Grupo Desportivo Estoril Praia (), commonly known as Estoril, is a Portuguese professional

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

from

Estoril Estoril () is a town in the civil parish of Cascais e Estoril of the Portuguese Municipality of Cascais, on the Portuguese Riviera. It is a popular tourist destination, with hotels, beaches, and the Casino Estoril. It has been home to numero ...

Cascais Cascais () is a town and municipality in the Lisbon District of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera, Estoril Coast. The municipality has a total of 214,158 inhabitants in an area of 97.40 km2. Cascais is an important tourism in Port ...

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

. Founded on 17 May 1939, its

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team currently plays in

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

and hold home games at the

Estádio António Coimbra da Mota Estadio António Coimbra da Mota is a multi-use stadium in Estoril, Portugal. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of Primeira Liga side G.D. Estoril Praia. The stadium has a capacity of 8,000. The stadium a ...

, with a seating capacity of 8,000. As a sports club, Estoril has departments for football,

futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

. Since the club's establishment, the senior football team has won nine secondary trophies, with the most recent being the

2011–12 Liga de Honra The 2011–12 Liga de Honra, also known as Liga Orangina due to sponsorship reasons, was the 22nd season of the second-tier of football in Portugal. A total of 16 teams contested the league, 12 of which already had contested it in the 2009–10, a ...

. As a result, some personnel of the club received awards in relation to their performances in the 2011–12 season, of which include

Licá Luís Carlos Pereira Carneiro (born 8 September 1988), known as Licá, is a Portuguese footballer who plays as a right winger for ACDR Lamelas. He amassed Primeira Liga totals of 229 matches and 40 goals over 11 seasons, after starting his prof ...

, who won the LPFP Liga de Honra Player of the Year,

Vagner Vagner or Vágner is both a masculine given name and a surname. It is a version of the Germanic surname Wagner. Notable people with the name include: Surname *Alexandru Vagner (1989–2022), Romanian footballer * Ivan Vagner (born 1985), Russian e ...

, who won the LPFP Liga de Honra Goalkeeper of the Year, and

Marco Silva Marco Alexandre Saraiva da Silva (; born 12 July 1977) is a Portuguese Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who played as a right-back. He is the manager of club Fulham F.C., Fulham. He played fo ...

, who won the LPFP Liga de Honra Coach of the Year.

History

Early beginnings

The club was founded on 17 May 1939 as Grupo Desportivo Estoril Plage by, among others, Joaquim Cardim, José Ereia, João Rebelo, Armando Vilar, Ernesto Tomás, and Joaquim Nunes. The club's principal promoter was Fausto Cardoso de Figueiredo, the wealthy owner of the

-Cascais railway, the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

hotels of the city, Paris and the Palace, the bath building, and the Estoril Casino. The team's badge and kit colours were inspired by Estoril's many beaches, considered the best in all of Portugal. The yellow symbolizes the colour of the sun, while the blue symbolizes the colour of the neighbouring

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

. When the club was initially established it began to play in the ''Campeonato de Lisboa'' which was a league competition contested by teams from

. It also began to compete in the

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

. Four years after its establishment, the club has reached the

final in the 1943–44 season in which they lost to Benfica 8–0 at the

Campo das Salésias Campo das Salésias, also known as Estádio José Manuel Soares, was a multi-use stadium in Lisbon, Portugal. It was initially used as the stadium of C.F. Os Belenenses matches. It was replaced by the current Estádio do Restelo The Estádio d ...

