Vitória
Futebol Clube is a Portuguese sports club from Setúbal.
Popularly known as Vitória de Setúbal, was born
under the project name Sport Victoria from the ashes of the
small Bomfim Foot-Ball Club. Today's club was established on
November 20, 1910 under the name Victoria Foot-Ball Club (later
changed to the present Portuguese spelling) with the motto "A
Vitória será nossa" (Victory shall be ours).
History
Golden decade
The years from 1964 to 1974 may be considered Vitória's
golden decade. In 1964/65 and 1966/67 Vitória won two
Cup of Portugal, and another one was recently won in 2004/05.
Those victories, resulting from ten presences in the competition
finals (Final da Taça de Portugal), are among the club's
greatest achievements. But Vitória had also several 3rd
place finishes and a remarkable 2nd place in the 1971/72 National
Championship. Back then, Vitória had some of the best
Portuguese football players ever, like Jacinto João,
José Augusto Torres and Vítor Baptista.
Still, in the most remarkable season of all time for Vitória
the club earned merely a 3rd place: In the 1973/74 season Vitória
de Setúbal ended 4 points behind the Champion, (Sporting,
with Golden Boot winner who holds the record for the most goals
scored in one season in Portugal, Yazalde), and 2 points behind
the runner-up (Benfica with their best player ever, Eusébio).
Despite that, people of Setúbal still argue that if Pedroto
(the most successful manager to ever command the Sadinos) had
not left the team in the middle of the season, Vitória
FC would have had overcome its giant opponents and would have
gone on to become the National Champion for the first time.
In
those years Vitória disputed and won several tournaments
around the world, making history with its quality of game, a
wonder to football fans. Nowadays, the club is fighting to reach
that kind of performance, inspired in the recent Portuguese
cup conquest, as well the Iberian cup against Real Betis, and
the three presences in the UEFA cup in the past six years.
UEFA raiders
Despite never winning the UEFA Cup, Vitória are always
considered dangerous opposition. They are four times quarter-finalists,
having defeating such powerful teams as Liverpool, Fiorentina,
Anderlecht, Internazionale and Leeds United.
The
8th Army
The club supporters are known as Vitorianos or Sadinos. In 1943
on the occasion of Vitória's first Cup of Portugal final
against Benfica, thousands of people from Setúbal invaded
Lisbon and, notwithstanding the defeat by the score of 1-5,
celebrated in a demonstration of fair play. In the next day's
press, the people from Setúbal were nicknamed 8ºExército
(the 8th Army) because of their massive following of the team,
ending in a final journey to Lisbon -- all this in comparison
with the British Eighth Army and its World War II massive campaign
in Africa. Referring to this in the late 1990s, the first official
supporters' association was baptized VIII Exército. They
show great dedication to the club and are recognized as one
of the most orderly organized supporters in Portugal. There
used to be another supporters' association, the "Furacões
Sadinos" which ceased to exist in 2007. They co-existed
in peace with the "VIII Exército".
Derby: Vitória F.C. vs Vitória S.C.
There is a traditional quarrel between Vitória de Guimarães
and Vitória de Setúbal, with both teams claiming
to be the one and only "Vitória", the other
being solely named the "Guimarães" or the "Setúbal"
with a curl of the lip. The matches are somewhat tense with
both clubs contesting who has the higher number of supporters.
Nevertheless the quarrelsomeness is bigger on the Vitória
de Guimarães side, since the club is 12 years younger
and, as they wrote in their history books, the people from Guimarães
adopted the name "Vitoria" as a tribute to Vitória
de Setúbal, who at the time was capturing the attention
of the country due the quality of the football team. So they
changed the name to «Vitória Sport Clube»
because «Vitória Futebol Clube» was already
chosen by the Setúbal side.
