portugal, well ahead of its direct rivals.[6]
The club have competed regularly in European competitions, where their best finish was the quarter-finals of the1986–87 UEFA Cup.
Vitória SC have a long-standing rivalry with nearby clubSC Braga, with whom they contest theDerby do Minho. In addition to this age-old rivalry, Vitória has another major dispute withBoavista FC from the city of Porto.
Vitória Sport Clube owes its origins to a group of young students who set up a football team, made up of two teams, the 1st team being Sport Club Vimaranense and the 2nd team being Foot-ball Grupo Vimaranense, in 1913, a date that some researchers point to as the true founding date of the club, which in 1918 was given its current name.[7][8]
The club was founded on 22 September 1922, the official date of its foundation, the club set up its first board of directors after one of the Victorian gatherings that took place at the Chapelaria Macedo and was affiliated to theBraga Football Association in its first year of operation.[9][10]
Evolution of Vitória Sport Clube's league performances since 1938
Vitória's first emblem was created by Capitão Mário Cardoso in the late 1920s and depictsAfonso Henriques, the first King of Portugal, a symbol that inspires a club of conquerors, of fearless men who courageously fight for their goals.[11]
After seasons of hard work, which culminated in winning several titles in Braga's AF league, the Conquistadores were promoted to thePrimeira Liga in1941, and two seasons later battled theSadinos from Setúbal for the first time in the League. Against the odds, he reached his firstPortuguese Cup final in their debut season, but lost toBelenenses 2–0.[12]
Throughout the 20th century, Vitória Sport Clube was a possible contender to win the Portuguese Cup, reaching the final in 1942, 1963, 1976 and 1988. However, they were always defeated and avoided winning their first national trophy.
In 1980, Pimenta Machado took over the leadership of the club and since then, Vitória has been one of the leading clubs in Portuguese football, participating several times in European competitions.[13]
Vitória's furthest progress in a European tournament was in the1986–87 UEFA Cup, in which they were defeated 5–2 on aggregate in the quarter-finals by West German clubBorussia Mönchengladbach.[14]
Finally, in 1988, Vitória won its first national trophy, winning theSuper Cup as finalists in the Portuguese Cup againstFC Porto 2–0 (aggregate result).
In the early 2000s, Vitória struggled in some years to retain its status in the top Portuguese division, then named the Superliga. Those years were marked by the decline of the leadership of Pimenta Machado, former club president, who was accused on charges ofembezzlement. In February 2008 he was sentenced to four years and three months of prison on a suspended sentence,[15] though a year later he was cleared of this charge and instead ordered to pay a €4,000 fine for falsifying a document.[16]
Despite this, in 2004–05, the club secured a fifth-place finish in theleague and qualified for European competition via theUEFA Cup. The next season (2005–06), however, they were relegated to theSegunda Liga (where they last played in 1958) after finishing 17th in the Superliga,[17] despite reaching the Taça de Portugal semi-final, having beatenBenfica in the quarter-finals. The club also failed to progress from their UEFA Cup group, as eventual winnersSevilla,Premier League outfitBolton Wanderers and Russian teamZenit Saint Petersburg progressed.
Vitória bounced back immediately to the top-flight as runners-up toLeixões S.C. under the management ofManuel Cajuda.[18] A joint-best third-place finish in2007–08, guaranteeing them a place in the third qualifying round of the2008–09 UEFA Champions League, their first such campaign. There they fell to Swiss sideFC Basel 2–1 on aggregate, with a potentialaway goal winner byRoberto Calmon Félix being ruled out late on for offside, despite being a bad call from the referee.[19] Vitória dropped into the2008–09 UEFA Cup first round as a result of their elimination, and lost 4–2 on aggregate after extra time to England'sPortsmouth.[20]
Led byRui Vitória in2012–13, Vitória found themselves in financial problems, which caused them to lose many experienced players and bet on young players. However, they would go on to win theirfirst Taça de Portugal title after previously losing five finals. Vitória beat rivalsBraga en route to the final, where they recovered from 1–0 down againstBenfica towin 2–1.[21]
In2016–17, Vitória made the cup final again, losing 2–1 to double winnersS.L. Benfica.[22] That September, the team left their mark in UEFA competitions, being the first team to start a game without a European player on the field.[23] In 2019–20, Vitória SC's presence in European competition in the UEFA Europa League was essentially marked by a win in Frankfurt (2-3) overEintracht and a draw (1-1) againstArsenal in Guimarães. In2020–21, the club went through four managers –Tiago,João Henriques,Bino andMoreno – before finishing seventh, missing Europe by one place.[24]
In the run-up to the club's centenary,[25] the«Vitória Sport Clube 1922-2022» exhibition was held, retracing 100 years of the popular emblem from the city of Guimarães.[26] This way, we can photographically remember many of the club's most emblematic players, as well as images of the oldest pitches.[27]
Third time's the charm! After two consecutive seasons of being eliminated in the qualifying round,[28] Vitória finally managed, in the2024–25 season, to successfully pass the qualifying rounds and enter the new regular phase of theConference League called the league phase, becoming the first Portuguese club to achieve this feat. At the helm ofRui Borges side, the Conquistadores had 6 wins and a goal aggregate of 17–0.[29] In addition to this feat, the Vimaranense club achieved the unprecedented record of 9 consecutive wins by a Portuguese club in UEFA competitions. This record was set after a 2–1 home win againstFK Mladá Boleslav.[30] Later in the season, Vitória set another record of 13 consecutive games without losing in a 2–2 draw againstReal Betis.[31]
In February 2023, Vitória announced an agreement to sell 46% of the club's shares in a deal worth €5m to football clubholding companyV Sports, led by billionairesNassef Sawiris andWes Edens: owners ofPremier League clubAston Villa. V Sports would additionally offer acredit line of up to €20m, and invest an additional €2m into sporting infrastructure.[32] The agreement was approved at a vote of Vitória's members on 4 March 2023: approximately 88% voted in favour of the deal.[33] However, due to UEFA rules,VSports participation had to be reduced to 29%.[34]
Theultras of Vitória S.C. in a match againstBenfica, 11 February 2024.
