Portuguese club sees in restart with all to play for
Porto
Teams, tales and tips – a guide to the local game
Porto is the powerhouse of the Portuguese north, panoramically set at the mouth of the river Douro, its famous port wine lodges and hilly, atmospheric old quarter linked by vast, spectacular bridges.
Flagship club FC Porto, Europa League winners in 2011, Champions League winners in 2004, once dominated the domestic game. After allowing Benfica to get back in, the Dragons won the title for a 30th time in 2022.
Based at the impressively modernised Estádio do Dragão, built to host Euro 2004, FC Porto have been steered by controversial chairman Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa since 1982.
The other clubs in town are Boavista and Salgueiros. Portuguese champions in 2001, Boavista were ruined by the costs of rebuilding their Estádio do Bessa. In 2014, after six years of lower-league ignominy, Boavista were allowed back into an expanded top flight by the Portuguese League.
Little Salgueiros are still revered by many despite falling on hard times. undergoing name changes and dredging the lowest depths of local-league football. Now playing once more as Sport Comércio e Salgueiros, this storied club has gained new impetus, climbing back to the third tier in 2022. Home is the Campanhã Sports Centre, just the other side of the A20 highway from FC Porto at Rua Peso de Régua 9493.
Salgueiros enjoyed their 15 minutes of fame back in 1991, when their only European appearance paired them with AS Cannes. Beating the French team 1-0 at Boavista's Estádio do Bessa, the Porto side held the advantage until an 89th-minute equaliser by the hosts sent the second leg into extra-time and, fatefully, penalties.
Scorer of that vital late goal for Cannes was François Omam-Biyik, who had headed Cameroon to a shock win over Argentina at the World Cup opener the previous summer. And in the Cannes midfield? Two later stars of the World Cup 1998, Croatian Aljoša Asanović and a certain Zinedine Zidane.
No groundhop of Porto would be complete without a visit to Leixões. Founded back in 1907, cup winners (over Porto) in 1961, the Sea Heroes represent the community of Matosinhos, halfway to Porto Airport. After a short spell in the Primeira and relegation in 2009, they have taken up residence in the Segunda.
While their Estádio do Mar sits disappointingly inland, with its own metro stop on light-blue line A, there's no denying the magic of the club badge, a cricket bat, a tennis racket and a football drawn in the style of a gentlemen's sports compendium of the Victorian era. The metro stop Hospital Pedro Hispano is equally, if not more, convenient.
Back in town, look out for bookshop Livraria Timtimporttimtim (Rua da Conceição 27-29), which specialises in vintage football magazines, postcards and photographs.
[mapsmarker map="34"]Getting Around
Arriving in town, local transport and timings
Porto airport is 11km (7 miles) north-west of the city. It is conveniently linked to town, and directly to the Estádio do Dragão, at the other end of violet line E, by metro. Town is 20 minutes away, the stadium 35.
The metro and buses operate with the andante chip card. A single ticket to the stadium is €2.30, including the price of the blue card. A 24-hour pass (andante tour 1) is €7.
A taxi from the airport to town should be around €25.
Where to Drink
The best pubs and bars for football fans
Ribeira, down by the Douro in the shadow of Dom Luis I Bridge, is the bar vortex. Venues include the waterfront, sport-free Peter Café Sport and, tucked in just behind, the Porto Escondido and Bar Prioridade.
Around this hub, look out also for expat-friendly Ryan’s, with Sky Sports TV. There’s no TV at the Arcos da Ribeira restaurant (Rua dos Canastreiros 58/Cais da Ribeira 16), but a lovely riverside setting in a venerable building, headquarters of the equally venerable OS Ribeirenses sports club. Outside, the Café do Cais (Cais da Estiva) is a glass-fronted bar/restaurant with TV football.
Elsewhere downtown, on focal Praça da Batalha, Café Java is a convivial spot to watch the game, while Espaço 77 (Travessa de Cedofeita 22) attracts a young, table-football spinning crowd by day, nighthawks after dark. During TV football, beer is consumed in huge quantities – nowhere else in Portugal sold more mini bottles of Sagres in 2012. Old-school Piolho D’Ouro stands on a square, Praça Leitão, lined with student-friendly bars and restaurants.
A real FC Porto hang-out is found at Rua Cativo 14, unmarked about from its blue façade and Portugal flag. Team line-ups down the ages surround a tiny bar, where absurdly cheap wine is served to a rough-and-ready clientele.
Where to stay
The best hotels for the stadium and city centre
The Porto Tourist Office has information on hotels at its central office (Rua Clube dos Fenianos 25). Right beside the Estádio do Dragão, the Hotel AC Porto is an upscale Marriott with occasionally attractive deals. There’s a bar on the first floor, with the day’s football press.
Nearer to town but still convenient for the stadium, the Vila Galé Porto features a decent pool. The Pestana Porto Hotel offers luxury overlooking the Douro in the Ribeira. Nearby Ribeira do Porto is a stylish spot in a renovated historic building, as is the Guest House Douro.
The Grande Hotel do Porto is an 1880 landmark, centrally located too. For a super-cheap stay, the Residencial São Jorge is clean and simple. Note the new phone numbers of +353 222 018 043 and +353 916 136 136 not given on the website.
Around São Bento station, cheapies Residencial Triunfo (Rua do Cativo 9, +351 222 021 166) and the Hotel Peninsular offer simple, convenient comforts. The nearby Quality Inn Porto is half-a-notch above, and close to the Porto shop/ticket office.
Boavista's stadium is literally surrounded by hotels, the nearest being the swish, business-friendly Bessa, with its equally swish bar/restaurant.