. Following that season the club reached for the

in the 1944–45 season where they finished seventh in their very first season in Portugal's top flight division. The next season saw the club play in the 1945–46 Segunda Divisão and the 1945–46 Campeonato de Lisboa. The club remained in the top flight until the

1952–53 Primeira Divisão Statistics of Portuguese Liga in the 1952–53 season. Overview It was contested by 14 teams, and Sporting Clube de Portugal won the championship. League standings Results References {{DEFAULTSORT:1952-53 Primeira Divisao Primeira Li ...

season where they finished last and were relegated to the

Portuguese Second Division Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

Decline and revival

The next season saw them begin their football life in the Segunda Divisão. Estoril played in the division for 22 years before gaining promotion to the top flight again. Following the appointment of experienced English manager

Jimmy Hagan James Hagan (21 January 1918 – 26 February 1998) was an English association football, football player and manager. He played between 1938 and 1958 for Sheffield United F.C., Sheffield United and once for England national football team, Engla ...

in 1973 who prior to being appointed as manager of Estoril had managed Benfica to three consecutive league titles in 1970–71, 1971–72 and

1972–73 Year 197 ( CXCVII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Magius and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 950 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 197 for this y ...

as well as a

in the 1971–72 season he helped the club achieve promotion to

. The club's return saw them finish an impressive eighth place in the league as well as a quarter-finalist in the cup competition. The next ten years saw the club remain in a stable position finishing in mid-table positions up until the mid-1980s. In the late 1980s, the club appointed Fernando Santos as manager. A young coach who had played for the club during his professional career in the 1970s who had retired due to several injuries. He helped the club rebuild itself and improve its players and after three years in charge he helped them gain promotion once again to the top flight at the age of 36. During his time he helped the club establish themselves as a Primeira Liga club up until the 1993–94 season, when he left the club for

Estrela da Amadora Club Football Estrela Amadora SAD (), sometimes just Estrela da Amadora, is a Portuguese professional sports club (predominantly football) based in Amadora, northwest of Lisbon. The team is currently competing in the Primeira Liga, after winnin ...

, and Estoril in that very season were relegated to the second tier. After the departure of Fernando Santos as manager in 1994, the club was stuck around the

Liga de Honra The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal Meu Super for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier ...

(D2). Since after the Liga de Honra's establishment the club participated in fourteen seasons in that division. In the 1998–99 Liga de Honra season, the club suffered relegation to the third tier of Portuguese football for the first time in their history. Then the club suffered several promotions and relegations.

21st century

At the beginning of the new millennium, the club was playing in the Portuguese Second Division.

Ulisses Morais Ulisses Manuel Nogueira Morais (born 22 November 1959) is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a forward, currently a manager. Playing career Born in the village of Almoster, Santarém, Morais played for 18 years as a senior but only ...

took over in 2002 and led the club to back to back promotions leading the club to the top flight. Litos took over for the

2004–05 Primeira Liga The 2004–05 Primeira Liga was the 71st edition of top flight of Portuguese football. It started on 28 August 2004 with a match between Belenenses and Marítimo, and ended on 22 May 2005. Benfica won their 31st league title, with 65 points, ...

season where the club finished seventeenth and were relegated after one season. In the 2011–12 season, the club was promoted to first division by winning the Liga de Honra five points ahead of second place

Moreirense Moreirense Futebol Clube is a Portuguese professional football club based in Moreira de Cónegos, Guimarães Municipality, Minho. Founded on 1 November 1938, it plays in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at Parque de Jogos Comendador Joaquim d ...

. With new owners and under the management of

who halfway through the season took over from

Vinícius Eutrópio Vinícius Soares Eutrópio (born 27 June 1966) is a Brazilian professional football coach and former player who played as a defensive midfielder. Managerial career After being seven years in Atlético Paranaense's staff, Eutrópio moved to ...

, the team claimed the second Liga de Honra title in the club's history. The main players on the title roster were

João Coimbra João Carlos Amaral Marques Coimbra (born 24 May 1986) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Coimbra was born in Santa Comba Dão, Viseu District. A product of S.L. Benfica's youth system, he appe ...

Steven Vitória Steven de Sousa Vitória (born 11 January 1987) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a centre-back for Primeira Liga club Boavista and the Canada national team. Having started out at Porto, he went on to play for several club ...

and

. The 2012–13 season marked the return of the club to the

and saw them finish in an impressive fifth place in the league, from the position of newly promoted, and also qualify for the

third qualifying round Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (dis ...

