page_title: Boavista F.C.
section_title: From contenders to Champions and European forays (1980–2003)
hierarchical_section_title: Boavista F.C. / History / From contenders to Champions and European forays (1980–2003)
caption_attribution_description: Porto, 2011.
context_page_description: Boavista Futebol Clube, commonly known as Boavista, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Porto. Founded on 1 August 1903 by British entrepreneurs and Portuguese textile workers, it is one of the oldest clubs in the country and plays in the Primeira Liga, Portuguese football's top flight.
  Boavista grew to become an important sports club in Portugal, with sections dedicated to several sports including football, chess, gymnastics, bicycle racing, futsal, volleyball, rink hockey and boxing, among others, with the most notable being the football section with their trademark chequered white and black shirts. The club is the most eclectic one in the North region of Portugal, and one of the most eclectic sports clubs in Portugal, practicing a total of 16 sports.
  With 9 major domestic trophies won, Boavista is the most decorated Portuguese football club after the "Big Three". Boavista spent 39 consecutive seasons in the Primeira Liga and, together with Belenenses, is the only team outside the "Big Three" to have won the Portuguese Championship, in the 2000–01 season.
context_section_description: In 1997, Valentim Loureiro was succeeded as president by his son João, who at 34 was the youngest in the whole league. Also, former Portugal international Jaime Pacheco was appointed manager, and led the club to runners-up in 1999 and fourth place in 2000. In 2000–01, they won the derby in the second half of the season against Porto and went on to win the league with a 3–0 win over C.D. Aves on 18 May. This was only the second time that a team from outside the Big Three won the league, after C.F. Os Belenenses in 1946. Pacheco's team conceded just 22 goals in 34 games and lost at home only once. The team featured Ricardo in goal, academy product Petit in midfield, Bolivian free-kick specialist Erwin Sánchez in attacking midfield, Duda and Martelinho on the wings, and Brazilian striker Elpídio Silva was the club's top scorer with 11 goals.
  After finishing runners-up to Sporting a year later, the squad began to break up, with Petit heading to Benfica and fellow midfielder Pedro Emanuel going to Porto; both skippered their new teams. The club rebuilt the Estádio do Bessa for UEFA Euro 2004, contributing to their financial problems. Pacheco left for Spain's RCD Mallorca in 2003, returning soon to replace Sánchez briefly as manager the following year, and came back again in October 2006.
  Boavista were regulars in UEFA competitions in the 1990 and early 2000s. In the 2002–03 UEFA Cup, they reached the semi-finals before a 2–1 aggregate loss to Celtic due to a late Henrik Larsson strike; they would have faced Porto in the final.
caption: The panther is the club symbol and nickname.
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