Stadium
The Estádio do Bonfim stadium was inaugurated during
the club's 50th anniversary commemorations on September 16,
1962, with a capacity of >35,000, reduced to 21,530 when
plastic seatings were placed. With rare exceptions the additional
room for 2,800 standing spectators (1,400 behind each goal)
has been closed since some years ago because attendances do
not justify it anymore. Furthermore UEFA officially recognizes
only the 18,728 seating places; eitherway, since 2006, the stadium
is not allowed to be used for official international games,
due to its decaying condition. There are plans underway for
a new stadium. The new stadium is expected to be completed by
the centennial commemoration in November 20th 2010.
The
financial situation is very shaky, as seen on the first half
of the 2005/06 season, when the whole team had several months
of wages delayed, a situation which led to the resigning of
the then manager, Luis Norton de Matos. The club has been experiencing
many financial difficulties since the April 25th's Coup d'État
which brought an economic disaster to the Setúbal region
with its mass layoffs and industrial collapse. Thus the stadium
never saw significant repairs for lack of funds. Each year the
stadium feels more uncomfortable and attendances keep on dimishing
while others rise. Gone are the times when more than 40,000
jostled in the stadium every weekend.
There
is festering resentment in the hearts of the Vitorianos, as
they experienced rejection in their quest for a place among
the Portuguese cities awarded with new stadia for the Euro 2004
in favour of the wealthier tourist regions with smaller clubs
but more influence on the political scene (the Leiria Stadium,
the Aveiro Stadium and the Algarve Stadium). These three stadiums
are nowadays known in Portugal as the White Elephants on account
of being luxury stadia for meagre attendances. Furthermore,
there never was a Superliga team playing at Algarve Stadium
as its seeded home.
Official Song
A Marcha do Vitória de Setúbal é o Hino
oficial do clube sadino. Da autoria de Feliciano F. Silva, a
marcha interpretado pelos «Terno D'ouros» é
entoada antes da cada jogo no Bonfim. Oiça a Marcha do
Vitória e conheça a letra.
Em
Setúbal nasceu,
Um clube pequenino,
Que ficou bem na memória,
E com os anos cresceu,
Entranhado no destino,
Com o nome de VITÓRIA,
Agora
já tem igual,
Aos grandes de tradição,
E o VITÓRIA faz das suas,
Quer dentro de Portugal,
Ou em qualquer outra nação,
Perde uma não perde duas.
Viva
o VITÓRIA,
Gritemos todos bem alto,
É o VITÓRIA,
Que põe tudo em sobressalto,
Viva o VITÒRIA,
Equipa de tradição,
Viva o VITÓRIA,
Clube do meu coração,
Cantemos todos esta marcha de louvor,
Cantemos todos seja lá aonde for,
Viva o VITÓRIA,
Que nos faz criar a glória,
Gritemos todos bem alto,
Gritemos viva o VITÓRIA,
VITÓRIA
tens no bairrismo,
Adeptos do coração,
Que te sabem proteger,
Ganhando com brilhantismo,
Jogando com correcção,
E também sabes perder,
Quando
em dias de final,
Se chegares à vitória,
És por todos saudado,
Equipa de Portugal,
És a honra e a glória,
Desta cidade do Sado,
Viva
o VITÓRIA,
Gritemos todos bem alto,
É o VITÓRIA,
Que põe tudo em sobressalto,
Viva o VITÓRIA,
Equipa de tradição,
Viva o VITÓRIA,
Clube do meu coração,
Cantemos todos esta marcha de louvor,
Cantemos todos seja lá aonde for,
Viva o VITÓRIA,
Que nos faz criar a glória,
Gritemos todos bem alto,
Gritemos viva o VITÓRIA.
Viva
o VITÓRIA,
Gritemos todos bem alto,
É o VITÓRIA,
Que põe tudo em sobressalto,
Viva o VITÓRIA,
Equipa de tradição,
Viva o VITÓRIA,
Clube do meu coração,
Cantemos todos esta marcha de louvor,
Cantemos todos seja lá aonde for,
Viva o VITÓRIA,
Que nos faz criar a glória,
Gritemos todos bem alto,
Gritemos viva o VITÓRIA.
»
listen to the song now
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