Early years (1893–1921) , club founder The club was founded on 28 September 1893 as
Foot-Ball Club do Porto by
António Nicolau de Almeida, a local
port wine merchant and avid sportsman, who became fascinated with
football during his trips to England. Porto played its first matches with other Portuguese clubs, including one against Lisbon's
Foot-Ball Club Lisbonense on 2 March 1894. This match had the patronage of King
Carlos I and Queen
Amélie of Orléans, who travelled to Porto to witness the event and present a trophy to the winners. Almeida's enthusiasm and involvement with the club waned due to family pressure, and by the turn of the century, Porto had entered a period of inactivity. In 1906, José Monteiro da Costa returned to Porto after finishing his studies in England. Like Almeida, thirteen years before, he was also captivated by the English game, and together with some associates, decided to reintroduce the practice of football in the city, outside of the British circles. On 2 August 1906, Porto was revived and Monteiro da Costa appointed its president. Although football was the driving force, the club also promoted other sports, including gymnastics, weightlifting and wrestling, athletics and swimming. Shortly after, Porto rented its first ground and recruited a French coach named Adolphe Cassaigne, who would stay in the club until 1925. On 15 December 1907, Porto played its first match against a foreign team, hosting Spain's
Real Fortuna. In the following month, Porto returned the visit and played its first match abroad. Four years later, the club won the inaugural staging of the
José Monteiro da Costa Cup, securing its first-ever major title. In 1912, Porto joined efforts with
Leixões to establish the
Porto Football Association, which began organising the
regional championship in the following year. Porto finished the first season as runners-up, behind local rivals
Boavista, but in the following season the club won its first championship. By the end of the 1920–21 season, Porto had been regional champions six times in seven years, and outright winners of the Taça José Monteiro da Costa, after claiming a third consecutive victory in 1916. After clinching its fourth consecutive regional title, Porto defeated
Sporting CP in the
inaugural edition and became the first national champions. While a dominant regional force, the club faced stronger opposition in the national championship, winning it only three more times in a span of sixteen years (1925, 1932 and 1937). Due to the success of its format, the Primeira Liga was made an official championship competition for the 1938–39 season – its name changed to "Campeonato Nacional da Primeira Divisão" (English: First Division National Championship) or simply Primeira Divisão – and replaced the Campeonato de Portugal, which in turn was converted into the , the main domestic cup competition. As the Portuguese league winner, Porto made its debut in European competitions by qualifying for the
1956–57 European Cup. The club's first participation was short-lived, ending in the preliminary round with two defeats against Spanish champions
Athletic Bilbao. A year later, Porto lifted its second Taça de Portugal by beating Benfica 1–0 in the final. The two clubs met in the season's final, but this time Benfica took the trophy and denied a second double for Porto that had won the
1958–59 Primeira Divisão three months before. Shortly after, the club entered another lacklustre period of its history, the highest point of which was a victory in the 1968 Taça de Portugal final. During this time, Porto had its worst-ever league classification, a ninth place in 1969–70, while its best league record in that period consisted of six runner-up finishes (four consecutive between 1961–62 and 1964–65). In European competitions, the club participated for the first time in the
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (and its successor, the
UEFA Cup) and in the
Cup Winners' Cup, without getting past the third round. One of the club's most tragic moments occurred on 16 December 1973, when during a league match against
Vitória de Setúbal, the 26-year-old captain
Pavão fell unconscious on the pitch and died later at the hospital. The following month, Porto presented Peruvian international
Teófilo Cubillas, who became one of the club's most successful players, scoring 65 goals in 108 games.
