Last night Boavista and Aves played out a goalless draw at the Estádio do Bessa that hardly registered beyond the fans of both clubs as they struggle to steer clear of the relegation places.
But 23 years ago, the same fixture, at the same venue, was one of the most significant in the entire history of the Portuguese Primeira Liga. It was the night the Panteras Negras became national football champions – only the second time a team outside the country’s traditional Big Three of Benfica, Sporting and Porto had won the league.
Football historian and author Miguel Lourenço Pereira recalls the night Boavista were crowned kings of Portugal.
It was Friday night and the lights were out. Rarely do you get to see a title decider match on weekdays but, then again, this was not, by a mile, a season you would expect normality. Boavista FC were 90 minutes away from becoming league champions. The first in the new millennium. Only the second outside the Big Three asphyxiating dominion.
For those who grew up before that iconic night, the Belenenses winning season in the early 1940s had become something to be looked upon with awe as if it was never going to be seen again. And for almost sixty years, it wasn’t. Then, the side with the strange chequered shirts, decided it was time to break the mould. There was nothing or nobody that could stop them and, yet, knowing the following and last match of the season was against their direct rivals in the title race and neighbours FC Porto, nobody crossed the Bessa stadium gates that night without a lump in their hearts. They were in for the night of their lives.
Boavista FC is a historical side of the city of Porto, founded in 1903, a club deeply rooted within the British community that lived in Porto and the working class that surrounded some of its most iconic factories of the day, namely Graham’s. The club grew slowly on the west side of town watching how Sport Comércio Salgueiros, in the northern poorer area of Paranhos, Académico, in a more central latitude and, above all others, FC Porto, dominated the city’s football landscape. Boavista were good, winning regional trophies, but not enough to overcome the weight of the Dragões, and ended up swallowed by their shadow.
Only in the early 1970s, when major Valentim Loureiro – later mayor of Gondomar and an iconic political figure in Portuguese society – entered the board, did things start to change. Loureiro brought to Boavista José Maria Pedroto, who had been responsible for Vitória FC’s golden hour before he left after a row with the board, who didn’t appreciate the outspoken character of the manager, especially during the months surrounding the April revolution. At Boavista, the former FC Porto player and manager, found a club eager to grow. He applied many of the tactical schemes and transfer policies that he would later take to his former club, turning Boavista from minnows into title contenders, something unheard of at the time. The Bessa side – a ground inaugurated in 1911 and one of the oldest in the land – challenged Benfica´s dominion before Pedroto eventually left.
The Axadrezados weren’t unable to rise again to the occasion but Pedroto had given them something to build on and with Loureiro in charge, Boavista steadily started to challenge for a regular place in the top five, thus entering European competitions season in, season out. With the signing of Manuel José, the club took a step further to find success, as they became known in Europe as well as started to enjoy regular cup runs, winning the trophy twice in the 1990s.
When José left, Loureiro decided it was time for a new era to begin. He delivered the keys to the castle to his son João, former frontman of the pop band Ban, and the club signed Jaime Pacheco, who had done wonders with Vitória FC over the years. Pacheco had everything Boavista supporters liked as a manager. We was a no-nonsense lover of direct, tough football, in the British tradition much loved there and was critical, outspoken and was desperate to topple local rivals Porto – for whom he had won several honours, including the European Cup back in 1987 – off of their perch.
For some years Pacheco had to bide his time. The club signed carefully and smartly both players from smaller clubs and from the Brazilian league. They added some discards of the Big Three who still had football in their veins and together with some youth academy graduates, Pacheco found the winning combination he was looking for. In 1999 Boavista left the first warning that something was brewing. They ended up second in the league, forcing Porto – who would win their fifth consecutive title – to a title race that only ended on the penultimate day when they lost their option in Faro as Porto celebrated the historical feat at Sporting’s home ground of Alvalade.
The following season saw Boavista debut in the Champions League but things didn’t turn out quite spectacularly in the league. Still, when the 2000/01 season kickstarted, nobody was ready to take them out of the equation. However, nobody was willing to concede the thought that they would become eventual league champions.
The season didn’t start the best possible way. After two early wins, Boavista drew against Estrela in Amadora and then lost against Sporting Braga at home, a side they were competing against for a European spot. Then José Mourinho’s Benfica came to town and were beaten at a Bessa stadium in the middle of the construction works that would result in the beautiful arena, much like the Genoa Luigi Ferrari’s, that would host the Euro 2004. Despite the celebrated win against a title contender, three draws versus Belenenses, Farense and Campomaiorense away didn’t seem like title-winning material.