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

, marking its first presence in the European competitions. Estoril reached

group stages after defeating

Hapoel Ramat Gan Hapoel Ramat Gan Givatayim F.C. (, ''Moadon Kaduregel Hapoel Ramat Gan Givatayim'') is an Israeli football club from Ramat Gan and Givatayim. They currently play in Liga Leumit, the second tier of Israeli football. Home matches are played at Rama ...

and

Pasching Pasching is a municipality in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. It is situated a few miles southwest of Linz and borders Leonding, Hörsching, Wilhering and Traun. Situated along the famous ''shopping mile'' the Kremstal Straße, it is the ...

. They finished fourth place in a group against

Sevilla Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

and

Slovan Liberec FC Slovan Liberec (), commonly referred to as Slovan Liberec or simply Slovan, is a Czech professional association football, football club based in the city of Liberec. The club is one of the most successful in the Czech Republic, having won thr ...

, with only three points in three draws against Sevilla and Freiburg (twice). In the 2013–14 season, Estoril finished in fourth place, marking its best performance ever in the Portuguese first division, qualifying directly to Europa League's Group Stage. American investor

David Blitzer David Scott Blitzer (born September 7, 1969) is an American investor and sports team owner. Blitzer is the chairman of the private equity firm Blackstone's tactical opportunities division and managing partner of the New Jersey Devils ice hocke ...

, through his company Global Football Holdings, purchased a majority stake in the club in May 2019.

Stadium

Estoril currently play at the

which holds a seating capacity of 8,000. The stadium also plays host to Estoril's reserve team home games. The Sweden national team used the stadium as a training ground in preparation for

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football competition contested by the List of men's national associatio ...

. The stadium has also played host to matches of Portuguese youth team games most notably the Portuguese national under-21 football team. The stadium has also played host to games involving the Portuguese national rugby union team, most recently being against

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

in a 2006 European Nations Cup First Division match and against

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

in a 2007 Rugby World Cup repechage qualification match.

European cup history

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Former players

Honours

Domestic honours

** ''Runners-up (1):'' 1943–44 *

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual club football competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the top two tiers of Portuguese football – the ...

** ''Runners-up (1):'' 2023–24 *

Liga Portugal 2 The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal Meu Super for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier Pr ...

** Winners (3): 2003–04, 2011–12,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

** Winners (5): 1941–42, 1943–44, 1945–46, 1974–75, 2002–03 * Liga Intercalar ** Winners (1): 2009–10 * "FPF" Cup ** ''Runners-up (1):'' 1976–77 * AF Lisbon First Division ** Winners (1): 1968–69

Personnel honours

* LPFP Liga Portugal 2 Player of the Year ** 2011–12 :

: Miguel Crespo * LPFP Liga Portugal 2 Breakthrough Player of the Year **

André Vidigal André Filipe Cunha Vidigal (born 17 August 1998) is a professional footballer who plays as a winger or forward for side Stoke City. Born in Portugal, he plays for the Angola national team. Vidigal began his professional career with Acad� ...

* LPFP Liga Portugal 2 Goalkeeper of the Year ** 2011–12 :

: Dani Figueira * LPFP Liga Portugal 2 Coach of the Year ** 2011–12 :

Coaching staff

Coaching history

* Augusto Silva (1942–45) * Lippo Hertzka (1946–47) *

János Biri János Biri (21 July 1901 – 29 March 1983) was a Hungarian footballer and coach. Biri played as a goalkeeper for a number of clubs, most notably Padova and MTK Budapest FC, also representing Hungary in the 1924 Summer Olympics. He is bes ...

(1947–49) *

(1973–75) * António Medeiros (1975–77) *

José Torres José Torres may refer to: Music * José de Torres (1665–1738), Spanish composer * José Torres (percussionist) (born 1958), Cuban-Polish percussionist * Tomatito (José Fernández Torres, born 1958), Spanish flamenco guitarist Politics * Jo ...

