Sport in Portugal


Sports in Portugal are important in Portuguese culture. Football is the most popular sport in Portugal. Other than football, many other professional or semi-professional well organized sport competitions take place every season in Portugal, including basketball, swimming, athletics, tennis, gymnastics, futsal, rink hockey, team handball, volleyball, surfing, canoeing and rugby union championships among the hundreds of sports played in this country.
The major Portuguese professional sports leagues, championships and events include:
Other popular sport-related recreational outdoor activities with thousands of enthusiasts nationwide include airsoft, golf, hiking, orienteering, and Bull fighting.

American football

is played in a national league since 2009, initially with five teams. Between 2013 and 2016, the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Americano was split in two conferences, north and south. The eighth edition, in 2016, had ten teams. Lisboa Devils are the defending champions. Lisboa Navigators are the most successful team with six titles.

Athletics

Portugal has been traditionally strong in the sport of athletics in long distance running, and is the birthplace for a number of successful athletes including Rosa Mota, Carlos Lopes, Fernanda Ribeiro, and Manuela Machado. Rui Silva and sprinter Francis Obikwelu have won several gold, silver and bronze medals in European, World and Olympic Games competitions. Naide Gomes is a multiple World and European champion in the women's pentathlon and long jump events and Nelson Évora is world and Olympic champion in the triple jump. In the triathlon, Vanessa Fernandes has won a large number of medals and major competitions across the world, including the silver medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The country has a strong reputation in cross-country running: it hosts two of the world's foremost annual meetings, it has hosted the IAAF World Cross Country Championships twice, and Carlos Lopes and Albertina Dias are both former world champions of the sport.

Basketball

The country's main basketball clubs are S.L. Benfica and FC Porto. Both teams have competed at several European cups in the past years. Portugal's national basketball team had its best performance at the 2007 EuroBasket where it left behind heavily favored competition such as Turkey and Serbia.

Canoeing

Portugal became in the later years one of the most successful countries in this sport, winning many medals at European and world championships. The better athletes including Francisca Laia, Teresa Portela, Joana Vasconcelos, Helena Rodrigues, Beatriz Gomes, João Ribeiro, Emanuel Silva and Fernando Pimenta. These two athletes won the silver medal at 2012 Summer Olympics in London in the Men's K2 1000m event.

Cycling

, with Volta a Portugal being the most important race, is also a popular sports event and include professional cycling teams such as S.L. Benfica, Boavista, Clube de Ciclismo de Tavira, and União Ciclista da Maia. Noted Portuguese cyclists include 2013 World Road Race Champion Rui Costa, as well as Joaquim Agostinho, Marco Chagas, José Azevedo, Sérgio Paulinho, and Tiago Machado.

Football

is the most popular sport in Portugal, and the country has produced footballers who became known worldwide. Players such as Eusébio, Luís Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo are the most noted Portuguese footballers. Portuguese football managers are also noteworthy, with the most notable one being José Mourinho at club level, and Fernando Santos at national team level.
The Portugal national football team is among the higher-rated national football teams in Europe and the world, having won one European Championship title in 2016. The Primeira Liga, the country's top professional league, is the most widely known sport events in the country, where football teams such as S.L. Benfica, FC Porto, and Sporting CP are the main contenders. Other important clubs are Belenenses and Boavista. These five clubs are the only ones to have become champions of the Portuguese league.
Portuguese football teams have performed well in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup competitions, reaching regularly the last stages of those competitions and winning a number of trophies. Portugal has a large number of top football stadia. There are three UEFA 5 star stadia in Portugal along with many other featuring state of the art facilities which are distributed across the country.

Futsal

The Portuguese futsal league is divided into divisions. The top teams play in the 1a Divisão. In each division, a team plays all other teams twice, once at home and once away, and 1a Divisão the final phase is played under the playoff system.
The Portuguese league teams compete in Europe under UEFA, most notably in the UEFA Futsal Cup. The teams also compete in a domestic cup competition each year, called the Portuguese Cup. The winners of the 1a Divisão play the winners of the Portuguese Cup in the Portuguese SuperCup.
Ricardinho, is also one of the best futsal players of all time getting the title of "Best Futsal Player in the World" for 4 times.

