Boavista F.C.

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Boavista F.C.

Full name

Boavista Futebol Clube

Nickname(s)

As Panteras
(The Panthers)
Os Axadrezados
(The Checkereds)

Founded

1903

Ground

Estádio do Bessa, Porto
(Bessa Stadium)

Capacity

28,263

Chairman

Manager

League

Liga, 6th





Home colours





Away colours

Boavista Futebol Clube (pron. IPA: [boɐ'viʃtɐ]), often simply known as Boavista, is a sports club from Porto, Portugal that was founded in 1903. Nicknamed Panteras (Panthers) and Axadrezados (literally checkereds), 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 75-76 under guidance of José Maria Pedroto, when Boavista finished second, achieving the same position later in 98-99. Finally, in 00-01 Boavista won the SuperLiga over rivals FC Porto, but haven't managed to hold the title, finishing second to Sporting in 2002. Boavista also won 5 Portuguese cups (74-75, 75-76, 78-79, 91-92 and 96-97)

The Panther is the club symbol and nickname, and this statue is proudly placed near the club shop and bar

In Europe, Boavista was commonly known as the club with the strange shirts, and achieved moderate success, knocking out Inter Milan and AS Roma in the early 90's. The highlight is still the brilliant UEFA Cup run in 2003, when they were knocked out by Celtic in the semi-finals in the Estádio do Bessa. During the 1991 UEFA Cup season Boavista FC managed to knock out Inter Milan 2-1 in the Group stages. In the UEFA Cup 1981-82 Boavista FC eliminated Atlético Madrid 5-4. In the 1993-1994 UEFA Cup season, Boavista FC Made it to the Quarter-Finals of the UEFA Cup after knocking out Greece clube OFI Crete and beating S.S. Lazio of Italy. In the 86-87 UEFA Cup, Boavista beat heavy favourites ACF Fiorentina but lost to Rangers FC in a tense second round game at the Ibrox Stadium.

Boavista has played twice in the 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 club started at its best with an away 1-1 draw with Liverpool FC after being in the lead by 0-1 with a goal from Elpidio Silva.They reached the top of the group on the second match with an home 3-1 victory over Dynamo Kyiv and a draw between Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool FC. They moved on to the third game as leaders to meet once again Borussia Dortmund and once again they came out victorious, this time with a 2-1 victory at home. On the second round they went down in performance and lost in Germany, draw at home with Liverpool and lost in Ukraine. However the magnificent performance of the first leg of the group along with the home point conquered against Liverpool was enough to go through to the second phase as Dortmund lost in Liverpool on their last game. Boavista 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 when they once again started the group by surprising Nantes at home winning by 1-0, and reaching the top of the group after the draw between Manchester United and Bayern Munich. On the second game Boavista was smashed 3-0 by Manchester United at the Old Trafford but they managed to draw 0-0 at home against Bayern Munich, even though at the end of the game it felt like more could be done against the germans. As they entered they second leg of the group, Boavista was only one point away from the qualification zone, but that changed when they went to Munich and lost by 1-0, Manchester won 5-1 against Nantes, so they had two more games and 4 points to win over the group leaders. They went to France and draw and then, once again, were smashed against United by 3-0, this time at home. Althought they didn't went through they were the last Portuguese team to be completly out of European competetions and had the best International result among the portuguese that year.

The football side has reputation in Portugal and for many teams they oppose in UEFA competitions for its aggressive style, playing with very much determination, and, beacause of this, resulting always in hard-fought matches for their opponent team, even in the defeats the team had. With this, Boavista were a very hard-working team, and the main example is the portuguese title, where the team was the one with less golas against, and being one of the best attacks of the championship. The good defense play was a key factor for the title win, as well as European marvelous campaigns, mainly under the guidance of Jaime Pacheco. After the UEFA Cup semi-final run, the team started to play a less atractive football, which kept for the next two years. This image started to change when Jaime Pacheco was replaced by Carlos Brito for the 2005-2006 season, but later Jaime Pacheco came back to substitute Jesualdo Ferreira and that reputation caught back with the club.

