page_title: Football in Portugal
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Football in Portugal / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Football in Portugal was played for the first time in Camacha-Madeira Čeština: Poprvé v Portugalsku byl fotbal hrán na Madeiře v obci Camacha.
context_page_description: Association football, the most popular sport in Portugal, has a long and storied history in the country, following its 1875 introduction in cities such as Funchal, Lisbon, Porto and Coimbra by English merchants and Portuguese students arriving back home from studying in England. This led to the establishment of local clubs dedicated to the practice of the sport.
  Initially, football was played between neighbour clubs, but soon enough city wide and regional tournaments started to take place around the nation. Soon after the start of the 20th century, the need to establish which club was the best in Portugal culminated with the organizing of the "Campeonato de Portugal", with subsequent bragging rights going mostly to clubs from Lisbon and Porto.
  Portugal's top domestic league, the Primeira Liga, was founded in 1934 and is home to internationally successful clubs such as S.L. Benfica, FC Porto and Sporting CP – the "Big Three", who usually dominate the league.
context_section_description: Football started to gain popularity in Portugal in the late 19th century, brought by Portuguese students who returned from England.
  The first organized game in the country took place in 1875 in Camacha, Madeira, organized by Madeira-born Harry Hinton, who brought a football from England where he was studying. Popularity quickly spread across the island. Harry would go on to become honorary president of C.S. Marítimo.
  The person responsible for its spread in mainland Portugal was Guilherme Pinto Basto (according to some people, his brothers Eduardo and Frederico brought the ball from England). He organized an exhibition in October 1888 and a match in January 1889. The match, played where today's Campo Pequeno bullring is located, involved opposing teams from Portugal and England. Portugal won the match 2–1. Consequently, football started attracting the attention of high society, distinguished by the Luso-British rivalry.
  The game reached colleges and led to clubs across the country. By century's end, associations such as Clube Lisbonense, Carcavelos Sport Club, Braço de Prata, Real Ginásio Clube Português, Estrela Futebol Clube, Futebol Académico, Campo de Ourique, Oporto Cricket, and Sport Clube Vianense had been founded.
  The first domestic match, between Lisbon and Porto, took place in 1894, attended by King Carlos.
  Clube Internacional de Futebol (founded in 1902) was the first Portuguese club to play abroad, defeating Madrid Fútbol Clube in 1907 in Madrid.
  On 31 March 1914, the three regional associations that existed in Portugal (Lisbon, Portalegre and Porto) merged to create a national association called a União Portuguesa de Futebol, the predecessor of the current national association, the Portuguese Football Federation, which was formed on 28 May 1926.
  The Portuguese enthusiasm for football led to the spread of the sport into its former overseas colonies of Angola, Mozambique, Guiné-Bissau, Cape Verde, S. Tomé and Principe, Goa, Macau and East-Timor. Many top players from the former colonies have represented Portugal at international level, as well as playing for many clubs in the various tiers of the national and international leagues, most notably in the past the likes of Fernando Peyroteo, Matateu, Hilário, Costa Pereira, Coluna, Eusébio and Abel Xavier.
caption: Monument in Camacha, celebrating the first ever organised football game in Portugal
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