Gil Vicente F.C.

Gil Vicente Futebol Clube (), commonly known as Gil Vicente, founded in 1924, is a Portuguese football club that plays in Barcelos. It competes in the Primeira Liga, the top division of football in the country, and it is named after the Portuguese playwright of the same name. The best seasons for the team was in 1999–2000 and 2021–22 Primeira Liga, when they finished fifth in the league.

History

Gil Vicente Futebol Clube was founded on 3 May 1924, after the creation of other clubs in Barcelos, such as Barcelos Sporting Club and União Football Club Barcelense. The idea to found a new club came from a group of friends that every afternoon played football near the city's theater, named ''Gil Vicente'', after the Portuguese playwright. The initial name for the team was Gil Vicente Football Barcelense.

The team first got promoted to the top Portuguese division, then called First Division in 1990. In 1997, it got relegated to the Liga de Honra and came back two years later by winning it. The best position was in the first year back in the Liga, when it finished fifth, led by manager Álvaro Magalhães, a former Benfica player.

In the 2005–06 Primeira Liga, Gil Vicente fielded an ineligible player being Angolan forward Mateus in the "Mateus Affair". They therefore lost the right to participate in the 2006–07 Primeira Liga, and Belenenses were allowed to stay up. Gil Vicente were accused by the special sports instances that rule Portuguese football of illegally resorting to regular courts on the dispute of Mateus, according to Gil Vicente, illegal contract with his former employer, FC Lixa.

Still convinced this is not a sports-related case but rather work-related, Gil Vicente continued in the courts. Along with the relegation, they were also suspended from the Taça de Portugal for one season.

On 29 May 2011, the club returned to the top flight as champions of the 2010–11 Liga de Honra with a 3–1 home win over C.D. Fátima in front of a club record crowd; manager Paulo Alves beat C.D. Feirense on goal difference to the title, and the key players were strikers Hugo Vieira and Zé Luís. The club finished as runners-up of the 2011–12 Taça da Liga, eliminating Sporting CP from the groups, S.C. Braga on penalties in the semi-final and losing 2–1 to S.L. Benfica in the final in Coimbra.

A four-year spell in the top flight ended in 2014–15, when Gil Vicente lost 2–1 at F.C. Penafiel in the penultimate round of matches. On 29 April 2018, the club slipped into the third tier for the first time since 1971, but had a place in the 2019–20 Primeira Liga secured as a result of the appeal against the "Matheus Affair". On May 8, 2022, Gil Vicente qualified for a European competition, UEFA Europa Conference League, for the first time in their history, after finishing fifth in the 2021–22 Primeira Liga season.

Stadium

The first struggles of the young team were mainly about finding a pitch to play. Back then, the team would play in the Campo da Estação, which belonged to another club, Triunfo Sport Club. On 3 May 1933, Gil Vicente played in its first field, Campo da Granja, with a capacity for 5,012 spectators, and later renamed Adelino Ribeiro Novo which is now the youth academy stadium, after a Gil Vicente goalkeeper who died there during a match on 16 September 1946.

Gil Vicente played in the Estádio Adelino Ribeiro Novo until the 2003–04 season. From 2004–05 on, the team plays in the new Estádio Cidade de Barcelos, with the former being used for the youth teams. The new stadium, with a capacity of 14,000, belongs to the municipality and received two UEFA Under-21 European Championship 2006 matches: Serbia and Montenegro 0–1 Germanybr>
and Portugal national under-21 football team, Portugal 0–2 Serbia and Montenegr

Honours

* Segunda Liga
:* Winners (2): 1998–99, 2010–11

* Taça da Liga
:* ''Runners-up (1):'' 2011–12

League and cup history

In Europe

Players

Out on loan

Coaching staff

Managerial history

* José Maria Furtado (1974–75)
* José Carlos (1986–88)
* Mário Reis (1988–89)
* Rodolfo Reis (1989–91)
* António Oliveira (July 1, 1991 – June 30, 1992)
* Vítor Oliveira (1992–95)
* Bernardino Pedroto (1995–96)
* Fernando Festas (1996–97)
* Diamantino Miranda (1997–98)
* Henrique Nunes (1998)
* Álvaro Magalhães (1998–00)
* Luís Campos (2000–02)
* Vítor Oliveira (2002–03)
* Luís Campos (July 1, 2003 – Oct 28, 2004)
* Ulisses Morais (Oct 28, 2004 – March 7, 2006)
* Paulo Alves (March 7, 2006 – May 15, 2008)
* Prof. Neca (May 26, 2008 – Nov 17, 2008)
* Manuel Ribeiro ''(interim)'' (Nov 18, 2008 – Feb 16, 2009)
* João Eusébio (Feb 17, 2009 – May 25, 2009)
* Rui Quinta (June 6, 2009 – Feb 27, 2010)
* Paulo Alves (March 5, 2010 – May 13)
* João de Deus (May 30, 2013 – Aug 31 2014)
* José Mota (Sept 2, 2014 – May 26, 2015)
* Nandinho (May 28, 2015 – May 11, 2016)
* Vítor Oliveira (2019–2020)
* Rui Almeida (July – November 2020)
* Ricardo Soares (November 13, 2020 – 2022)
* Ivo Vieira (2022)
* Daniel Sousa (November 16, 2022 – present)

References

External links

*

Club Profile
at LPFP

Club Profile & Squad
at ForaDeJogo

official facebook

instagram

{{Authority control

Football clubs in Portugal
Association football clubs established in 1924
1924 establishments in Portugal
Primeira Liga clubs
Liga Portugal 2 clubs