Associação Portuguesa de Desportos

Football club infobox
clubname = Portuguesa


fullname = Associação Portuguesa de Desportos
nickname = "Lusa"
founded = 1920
ground = Canindé, São Paulo, Brazil
capacity = 19,717 | chairman = Manuel da Lupa
manager = Estevam Soares
league = Campeonato Brasileiro Série A
season = 2007
position = Campeonato Brasileiro Série B, 3rd (promoted)
pattern_la1=|pattern_b1=_redhoops|pattern_ra1=
leftarm1=FF0000|body1=008000|rightarm1=ff0000|shorts1=FFFFFF|socks1=FFFFFF
pattern_la2=_redlower|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=_redlower
leftarm2=FFFFFF|body2=FFFFFF|rightarm2=FFFFFF|shorts2=FFFFFF|socks2=ff0000

Associação Portuguesa de Desportos, usually called Portuguesa or Lusa, is a sports club, and a traditional Brazilian football team from São Paulo in São Paulo state, founded on August 14, 1920 by the Portuguese population of the city.

History

On August 14, 1920 (the same day of the 1385 Battle of Aljubarrota), the five Paulista clubs representing the Portuguese community of São Paulo (Lusíadas Futebol Club, Portugal Marinhense, Associação Cinco de Outubro, Associação Atlética Marquês de Pombal and Esporte Club Lusitano) met at Salão da Câmara Portuguesa de Comércio to merge, and founded Associação Portuguesa de Esportes, and they chose the colors of Portugal: green and red.

In 1940, the club changed its name to Associação Portuguesa de Desportos, which remains up to now.

In 1956, Portuguesa bought the Canindé stadium from São Paulo.

Portuguesa is among the five most traditional teams in the city of São Paulo and the country. In 2008 the club will participate on the São Paulo State Championship Série A1 (First Division), Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (First Divistion) and the Copa do Brasil (Brazilian Cup).

Titles

*São Paulo Youth Cup (Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior): 1991 and 2002
*São Paulo State Championship: ::1935/36 (organized by APEA)::1973
*Rio-São Paulo Tournament: 1952 and 1955
*São Paulo State Championship Serie A2: 2007
*Brazilian League Runner-up: 1996
*Campeonato Brasileiro de Futebol Feminino: 1999/2000
*Campeonato Paulista Feminino de Futebol: 1998 and 2000

Rivals

Sport Club Corinthians Paulista, Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras, Santos Futebol Clube, São Paulo Futebol Clube and Clube Atlético Juventus.

tadium

Portuguesa's stadium is Estádio do Canindé, built in 1956, with a maximum capacity of 19,717 people, following the current FIFA safety rules (The stadium was first build for a maximum capacity of 27,500 thousand).

Logo history

The club's first logo, introduced on August 14, 1920 (during the club's foundation) was a Portuguese shield. This logo was chosen to homage Portugal.

The club's second logo, introduced in 1923 had a Cross of Avis bordered by a red contour. The Cross of Avis represents the Portuguese independence from the Castile Kingdom, which happened after the Battle of Aljubarrota, on August 14, 1385.

In 2005, the club's logo design was modernized. Also it was added a golden contour around the red contour.

Team colors

Portuguesa's first kit, introduced on September 20, 1920, was an all-red shirt, with white shorts and red socks with two horizontal green lines. The goalkeeper kit was completely white. On March 26, 1923, the club's kit was changed. The club played in red and green vertical striped shirts. The team kit was later changed again. The red and green stripes were changed to horizontal ones, and the away kit was composed of an all-white shirt, red shorts and red socks.

The mascots

Portuguesa's first mascot was a Portuguese girl named Severa. She was named after the 1930s fado singer Dima Tereza who were nicknamed "A Severa", after the Portuguese fado singer Maria Severa Onofriana.

In 1994, Portuguesa changed its mascot. The club's unique original mascot was replaced by a lion wearing the club's home kit. The lion is one of the most common Brazilian football club's mascots.

The anthems

There are two club's anthems. The first anthem, called Hino Rubro-verde (Portuguese for "Red and green Anthem") is the old one, and was composed by Archimedes Messina and Carlos Leite Guerra.

The second anthem, called Campeões (Portuguese for "Champions") is the current club's anthem, and was composed by Roberto Leal and Márcia Lúcia.

Current squad

First-team squad

As of September 11 2008Fs player|no=--|nat=Brazil|pos=MF|name=Fellype Gabriel"(on loan from Flamengo)"

Famous players

*Alex Alves
*Badeco
*Batatais
*Bentinho
*Brandão
*Brandãozinho
*Capitão
*Clemer
*Dener
*Dica
*Diogo
*Djalma Santos
*Edu Marangon
*Eneas
*Evair, Evair Aparecido Paulino
*Félix
*Ipojucan
*Ivair
*Jair da Costa
*Julinho
*Leandro Amaral
*Luís Pereira
*Nininho
*Paulinho McLaren
*Pinga, José Lázaro Robles
*Roberto Dinamite
*Ricardo Oliveira
*Rodolfo Rodríguez
*Rodrigo Fabri
*Servílio
*Simão
*Sinval
*Tico
*Zé Maria, José Maria Rodrigues Alves
*Zé Maria, José Marcelo Ferreira

*Zé Roberto

Famous managers

*Aymoré Moreira
*Candinho
*Conrado Ross
*Otto Glória
*Vagner Benazzi

References

*"Lusa, uma História de Amor" - Orlando Duarte, Livraria Teixeira, 2000.

External links

* [http://www.portuguesa.com.br Official website]
* [http://www.sitedalusa.com Portuguesa's Unofficial website (Site Extra-oficial)]