International affirmation (1977–1988) was a key figure in Porto's
1987 European Cup Final victory. The return of
José Maria Pedroto – a former Porto player and head coach in the late 1960s – in the 1976–77 season started a new chapter in the club's history. Responsible for the previous cup triumph in 1968, Pedroto guided Porto to its fourth title in the competition. In the following season, he put an end to Porto's league title drought, winning the championship 19 years after having played in the team that took the last title. Internationally, Porto reached the quarter-finals of the
1977–78 Cup Winners' Cup, beating
Manchester United along the way, but suffered its heaviest defeat (6–1) against
AEK Athens in the
subsequent season's European Cup. Pedroto returned in April 1982 by the hand of the club's newly elected president
Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa, who had resigned as director of football, two years before, in solidarity with the coach. The previous month, Porto fell again in the Cup Winners' Cup quarter-finals against one of the eventual finalists, but needed only two years to finally reach the
competition's final. On 16 May 1984, Porto played its first major European final in Basel's
St. Jakob Stadium, losing 2–1 to
Michel Platini's
Juventus. Already without Pedroto, who stepped down due to illness, Porto won that season's Taça and Supertaça but lost the championship to Benfica. Under the steering of Pedroto's apprentice,
Artur Jorge, the following season brought the Primeira Divisão title back to the club and crowned homegrown striker
Fernando Gomes as
Europe's top goalscorer for the second time, after first taking the award in 1983. Porto retained the league title in 1986, securing an entry to the
1986–87 European Cup. In the first game, the club recorded its biggest win in European competitions: 9–0 against Maltese side
Rabat Ajax. who assisted
Juary for the second – to secure a surprising win and the European Cup title. The following season, under new coach
Tomislav Ivic, the club completed a treble of international trophies by beating
Ajax for the
1987 European Super Cup and Uruguay's
Peñarol for the
1987 Intercontinental Cup. The 1987–88 season was one of the most successful for the club, who also won the
Taça de Portugal and an expanded 20-team Primeira Divisão with a
record number of goals scored (88) and distance in points to the runners-up (15).
Tri, Tetra, Penta (1988–2001) In contrast to the previous season, Porto failed to win a trophy in 1988–89, with many of its players struck down with injuries, such as Madjer and Gomes. Fifteen years after his first-team debut, Gomes made his last season for Porto, where he became the all-time top goalscorer with 352 goals in 455 matches. The club brought back Artur Jorge, who recovered the Primeira Divisão title in the following season and added the
Taça and
Supertaça trophies in 1991. His successor, Brazilian
Carlos Alberto Silva, won back-to-back league titles in two seasons and qualified Porto for the
first UEFA Champions League. won the first two of Porto's record five consecutive league titles. Midway through the 1993–94 season, Porto hired former England manager
Bobby Robson, who had been sacked by Sporting CP. The club closed the gap to league winners Benfica, reached the
1993–94 UEFA Champions League semi-finals, and ended the season with a victory over Sporting CP in the
Taça de Portugal final. In Robson's first full season, Porto claimed the
1994–95 Primeira Divisão title with a win at Sporting CP's ground and played Benfica four times to secure both the
1993 and
1994 stagings of the Supertaça. In addition, Jardel would win the first of four consecutive
Bola de Prata awards while at Porto. In Oliveira's second and last season at the club, Porto won the Primeira Divisão for the fourth straight season (the
Tetra), matching Sporting CP's achievement in the early 1950s, and secured its third double after beating
Braga in the
1998 Taça de Portugal Final. and saw Jardel's 36 goals win him the European Golden Shoe. In his presentation, Mourinho promptly showcased his personality by stating unequivocally that the club would win next season's league title. He kept true to his promise and delivered one of the club's most successful seasons. Fielding the likes of
Deco,