Boavista main rival is FC Porto. The matches between the two teams are pretty aggressive, especially when played at Estádio do Bessa. Boavista also has an intense rivalry with Belenenses and Vitória Guimarães. The games between the teams often have problems inside or outside the field.

The women's team is one of the strongest, having won several titles in a row during the 90's.

1 Estadio Do Bessa
2 The Sanchez years
3 The Portuguese Title
4 Later Years and Major Difficulties
5 Current Squad
- 5.1 Squad Changes during 2006/07 season
6 League and Cup History
7 Official Song
8 Famous Players
9 External links

[edit] Estadio Do Bessa

outside photo

The Estádio do Bessa (now Estádio do Bessa XXI) is a football stadium located in the Boavista area of Porto, Portugal, used by Boavista FC.

Like other stadiums used in Euro 2004, the Bessa Stadium is a new ground, but built on top of the old stands, and each one of them was built at a different time, allowing Boavista to continue playing there. It cost €45'164'726 to build, from which €7'785'735 were supported from the Portuguese state, and has an all-seater capacity of 28'263. Plans for improvement actually existed before the organization of the Euro 2004 was given to Portugal in 1999, and by then the first works were already underway.

The Estádio do Bessa has also seen its fair share of Managers. In August 2006, Jesualdo Ferreira left for main rivals FC Porto, hurting many Boavista fans. Former Yugoslavian International Željko Petrović became coach in August 2006, only to resign on 22 October, following a string of bad results, culminating in a 4-0 home defeat at the hands of Nacional da Madeira. He was replaced the next day by Jaime Pacheco, who returns for a third sting as the club's manager. As the team hopes' of reaching the UEFA Cup were almost over, and it is expected that Jaime Pacheco stay in Boavista ( as Pacheco admitted that there were less chances of making something in the current season, the club has started to sign some players, and to secure the current players) to prepare the club and try to make a competitive team for the next season (2007-2008), in which Boavista will again try to reach the UEFA Cup. It was speculated that the club would try to participate in this year's Intertoto cup, in order to try the qualificationm for the UEFA Cup.

[edit] The Sanchez years

Erwin Sánchez is considered to be Boavista F.C.s most influential player of the last 15 years, after captaining the team to the Semi-finals of the UEFA Cup where Boavista nearly knocked out Scottish giants Celtic, only failing to do so thanks to a Henrik Larsson goal. He is also one of Bolivia's football living legends. A midfielder, he was a leading player for Bolivia both in the 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifyings and finals. He was also part of the Boavista squad that became 2000/2001 Portuguese Superliga Champions. Sanchez left the club in March of 2004, after a brief and unsuccessful spell as manager. He was also known, as a player because of his deadly and very powerful and accurate shots, specially in free kick situation.

[edit] The Portuguese Title

On 18 May 2001, Boavista beat Desportivo das Aves by 3-0 and celebrated its first Portuguese Football Title in the club´s almost 100-year history. It was a tremendous event in a country completely dominated by the The Big Three, FC Porto/Benfica/Sporting. In fact, this was the culmination of a brilliant work by chairman Loureiro and manager Pacheco, which had made the club an assiduous presence on the top of the table. The following year, 2001/02, Boavista continued to dominate Portuguese football, and although they lost the title to Sporting CP in the final matches, they were the biggest contributor for Portugusese football on the European Cups. Boavista beat Borussia Dortmund and Dinamo Kiev in the first group phase of the Champions League, being eliminated later by Euro giants Manchester United and Bayern Munich, becoming the better portuguese team in the european competitions that year. Still, such heights were a dream come true to a small Oporto club, with a relatively thin supporter base. In 2003, Boavista surprised Europe once again, by reaching the Uefa Cup semi-finals, after knocking out clubs like PSG, Hertha Berlin and Málaga. In this ocasion, it was imagined that for the first time in the history of an european competition, two teams from the same contry and the same town would play the great final. A late goal by Celtic Swedish striker Henrik Larsson ended the dream of a European final for Boavista. Ironically, the Scottish would go off to lose the cup to Boavista arch-rivals FC Porto in the final.