They play in theEstádio D. Afonso Henriques, which has a capacity of just over 30,029.[2] AfterThe Big Three, Vitória is the club which attracts most supporters to the stadium, with average attendances close to 20,000 per game. Vitória usually has a higher average than all the other clubs, even when the club played in theSecond League in 2006/07.[36][37]
Vitória SC is the fourth club with the most fans and spectators in the country, a historic position that, except for the season when the stadium was renovated forEuro 2004, it held until the 2009/10 season, having been relegated to fifth in the 2010/11 and 2011/12 seasons due to insignificant numbers. In the 2012/13 season, it regained 4th place, despite having played 1 game behind closed doors due to a suspension,[38] where it was deprived of the support of its fans in the stands of the Estádio D. Afonso Henriques. Since then, it has been distancing itself considerably from the other clubs, confirming that it is the fourth club with the most members and best attendances in Portugal.[6]
It was opened in 1997 under the name "Complexo Desportivo Dr. Alberto Pimenta Machado", when the club had Dr. Alberto Pimenta Machado himself as president. The idea came up when, at the time, the president visitedMilanello,AC Milan's sports complex.
The Sports Complex hosts the club's administrative services, the training of the senior football team and the training and games of the club's youth teams. It includes 3 natural grass fields, 3 synthetic fields (one of them for Football 7), a gym, two dozen changing rooms, a mini stadium and a sports hall, where the club's teams train and play.[39]
Occupying Field 5 of the Vitória Academy and with capacity for 2,500 spectators, the home of theB team and the under-19s will appear. It will also have a presidential tribune, three bars, six changing rooms and a technical support area.[40]
Inserted in the Sports Complex, the Pavilion, opened in 1997 with capacity for 2,500 spectators, is the home of Vitória SC sports, where it hosts around 600 athletes weekly between training and competitions. From the 2022/23 season to 2023/24, there was a 40 per cent increase in the average number of spectators per game. This infrastructure was therefore remodelled in the summer of 2024 in order to provide even better working and entertainment conditions for all members.[41]
TheGuimarães Sports City is made up of a set of equipment existing in the municipality of Guimarães intended for sports and allows the reception of major events of national and international dimensions. These facilities, such as the swimming pool complex and the athletics track, are frequently used by athletes and teams from Vitória SC's training and modalities.[42]
TheDerby do Minho is the football rivalry betweenSporting Clube de Braga and Vitória Sport Clube, two of the biggest clubs in theMinho region of northern Portugal. This derby is marked by great tension and passion, reflecting not only sporting competition, but also a historical and cultural rivalry between the cities ofBraga andGuimarães that began even before the formation of theKingdom of Portugal.[43] Since then it has been a struggle in all aspects of society, sport, culture, the economy... Football has only become a means used to transpose the rivalry. Considered to be one of the most exciting and fiercely contested matches in Portuguese football, the Dérbi Minhoto is eagerly awaited by the fans, who live intensely for the clash between these two cities traditionally known for their history and identity.[44][45]
TheConquistadores versus Panteras match againstBoavista Futebol Clube is a regional contest involving the city ofGuimarães and the city ofPorto. Although it's not as famous as other rivalries, it's marked by tension between Vitorianos and Axadrezados fans, with each club representing the pride of its city and region.[46] The clash is always eagerly awaited, given the great competitive history and geographical proximity between the two teams.[47]
There is also a certain rivalry betweenBraga,Boavista,Belenenses and Vitória SC, due to the closeness in the number of titles and because they are some of the clubs with the largest number of fans in Portugal, with many people creating arguments to determine which would be the "4th big". However, the distance between these clubs and theBig Three is considerable enough in any sport to be given such a designation.[48]
Updated: June 2025.[citation needed] The club's 81 seasons (as in 2023) in the top level of Portuguese football make them the club with the joint-fourth longest time there, afterBenfica,Porto, andSporting CP (all with 92).
Legend: Pos. = Position in the League Table;Pld. = Matches Played;W = Wins;D = Draws;L = Losses; GS = Goals Scored;GA = Goals Against;Pts = Points;C.Ql = Champion Qualification CL = UEFA Champions League;CWC = UEFA Cup Winners' Cup;UC = UEFA Cup;EL = UEFA Europa League; ECL = UEFA Europa Conference League;IC = UEFA Intertoto Cup;ICFC = Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Vitória S.C. has a professional men's and women's basketball team that play at the highest level of the sport, respectively in theLPB and in theLFB.[50]
Vitória S.C. already had a professional cycling team, at the beginning of the 21st century, with the European status ofUCI Continental Tour. The team code UCI: ASC, participated mainly in national competitions such as the famousTour of Portugal.
Vitória SC's Beach Soccer section has been temporarily inactive since 2015. It stands out historically for being the 2nd team to win theBeach Soccer Elite Championship, its only national title having been won in 2011.[54]
^Ross, James M. (4 June 2015)."European Competitions 1986–87". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation.Archived from the original on 9 March 2023. Retrieved2 February 2023.