Ricardo Carvalho,
Maniche, and less known players hired from other Portuguese clubs, such as
Paulo Ferreira,
Pedro Emanuel,
Nuno Valente and
Derlei, Porto won the
2002–03 Primeira Liga with relative comfort, finishing 11 points ahead of second-placed Benfica. The club also won the
UEFA Cup, defeating
Celtic in a dramatic extra-time final, to win its second major European title. Mourinho then secured an unprecedented
treble for Porto by winning the
Taça de Portugal final against his previous club. The departure of striker
Hélder Postiga was compensated by the signing of South Africa's
Benni McCarthy, whose 20 league goals helped Porto in its league title defense and crowned him the competition's top scorer. Porto entered the
2003–04 UEFA Champions League directly into the group stage. Porto finished second in its group, losing only once to
Real Madrid, and advanced to the round-of-16 where they met Manchester United. After narrowly winning at home (2–1), Porto was on the verge of elimination, being behind by 1–0 till the last minute of official playtime at the second leg at
Old Trafford. However, Porto scored the equalizer in the 90th minute of the second leg to draw 1–1 and to advance to the quarter-finals with a 3–2 aggregate win. The team then overcame
Lyon and
Deportivo La Coruña to reach
the Champions League final. Porto defeated
Monaco 3–0 to lift the club's second
European Champion Clubs' Cup. A 2–1 loss to Benfica in the
Taça de Portugal final, held 10 days before, prevented another treble-winning season. The following season was an atypical one, as the club had three coaches:
Luigi Delneri,
Víctor Fernández and
José Couceiro. Under Férnandez, Porto won the
2004 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira and the
2004 Intercontinental Cup, but lost the
2004 UEFA Super Cup to
Valencia and was eliminated prematurely in the
2004–05 Taça de Portugal. Recording only 17 wins in 34 matches, Porto lost the Primeira Liga title to
Benfica by three points. During this period, Porto was directly involved in the corruption scandal
Apito Dourado. In 2005–06, Dutch coach
Co Adriaanse was picked to reorganise the team and return the club to the top of Portuguese football. His tactical discipline and the contribution of new signings
Lucho González and
Lisandro López led the club to not only retake the Primeira Liga title but also secure its fifth domestic double, after beating holders Vitória de Setúbal in the
Taça de Portugal final. Adriaanse's domestic success did not transfer to the
Champions League, as Porto finished in the bottom of its group. The club began the 2006–07 season with a new coach,
Jesualdo Ferreira, signed from neighbours Boavista. Before Ferreira assumed his role, Porto won the season-opening
Supertaça, with former club player
Rui Barros acting as interim coach. An experienced head coach, Ferreira had never achieved major club level success, but in his first season in Porto he became national champion for the first time. The
2006–07 Primeira Liga title was only secured in a frantic final day, as Porto finished one point above Sporting and two above Benfica. The following season, the club achieved the
Tri for the second time in its history – with López clinching the top goalscorer award – but lost the and
Supertaça finals to Sporting CP. In May 2008, as result of Apito Dourado, a legal investigation on
match fixing in Portuguese football, Porto was fined €150,000 and punished with the loss of six points, while Pinto da Costa was suspended for two years. Porto did not appeal the decision. Having claimed a sixth league and cup double in the 2008–09 season, Porto was on course to emulate the
Penta of the late 1990s, but the series was broken by Benfica in
the following season. Although Ferreira won his first and
defended the Taça de Portugal title, the team's failure to claim a fifth consecutive league – finishing third, outside the Champions League-qualifying places – and a 3–0 defeat against Benfica in
the final of the contributed to his resignation at the end of the season. A home win against Benfica prevented the rivals from celebrating the league title at the . Under Ferreira's steering, Porto always qualified for the Champions League knockout stage, reaching the
quarter-finals in 2008–09, where it was eliminated by holders Manchester United.