[edit] Later Years and Major Difficulties

2003 marked the latest appearance on the spotlight by the club. The construction of the Estadio do Bessa XXI left a deep hole on the club´s finances, and the inability to hire quality players, together with internal turmoil contributed to the fall of the club. Today, after three consecutive failures to achieve European competition, Boavista is living through a deep crisis, aggravated by chairman João Loureiro´s presence among the suspects of the Apito Dourado (The Golden Whistle) corruption scandal. Nonetheless, the club remains competitive and even managed to humiliate giants Benfica, by winning 3-0, last September. Jaime Pacheco returned in October, for a third stint as Boavista manager, but the club hasn´t managed to leave the second half of the table. The financial crisis has prompted the club to a "back-to-basis" attitude, betting on younger players and resurrecting the club´s youth academy. This season, Hugo Monteiro and Nuno Pinto are set to shine, in a club that launched the careers of well-known players as João Pinto, Petit and Nuno Gomes. However the re-hiring of Jaime Pacheco as a manager, who prefers aggressive playing systems, which leave little chances for technique players, was not well-seen by the fans. This frequent hiring of Pacheco is due to him being the manager of the 2000-01 title and of the great european campaigns.

[edit] Current Squad

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	William
2	DF	Leonardo Tambussi
3	DF	Ricardo Silva
4	MF	Khalifa Cissé
5	MF	Przemysław Kaźmierczak
6	MF	Paulo Sousa
7	FW	Zé Manuel
8	MF	Livramento
9	FW	Faye Fary
11	MF	Rafał Grzelak
14	DF	Krzysztof Kazimierczak
15	DF	Fernando Dinis
17	MF	Nuno Pinto
22	MF	Lucas

No.	Position	Player
23	FW	Hugo Monteiro
24	GK	Khadim Faye
25	MF	Guy Stephane Essame
27	DF	Marquinhos
28	MF	Ricardo Sousa
29	FW	Roland Linz
30	DF	Mário Silva
33	FW	Marcos Antônio
37	DF	Hélder Rosário
50	DF	Bessa
66	MF	Tiago
82	GK	Peter Jehle

[edit] Squad Changes during 2006/07 season

In:

Mário Silva - Signed from Cádiz CF
Bessa - Free player
Ricardo Sousa - Hannover 96
Antonio Fernando Amaro Livramento Signed from C.D. Santa Clara
Leonardo Tambussi - Racing Club
Roland Linz - Austria Wien
Marquinhos - Criciúma Esporte Clube
Peter Jehle - Signed from Grasshopper-Club Zürich
Jaouad Zairi - FC Sochaux
Rafał Grzelak - Signed from Pogoń Szczecin
Przemyslaw Kazmierczak - Signed from Pogoń Szczecin
Krzysztof Kazimierczak - Wisła Płock

Out:

João Vieira Pinto - Signed to SC Braga
Diogo Valente - Signed to FC Porto
Carlos Fernandes - Signed to Steaua Bucharest
Paulo Jorge - Signed to SL Benfica

[edit] League and Cup History

The club has 50 presences at the top level of Portuguese football, including all seasons since 1969/1970. It also won 5 Portuguese Cups and was runner-up only once, and won 3 SuperCups (1978/1979 [unofficial]; 1991/1992; 1996/1997), including the very first edition of the tournament.