A Bola front cover the day after Boavista became champions. "Now yes, believe it because it's true!"
Then came the match at the Alvalade stadium against the reigning champions Sporting. Many believed the Leões had everything in their favour to win the league once again but when Pacheco’s men came out with a draw on a cold November night, few could imagine that from then on they would be out of the title race. Boavista began after that away day a six-match winning streak. In early January they hosted league leaders FC Porto and won with a Martelinho goal that put them top of the league. They would never look back again.
Despite drawing against União Leiria and Marítimo – who would beat them in the Cup semi-finals, after they had already lost against AS Roma in the UEFA Cup campaign – and losing in Braga (the only side they failed to beat all season), Boavista won every other league match in their schedule. And they had to because Porto were also winning theirs. Still, there was enough of a gap for them to close the title race before a final showdown at das Antas. They only had to beat Aves. It seemed easy enough only, with a lack of historical precedents for more than a generation, nerves started to kick in. Pacheco's leadership once again proved vital as he focused the squad into one last match in front of their home crowd who, sparkled by the winning-season, went in numbers to Bessa to support them.
It was the 18th of May, nine o’clock. Thousands gathered in the small streets around the Bessa stadium. Pacheco picked the usual starting eleven, with Ricardo in goal, alongside Frechaut, Litos, Pedro Emanuel and Quevedo, who usually played when Mário Silva wasn’t available. Rui Bento and Petit had been the stalwarts throughout the season, patrolling midfield and were accompanied by the fast winger Duda on the right and the supremely talented veteran Erwin Sanchez on the left. Martelinho, who scored the decisive goal against Porto, and Elpideo Silva, were up front as other key figures from the side such as Jorge Costa, Whelliton, Gouveia or Jorge Silva waited on the bench.
Aves, coached by a newcomer Carlos Carvalhal, had some well-known players from the 1990s Portuguese football such as Abilio, José Soares or Quinzinho but they were no match for the hosts. Boavista started the match nervously but were in control and in the 22nd minute a José Soares own goal, deflecting a trademark Sanchez free-kick, opened the festivity mood. There was no turning back although Pacheco seemed tense still, knowing that the smallest of errors could cost his team dearly. He routed the players at half-time and they came out stronger than ever before, asphyxiating the visitors in their box in search of the second goal that would confirm what everybody already knew in their hearts would eventually happen.
Elpídio Silva deflected in the ball from a corner with the aid of a handball that the referee didn’t spot, the stadium erupted, and, for once, Pacheco smiled. Whelliton added the third as people started to cry their hearts out, from the presidential box overcrowded with the Loureiro family, up to the stands where iconic supporters such as Manuel do Laço couldn’t believe their eyes. The ensuing pitch invasion brought memories of a football that is no more as the crowd raced onto the pitch to embrace the players and staff who speedily ran to the dressing room where the party continued behind closed doors.
Part of the city halted for the night and celebrations lasted a week long. When they crossed town to visit Porto the following weekend, Boavista ended up being thrashed 4-0. That didn’t matter to anyone though, as the hosts had to see how their smaller neighbours had finally raised their game to sit at the table of champions.
The triumph against Aves was the highlight of Boavista’s history as a football club and one of the greatest stories of Portuguese football. Never since, despite Braga’s best efforts, has a side been able to topple the Big Three and win the league. Almost a quarter of a century has gone by and nobody expects it to happen again any time soon.
The investment needed to achieve that is overbearing and despite Boavista remaining a top side for three more seasons, including a runner-up spot the following year and a place in the 2002/03 UEFA Cup semifinals, things turned sour pretty soon. Pacheco left, many of their star players were sold and the replacements were not able to replicate their team spirit. Worse, when the Golden Whistle scandal was brought to the public arena, Boavista were seen as the perfect scapegoat and ended up receiving a harder punishment than their neighbours, being banished down to the third tier.
They have since resurfaced but never again as a side able to fight for honours. Portuguese football needs Boavista and clubs like them to bring emotion and colour to the title race. For those who lived those glory years the idea of facing the Axadrezados was a nightmare. For them, it was the most beautiful of dreams.
By Miguel Lourenço Pereria, author of “Bring Me That Horizon – A Journey to the Soul of Portuguese Football”.