Villas-Boas, Pereira and subsequent years (2010–2017) won four trophies in one season with Porto, including the UEFA Europa League.|alt=André Villas-Boas during a press conference as Porto coach The arrival of Mourinho's former assistant
André Villas-Boas, in the spring of 2010, set the stage for a highly successful 2010–11 season, which began with a 2–0 victory over Benfica for the . Eight years after the 2003 triumph, Porto returned to the UEFA Cup (renamed UEFA Europa League) and reached
the final in Dublin's
Aviva Stadium. In an all-Portuguese affair, Porto beat Braga with a goal from the competition's top goalscorer Falcao and lifted the trophy for the second time, as Villas-Boas became the youngest UEFA competition-winning coach. Four days later, Porto won its
third consecutive Taça de Portugal with a convincing 6–2 scoreline, Although lacking the goalscoring prolificacy of Falcao (sold to
Atlético Madrid), Porto was able to revalidate the Primeira Liga title, but was eliminated prematurely from the
Taça and
Champions League competitions. Transferred to the
Europa League, Porto failed to defend its title after being knocked out by Manchester City. In the following season, the club went a stage further in both domestic cup competitions and in the Champions League, where it fell to
Málaga in the
last-16 round. In the
2012–13 Primeira Liga, Porto reduced the distance to leaders Benfica to two points, before hosting them in the penultimate matchday. In a dramatic turn of events, Porto won with a goal in stoppage time and moved to the top of the league table. An away victory in the last game confirmed the
Tri and Porto's 27th league title – the second without defeats. Porto entered the 2013–14 season with a new head coach –
Paulo Fonseca, signed from 2012 to 2013 Primeira Liga third-placed
Paços de Ferreira – but continued the trend of the previous four seasons by
winning the Supertaça. Failing to overcome the
Champions League group stage, Porto reached the
Europa League quarter-finals, where they lost 4–1 to the eventual winners
Sevilla. In the following weeks, two semi-final losses against Benfica closed the doors to the finals of the
Taça de Portugal and
Taça da Liga, the latter at home on penalties. Porto started the 2014–15 season with their biggest budget ever, hiring Spanish head coach
Julen Lopetegui. Despite the signing of many new players, they failed to win any silverware, contributing to the biggest hiatus during Pinto da Costa's presidency. They also equalized, in terms of goals conceded, their biggest defeat in European competitions (6–1 against
AEK Athens) and suffered their biggest defeat in the UEFA Champions League (6–1 against
Bayern Munich, after the 5–0 loss against Arsenal in 2010). Porto continued their losing trend in the
2015–16 season, making it the second consecutive trophyless season, with the contribution of
José Peseiro, who had replaced Julen Lopetegui in January 2016. After the season was over, Peseiro was replaced by
Nuno Espírito Santo.
Conceição era (2017–2024) has won eight honours as the club's manager, including three league titles In the
2017–18 season, after almost five years without winning any trophy, Porto won their 28th league title with the contribution of coach
Sérgio Conceição, a former player of the club. The following year, in the
2018–19 UEFA Champions League, Porto managed to reach the quarter-finals of the competition, but were defeated by 6–1 on aggregate against the eventual winners
Liverpool. In the
2019–20 season, Porto managed to recapture the league title, winning it for the 29th time and added for the first time in eleven years the Portuguese cup along with it. However, despite their national success, FC Porto did not reach the group phase of the Champions League and did poorly in their Europa League campaign. In the
2020–21 UEFA Champions League round of 16, Porto won on away goals rule (4–4 on aggregate) against
Juventus, to reach the quarter-finals. The season would, however, end with only one national trophy, the
Supertaça. After having lost the national title to Sporting in the previous season, Porto's
2021–22 season saw them reach various successes at domestic level: with Conceição at the helm for the 5th season in a row, the team recaptured the
Primeira Liga, achieving a record 91 points. During the season, the Dragons also set a new record for longest unbeaten run in the league, with 58 matches, a sequence that had been started during the first half of the 2020–21 edition. One week after the league's conclusion, they added the
domestic cup, thus securing the second double in Conceição's reign. On 28 January 2023, still under Conceição, and on their fifth try, Porto won their first ever title, defeating Sporting CP in the
final, thus winning every national trophy available. On 17 December 2023, the team qualified (along with Benfica) to the
2025 FIFA Club World Cup for the first time, as they were the highest-ranked Portuguese club in the UEFA 4-year ranking. At the end of the 2023–2024 season, after having won the and coached the team for seven years, Conceição was let go by the newly elected president of FC Porto, André Villas-Boas.
New club president, André Villas-Boas (2024–present) On 27 April 2024, André Villas-Boas, who had coached Porto during the 2010–2011 season, was elected the 32º president of Futebol Clube do Porto, succeeding Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa. He won 80% of the election, with 21,489 out of 26,876 votes. Villas-Boas was keen on making immediate changes at the club, starting with selecting a new coach,
Vitor Bruno, who had previously served as the assistant coach under Sérgio Conceição at Porto. Villas-Boas introduced the first women's football team to represent FC Porto, incentivized the promotion of several B team and U-19 players to the main team, and the creation of initiatives to bring the fans closer to the club. ==Crest and kit==