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Porto is the powerhouse of the Portuguese north, panoramically set at the mouth of the river Douro, its famous port wine lodges and hilly, atmospheric old quarter linked by vast, spectacular bridges.
Flagship club FC Porto, Europa League winners in 2011, Champions League winners in 2004, once dominated the domestic game. After allowing Benfica to get back in, the Dragons won the title for a 30th time in 2022.
Based at the impressively modernised Estádio do Dragão, built to host Euro 2004, FC Porto have been steered by controversial chairman Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa since 1982.
The other clubs in town are Boavista and Salgueiros. Portuguese champions in 2001, Boavista were ruined by the costs of rebuilding their Estádio do Bessa. In 2014, after six years of lower-league ignominy, Boavista were allowed back into an expanded top flight by the Portuguese League.
Little Salgueiros are still revered by many despite falling on hard times. undergoing name changes and dredging the lowest depths of local-league football. Now playing once more as Sport Comércio e Salgueiros, this storied club has gained new impetus, climbing back to the third tier in 2022. Home is the Campanhã Sports Centre, just the other side of the A20 highway from FC Porto at Rua Peso de Régua 9493.
Salgueiros enjoyed their 15 minutes of fame back in 1991, when their only European appearance paired them with AS Cannes. Beating the French team 1-0 at Boavista's Estádio do Bessa, the Porto side held the advantage until an 89th-minute equaliser by the hosts sent the second leg into extra-time and, fatefully, penalties.
Scorer of that vital late goal for Cannes was François Omam-Biyik, who had headed Cameroon to a shock win over Argentina at the World Cup opener the previous summer. And in the Cannes midfield? Two later stars of the World Cup 1998, Croatian Aljoša Asanović and a certain Zinedine Zidane.
No groundhop of Porto would be complete without a visit to Leixões. Founded back in 1907, cup winners (over Porto) in 1961, the Sea Heroes represent the community of Matosinhos, halfway to Porto Airport. After a short spell in the Primeira and relegation in 2009, they have taken up residence in the Segunda.
While their Estádio do Mar sits disappointingly inland, with its own metro stop on light-blue line A, there's no denying the magic of the club badge, a cricket bat, a tennis racket and a football drawn in the style of a gentlemen's sports compendium of the Victorian era. The metro stop Hospital Pedro Hispano is equally, if not more, convenient.
Back in town, look out for bookshop Livraria Timtimporttimtim (Rua da Conceição 27-29), which specialises in vintage football magazines, postcards and photographs.
[mapsmarker map="34"]Getting Around
Arriving in town, local transport and timings
Porto airport is 11km (7 miles) north-west of the city. It is conveniently linked to town, and directly to the Estádio do Dragão, at the other end of violet line E, by metro. Town is 20 minutes away, the stadium 35.
The metro and buses operate with the andante chip card. A single ticket to the stadium is €2.30, including the price of the blue card. A 24-hour pass (andante tour 1) is €7.
A taxi from the airport to town should be around €25.
Where to Drink
The best pubs and bars for football fans
Ribeira, down by the Douro in the shadow of Dom Luis I Bridge, is the bar vortex. Venues include the waterfront, sport-free Peter Café Sport and, tucked in just behind, the Porto Escondido and Bar Prioridade.
Around this hub, look out also for expat-friendly Ryan’s, with Sky Sports TV. There’s no TV at the Arcos da Ribeira restaurant (Rua dos Canastreiros 58/Cais da Ribeira 16), but a lovely riverside setting in a venerable building, headquarters of the equally venerable OS Ribeirenses sports club. Outside, the Café do Cais (Cais da Estiva) is a glass-fronted bar/restaurant with TV football.
Elsewhere downtown, on focal Praça da Batalha, Café Java is a convivial spot to watch the game, while Espaço 77 (Travessa de Cedofeita 22) attracts a young, table-football spinning crowd by day, nighthawks after dark. During TV football, beer is consumed in huge quantities – nowhere else in Portugal sold more mini bottles of Sagres in 2012. Old-school Piolho D’Ouro stands on a square, Praça Leitão, lined with student-friendly bars and restaurants.
A real FC Porto hang-out is found at Rua Cativo 14, unmarked about from its blue façade and Portugal flag. Team line-ups down the ages surround a tiny bar, where absurdly cheap wine is served to a rough-and-ready clientele.
Where to stay
The best hotels for the stadium and city centre
The Porto Tourist Office has information on hotels at its central office (Rua Clube dos Fenianos 25). Right beside the Estádio do Dragão, the Hotel AC Porto is an upscale Marriott with occasionally attractive deals. There’s a bar on the first floor, with the day’s football press.
Nearer to town but still convenient for the stadium, the Vila Galé Porto features a decent pool. The Pestana Porto Hotel offers luxury overlooking the Douro in the Ribeira. Nearby Ribeira do Porto is a stylish spot in a renovated historic building, as is the Guest House Douro.
The Grande Hotel do Porto is an 1880 landmark, centrally located too. For a super-cheap stay, the Residencial São Jorge is clean and simple. Note the new phone numbers of +353 222 018 043 and +353 916 136 136 not given on the website.
Around São Bento station, cheapies Residencial Triunfo (Rua do Cativo 9, +351 222 021 166) and the Hotel Peninsular offer simple, convenient comforts. The nearby Quality Inn Porto is half-a-notch above, and close to the Porto shop/ticket office.
Boavista's stadium is literally surrounded by hotels, the nearest being the swish, business-friendly Bessa, with its equally swish bar/restaurant.
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