Espinho () is a city and a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

located in the

Aveiro District Aveiro District ( pt, Distrito de Aveiro, or ) is located in the central coastal region of Portugal. The capital of the district is the city of Aveiro, which also serves as the seat of Aveiro Municipality. Aveiro District is bordered by the Po ...

, Portugal. It is located in both the

Greater Porto Grande Porto () or Greater Porto is a former Portuguese NUTS3 subregion, integrating the NUTS2 region of Norte, in Portugal. It was abolished at the January 2015 NUTS 3 revision. It corresponded to 11 municipalities out of 16, the other 5 in ...

and the

Metropolitan Area of Porto The Porto Metropolitan Area ( pt, Área Metropolitana do Porto; abbreviated as AMP) is a metropolitan area in northern Portugal centered on the City of Porto, Portugal's second largest city.Fernanda Paula Oliveira (2009), The metropolitan area ...

, 16 km from its city centre. It is one of the smallest municipalities in Portugal and was, until 1899, part of the Santa Maria da Feira Municipality. In 2021, Espinho had a population of 31,027, a slight decrease from the previous census in 2011, when 31,786 were registered,Instituto Nacional de Estatística
/ref> in an area of 21.06 km². The current Mayor is Miguel Reis, elected by the PS. It is a beach resort and a zone of legal gambling with a

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live enterta ...

- ''Casino Solverde''. Its

fair A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Types Variations of fairs incl ...

- ''Feira de Espinho'', having been first organised in 1894, is well known in Portugal. The city is home to ''CINANIMA - Festival Internacional de Cinema de Animação'', an international animation festival, and
FEST - New Directors New Films Festival
', an international film festival. The municipal holiday is June 16.

Sports

Volleyball The city, known as the volleyball capital in Portugal, is the home of nine Portuguese sports clubs: Novasemente/Cavalinho, Sporting Clube de Silvalde, Associação Desportiva de Anta, Clube de Voleibol de Espinho, Sporting Clube de Espinho, Associação Académica de Espinho, Academia de Ténis de Espinho, Clube de Ténis de Espinho and Associação Desportiva Rio Largo. Sporting Clube de Espinho and Associação Académica de Espinho are regular presences in the

Portuguese Volleyball First Division The Portuguese Volleyball First Division ( Portuguese: ''Campeonato Nacional de Voleibol – I Divisão'') is the top men's volleyball league in Portugal. The competition, which is organised by the Portuguese Volleyball Federation, was called Hono ...

. The first one is the Portuguese team with more titles (including a

CEV Cup The CEV Cup is the second tier official competition for men's Volleyball clubs of Europe. The competition takes place every year. Until 2000, it was the CEV Cup Winners' Cup. In 2000 it was renamed CEV Top Teams Cup and in 2007 it was renamed CE ...

, formerly known as CEV Top Teams Cup) and the second one was once national champion. Football Sporting Clube de Espinho (Os Tigres da Costa Verde) plays in Campeonato Nacional de Seniores, the third football championship in Portugal. Former Portugal national football team player Fernando Couto,

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a numbe ...

coach Vítor Pereira, the olympic medalist António Leitão and volleyball players, such as Miguel Maia and João Brenha, were born in Espinho. Beach Volleyball The city hosted th
2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour
between the 28th and 30 July. Espinho also hosted the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour in 2019, between the 16th and 21 July. Beach Soccer The city hosted the 2015 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, between the 9th and 19 July. Surf Surf event Espinho Surf Destination is an annual event held in Espinho, organized by the

World Surf League The World Surf League (WSL) is the governing body for professional surfers and is dedicated to showcasing the world's best talent in a variety of progressive formats. The World Surf League was originally known as the International Professional ...

. Golf The oldest golf club in Portugal and Spain, Oporto Golf Club, is also located in Espinho.

Gallery

File:Igreja_Matriz_de_Espinho.JPG, Main Church in Espinho File:Plataforma de passageiros na Apeadeiro de Espinho, 2008.11.01.jpg, Train station File:Espinhoplaya.JPG, Espinho's seafront File:Espinho_Pavilh%C3%A3o_Multiusos_NW.jpg, Major pavilion in Espinho

Demographics

Espinho is also home to a significant Madeiran immigrant community.

Parishes

Administratively, the municipality is divided into 4 civil parishes (''

freguesias ''Freguesia'' (), usually translated as "parish" or "civil parish", is the third-level administrative subdivision of Portugal, as defined by the 1976 Constitution. It is also the designation for local government jurisdictions in the former Port ...

''): * Anta e Guetim * Espinho * Paramos * Silvalde

Cities and towns

* Espinho (city) * Silvalde (town) * Anta (town) * Paramos (town) * Guetim (town) * Esmojães (town)

Notable people

Politics

Carlos Guimarães Pinto Carlos Manuel Guimarães Oliveira Pinto, better known as Carlos Guimarães Pinto (born in Espinho, Portugal, in 1983), is a Portuguese economist, author, university professor, think tank executive, blogger and politician. A prominent member of t ...

(born in Espinho, Portugal, in 1983), a Portuguese economist, author, university professor, think tank executive, blogger and politician. A prominent member of the

Liberal Initiative The Liberal Initiative ( pt, Iniciativa Liberal, , IL) is a liberal political party in Portugal currently led by João Cotrim de Figueiredo. In 2019, its debut year at the Portuguese legislative elections, the party won one seat in the Portug ...

party.

Sport

António Jesus António de Jesus Pereira (11 February 1955 – 27 September 2010), known as Jesus, was a Portuguese football goalkeeper and manager. Club career Born in Espinho, Jesus finished his youth career at FC Porto, but never appeared for the team as ...

(1955–2010), known as ''Jesus'', was a football goalkeeper with 383 club caps and 7 for

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

* António Leitão (1960–2012) a Portuguese long distance athlete; bronze medallist in the men's 5000 metres at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the sec ...

* Jaime Alves (1965–2020), known as ''Alves'', was a Portuguese footballer with 271 club caps and 3 for

* Fernando Couto (born 1969) a Portuguese former footballer with 438 club caps and 110 for

* Filipe Gonçalves (born 1984) a Portuguese footballer with over 420 club caps * João Carlos Dias Correia (born 1985) known as ''Carlitos'', is a Portuguese footballer with almost 400 club caps * Fábio Espinho (born 1985) known as ''Espinho'', is a Portuguese footballer with over 400 club caps

References

External links

* * * * * *
Photos from Espinho

Espinho City Official Website
{{Authority control Municipalities of Aveiro District