Martial arts

like judo have also brought many medals to this country, namely Telma Monteiro who conquered gold twice at the European Championships in the -52 kg category and a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics, and Nuno Delgado who conquered the bronze medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, and became the European champion in 1999 and vice-champion in the year of 2003.
The country has an ancient martial art known as Jogo do Pau, used for self-protection and for duels between young men in disputes over young women. Having its origin in the Middle Ages, Jogo do Pau uses wooden staves as a combat weapon.
In fencing, Joaquim Videira won the silver medal at the épée 2006 World Fencing Championships and has conquered numerous medals in the world cup.uku
In taekwondo, Rui Bragança and Júlio Ferreira won the gold medal at the 2016 European Taekwondo Championships in Switzerland on their categories and their both European champions. Bragança also won the gold medal at the 2015 European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan in the -58kg category. Later, Bragança went on the 2016 Summer Olympics placing 9th in the same category.

Motor sports

The Autódromo Fernanda Pires da Silva in the Estoril, near Lisbon, is the main Portuguese race track where many motorsport competitions are held, including the World Motorcycling Championship, A1 Grand Prix and formerly F1.
Portugal has great traditions in rallying with one of the most famous rally races in the world. Also famous is the Ralall managers are also noteworthy, with ly Madeira. Off-road events also have international recognition. SATA RAlly Açores is part of the ERC.

Olympics

In 1909, it became the 13th nation to join the Olympic Movement. Its inaugural competition came at the 1912 Summer Olympics, in Stockholm. With 21 consecutive appearances, it is ranked at 18th for attending Olympiads, as of the 2004 Summer Olympics. Its Olympic medals count stands at 22: 4 golds, 7 silvers and 11 bronzes.
Portugal's inaugural Winter Olympic Games competition came at the 1952 Winter Olympics, in Oslo. The interspersed attending of 5 Winter Olympics and having yet to achieve a Winter Olympics medal can be explained by its inadequate elevations and Mediterranean climate.

Roller hockey

Portugal has a successful roller hockey team, with 15 World titles and 20 European titles, making it the country with the most wins in both competitions. The most successful Portuguese roller hockey teams in international competitions are Porto, Benfica, Sporting CP and Óquei de Barcelos.

Rowing

does not have a long history in this sport. In recent years has just a double scull crewed by Nuno Mendes and Pedro Fraga.

Rugby union

The Portuguese national rugby union team qualified for the 2007 Rugby World Cup, and become the first all-amateur team to qualify for the World Cup in the sport's professional era. The Portuguese national rugby sevens team has performed well, and has played in the World Rugby Sevens Series.

Table tennis

has one of the best table tennis teams of the world. The team is composed by Marcos Freitas, Tiago Apolónia and João Pedro Monteiro. Portugal reached the quarter-finals at 2012 Summer Olympics in London, beating in the first round Great Britain and losing the quarter-finals against South Korea 2–3.

Tennis

is an average team in tennis, competing between Europe Group I and Europe Group II. Nowadays is composed by João Sousa, Rui Machado, Frederico Gil, Pedro Sousa, Gastão Elias and Leonardo Tavares. The National Coach is Pedro Cordeiro. Every season the city of Estoril host the Portugal Open, competition won by some of the best tennis players of all time.
João Sousa was 28th in the world ranking in May 2016.

Triathlon

Portugal has been involved in Triathlon at all levels. Most notable is the women's 2006–07 ITU Triathlon World Cup Champion Vanessa Fernandes. Portugal also has several strong male contenders in the current ITU Triathlon World Cup elite field, among them João Pedro Silva and . At the Ironman distance won the 2013 Ironman Sweden 140.6 race, becoming the first Portuguese to win an Ironman distance event. Portugal also hosts the Lisbon triathlon a popular Olympic distance race.

Water sports

The country has also achieved notable performances in sports like surfing, windsurfing, kitesurfing, kayaking and sailing.
Manuel Centeno is also a major name in Portuguese sports as he conquered the National, European, and the World titles in 2006, in bodyboarding after being the European champion back in 2001.
In surfing, Frederico Morais has the best Portuguese rank in the WSL Championship Tour, has he got in 2017 the 14th position, in his rookie year. Vasco Ribeiro won the Men's Junior World Champions in 2014 and Teresa Bonvalot won the Women's Junior European Championships both in 2016 and 2017, she is also the highest-ranked Portuguese female ever on the Championship Tour after she got 20th in 2017.
In 2010, Portugal became one of the WSL Championship Tour official stops so every year the country hosts the MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal in the supertubos beach in Peniche.

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