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| Full name | Esporte Clube Vitória | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicknames | Leão da Barra(Barra's Lion) Nêgo Rubro-negro (Red and Black) Colossal | |||
| Founded | 13 May 1899; 126 years ago (1899-05-13) | |||
| Ground | Barradão | |||
| Capacity | 35,618 | |||
| President | Fábio Rios Mota | |||
| Manager | Jair Ventura | |||
| League | Campeonato Brasileiro Série A Campeonato Baiano | |||
| 2025 2025 | Série A, 15th of 20 Baiano, 2nd of 10 | |||
| Website | ecvitoria | |||
 Current season | ||||
Esporte Clube Vitória (Brazilian Portuguese:[isˈpɔʁtʃiˈklubiviˈtɔɾi.ɐ]) is a Brazilian professional club based inSalvador,Bahia founded on 13 May 1899. It competes in theCampeonato Brasileiro Série A, the top flight of Brazilian football, as well as in theCampeonato Baiano, the top flight of the Bahiastate football league.
Vitória's home games are played at the club's own stadium, Manoel Barradas, which has a capacity of 35,632.[1] The team plays in red and black horizontal striped shirts, black shorts and black socks. The stripes have changed over time: they have been sometimes vertical, horizontal, wide and narrow.
The youth system of the club is one of the most successful of the world, holding, between 1995 and 2000, at its peak, at least 21 international titles.[2] Recent names that started playing in the club areBebeto,Vampeta,Dida,Júnior,Hulk,David Luiz,Dudu Cearense,Marcelo Moreno,Gabriel Paulista and others.
The rivals of Vitória areEsporte Clube Bahia. Their matches are known as Ba–Vi ("Ba" fromEsporte ClubeBahia and "Vi" fromEsporte Clube Vitória). It is one of the most intense rivalries, consistently ranked among the world's most bitter.[citation needed]
The club was founded on 13 May 1899, by the brothers Artur and Artêmio Valente, along with seventeen other young fellows. They were from an old Bahia family, and discovered football during their studies in theUnited Kingdom. Initially Vitória was a cricket club, namedClub de Cricket Victoria, because all of them lived at theVitória neighborhood, in Salvador.[3][4]
On 22 May 1901, Vitória played its first football match, at Campo da Pólvora, against International Sport Club, a team whose players were English seamen. Vitória beat International 3–2. Two months after that match, Vitória changed its original colors, which were black and white, to red and black, which are still in use.
On 13 September 1903, Vitória beat a club formed by people from São Paulo state, São Paulo Bahia Football Club 2–0 in the club's first official match. In 1908, Vitória won its first title ever, theCampeonato Baiano. They won the next year as well.
From 1910 to 1952, they didn't win any titles because they were still an amateur club. In 1953, the club turned professional, and won its third Baiano honor. Bahia was dominating the state championship, and Vitória only won titles in 1955, 1957, 1964, 1965, 1972, 1980, 1985 and 1989.
The club was runner-up in the1993 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A toPalmeiras, with an extremely small payroll. Vitória was champion of Bahia in 1990, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2000, becoming the top club of the state for the first time. In the1999 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, Vitória reached the semi-finals.
In the 2000s, the Campeonato Baiano trophy was won by Vitória eight out of ten years.[5]
In 2004 Vitória, after a poor campaign, was relegated to theBrazilian Second Division. In 2005, the club competed in the Brazilian second division, finishing 17th, and so was relegated to theThird Division for the first time in its history.
In 2006, Vitória was runner-up of thethird division, and was promoted to thesecond division. In 2007, the club was promoted back to thefirst division after finishing in fourth place. This meant the club had managed to return from the third to the first division in only two years. The team was also relegated in 2010, promoted back in 2012, relegated again in 2014, but this time they were promoted back after one season in 2015.
In February 2018 the intense rivalry between Vitória and Esporte Clube Bahia drew international attention when nine players (four from Bahia and five from Vitória) were shown thered card in a State Championship match.[6] The team was relegated back to the second division of the Brazilian league later that year.
In 2021, Vitória was relegated to the third division for a second time. However this was followed by back to back promotions, in 2022 to the second tier and as champions of the second division in 2023, the first national title of the club.
The club's mascot is a lion named Lelê Leão (Lion), and according to Vitória's official site, his objective is to stimulate the club's supporters and players on match days.
This is the competition record of Vitória's last few seasons:
| Year | Campeonato Baiano | Campeonato Brasileiro | Copa do Brasil | Copa do Nordeste | Copa Sudamericana | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Pld | W | D | L | Division | Pos | Pts | Pld | W | D | L | Pos | Pld | W | D | L | Pos | Pld | W | D | L | Pos | Pld | W | D | L | ||
| 2020 | 5º | 13 | 3 | 4 | 2 | Série B | 14º | 48 | 38 | 11 | 15 | 12 | 27º | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9º | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2021 | 5º | 9 | 2 | 5 | 2 | Série B | 18º | 40 | 38 | 8 | 16 | 14 | 14º | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 4º | 9 | 4 | 4 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2022 | 5º | 9 | 3 | 4 | 2 | Série C | 4º | 59 | 25 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 52º+ | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2023 | 6º | 12 | 3 | 3 | 3 | Série B | 1º | 72 | 38 | 22 | 6 | 10 | 52º+ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 14º | 8 | 1 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2024 | 1º | 13 | 9 | 2 | 2 | Série A | 11º | 47 | 38 | 13 | 8 | 17 | 31º | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9º | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2025 | 2º | 13 | 8 | 4 | 1 | Série A | second-stage | quarter-finals | group stage | |||||||||||||||||||
Its colours are red and black, which made it to be called "Rubro-Negro" ("red-black", in portuguese). In the early years, the club's colours would be green and yellow, but due to difficulty in find the proper materials in these colours, it was chosen to be white and black. That was the colours worn in the inaugural match facing the International Sport Club. The current red-black colours were adopted 3 years later, in 1902.[citation needed]
Many kinds of shirts have been worn by Vitória's players over the years.
         1993 |     1997 |      2000 |     2003 |      2007 |      2008 |     2009 |      2012 |      2022 |      2023 |
home |      away |    alternative |
     home |      away |    third |
     home |      away |
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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| National | ||
|---|---|---|
| Competitions | Titles | Seasons |
| Campeonato Brasileiro Série B | 1 | 2023 |
| Regional | ||
| Competitions | Titles | Seasons |
| Copa do Nordeste | 4 | 1997, 1999, 2003, 2010 |
| State | ||
| Competitions | Titles | Seasons |
| Campeonato Baiano | 30 | 1908, 1909, 1953, 1955, 1957, 1964, 1965, 1972, 1980, 1985, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007,2008, 2009, 2010,2013,2016, 2017,2024 |
| Taça Estado da Bahia | 3s | 2004, 2005, 2006 |