Season		Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Cup	Europe		Notes
1934-1935	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
1935-1936	CL	6	14	4	3	7	24	39	11				relegated
1936-1937	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
1937-1938	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
1938-1939	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
1939-1940	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	quarter-final
1940-1941	1D	8	14	2	1	11	12	63	5	last 16			relegated
1941-1942	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
1942-1943	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
1943-1944	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
1944-1945	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
1945-1946	1D	11	22	6	0	16	39	73	12
1946-1947	1D	9	26	7	6	13	52	74	20	not held
1947-1948	1D	9	26	9	2	15	40	65	20
1948-1949	1D	14	26	4	6	16	35	89	14				relegated
1949-1950	2D	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
1950-1951	1D	10	26	10	3	13	50	62	23
1951-1952	1D	5	26	12	1	13	47	55	25
1952-1953	1D	9	26	7	6	13	35	54	20
1953-1954	1D	11	26	7	5	14	29	66	19
1954-1955	1D	13	26	7	4	15	33	71	18				relegated
1955-1956	2D	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
1956-1957	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
1957-1958	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
1958-1959	2D	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?				promoted
1959-1960	1D	14	26	4	4	18	27	81	12				relegated
1960-1961	2D	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
1961-1962	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
1962-1963	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
1963-1964	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
1964-1965	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
1965-1966	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
1966-1967	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
1967-1968	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
1968-1969	2D	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?				promoted
1969-1970	1D	12	26	6	6	14	35	61	18
1970-1971	1D	6	26	9	4	13	18	38	22
1971-1972	1D	11	30	7	10	13	28	46	24
1972-1973	1D	7	30	12	7	11	41	47	31
1973-1974	1D	9	30	9	7	14	35	43	25
1974-1975	1D	4	30	16	6	8	58	32	38	winner
1975-1976	1D	2	30	21	6	3	65	23	48	winner
1976-1977	1D	4	30	13	8	9	41	33	34
1977-1978	1D	7	30	10	8	12	36	38	28
1978-1979	1D	9	30	12	3	15	36	40	27	winner
1979-1980	1D	4	30	15	7	8	44	30	37
1980-1981	1D	4	30	14	8	8	36	25	36
1981-1982	1D	9	30	10	6	14	36	37	26
1982-1983	1D	5	30	12	6	12	32	38	30
1983-1984	1D	7	30	12	7	11	36	31	31
1984-1985	1D	4	30	13	11	6	37	26	37
1985-1986	1D	5	30	14	8	8	44	29	36
1986-1987	1D	8	30	9	9	12	34	36	27
1987-1988	1D	5	38	16	14	8	42	25	46
1988-1989	1D	3	38	19	11	8	56	29	49
1989-1990	1D	8	34	13	8	13	49	36	34
1990-1991	1D	4	38	15	11	12	53	46	41
1991-1992	1D	3	34	16	12	6	45	27	44	winner
1992-1993	1D	4	34	14	11	9	46	34	39	final	CWC	2nd round
1993-1994	1D	4	34	16	6	12	46	31	38		UC	quarter-final
1994-1995	1D	9	34	12	8	14	40	49	32
1995-1996	1D	4	34	19	8	7	59	28	65
1996-1997	1D	7	34	12	13	9	62	39	49	winner
1997-1998	1D	6	34	15	10	9	54	31	55
1998-1999	1D	2	34	20	11	3	57	29	71	quarter-final
1999-2000	1D	4	34	16	7	11	40	31	55		ECC	group stage
2000-2001	1D	1	34	23	8	3	63	22	77		UC	2nd round
2001-2002	1D	2	34	21	7	6	53	20	70		ECC	2nd group stage
2002-2003	1D	10	34	10	13	11	32	31	43		UC	semi-final
2003-2004	1D	8	34	12	11	11	32	31	47
2004-2005	1D	6	34	13	11	10	39	43	50	semi-final
2005-2006	1D	6	34	12	14	8	37	29	50	quarter-final
2006-2007	1D	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	quarter.final			ongoing

[edit] Official Song

Boavista Futebol Clube (or commonly known as 'Boavista FC) fans are very passionate about the club. The club anthem talks about how loyal Boavista fans are in the thick and thin situations.

Hino do Boavista

Boavista, Boavista,

É do Porto muito amado;

Tem distintivo bairrista

Preto e branco axadrezado.

E no estádio a multidão,

Quando ele entra na pista,

Rompe nesta saudação:

Boavista! ... Boavista! ...

Luta sempre com vigor,

É brioso e é leal;

No prélio põe todo o ardor