(1979–81) *

(1981–82) *

Mário Wilson Mário Wilson (; 17 October 1929 – 3 October 2016) was a Portuguese football player and manager. A central defender or forward, he appeared in 286 Primeira Liga matches over 14 seasons, mainly in representation of Académica. He also played ...

(1983–84) * António Medeiros (1984) *

(1984–86) * António Fidalgo (1986–87) * Fernando Santos (1987–94) *

Carlos Manuel Carlos Manuel Correia dos Santos (; born 15 January 1958), known as Carlos Manuel, is a Portuguese retired professional footballer who played as a central midfielder, and a manager. Best known for his spell at Benfica, for which he appeared i ...

(1994–96) * Isidro Beato (1996–98) * Rui Águas (1998–99) *

Minervino Pietra Minervino José Lopes Pietra (1 March 1954 – 7 March 2024) was a Portuguese footballer who played as a right-back. He appeared in 323 Primeira Liga games over the course of 16 seasons, with Belenenses and Benfica (28 goals scored). Subsequen ...

(1999–00) *

José Rachão José Fernando Casal Rachão (born 15 September 1952) is a Portuguese former football player and manager. A midfielder, he was a youth player at Benfica, and retired from playing at age 30 to start his managerial career, which included 27 clubs ...

(2000–01) *

José Morais José Manuel Ferreira de Morais (born 27 July 1965) is a Portuguese professional football coach and former player. He is the current manager of Turkish Süper Lig club Bodrum. Morais arrived at Inter Milan in July 2009 to replace the departing ...

(2001–02) *

(1 Nov 2002 – 23 August 2004) * Litos (24 Aug 2004 – 30 June 2005) *

Daúto Faquirá Daúto Xaharmame Amade Faquirá (born 26 December 1965) is a Mozambican former footballer who played as a midfielder, and current manager of Moçambola club Ferroviário da Beira. After a playing career with Sintrense in Portugal, he began c ...

(1 July 2005 – 5 January 2006) *

Marco Paulo Marco Paulo is a masculine Portuguese given name. Notable people with the name include: * Marco Paulo Rebelo Lopes (born 1976), Angolan international footballer of Portuguese descent * Marco Paulo Faria Lemos (born 1973), Portuguese footballer * Ma ...

(6 Jan 2006 – 27 January 2006) * Litos (28 Jan 2006 – 24 May 2007) *

Tulipa Tulips are spring-blooming perennial herbaceous bulbiferous geophytes in the ''Tulipa'' genus. Their flowers are usually large, showy, and brightly coloured, generally red, orange, pink, yellow, or white. They often have a different coloured ...

(28 May 2007 – 24 September 2008) * Manuel Pinho ''(interim)'' (25 September 2008 – 29 September 2008) *

João Carlos Pereira João Carlos Serra Ferreira Pereira (born 11 April 1965) is a Portuguese football manager and former player. As a player he was a winger. Playing career Born in Luanda, Portuguese Angola to Portuguese parents, Pereira started playing football ...

(30 September 2008 – 25 May 2009) *

Hélder Cristóvão Hélder is a given name in Portuguese. The unrelated German-Jewish surname "Helder" is also given the accent in Portuguese, such as the Portuguese poet Herberto Hélder (1930-). The name is sometimes confused with Heitor. People named Hélder incl ...

(1 July 2009 – 28 September 2009) * Professor Neca (29 September 2009 – 10 May 2010) *

(14 May 2010 – 27 September 2011) *

(28 September 2011 – 12 May 2014) *

José Couceiro José Júlio de Carvalho Peyroteo Martins Couceiro (born 4 October 1962) is a Portuguese football manager, currently the national technical director of the Portuguese Football Federation. Managerial career As a manager, Couceiro's career is mark ...

(24 May 2014 – 3 March 2015) *

Fabiano Soares Fabiano Soares Pessoa (born 10 June 1966), known simply as Fabiano as a player, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder, currently head coach of CEFAT. His professional career was mostly associated wi ...

(5 March 2015 – 10 December 2016) * Pedro Gómez Carmona (13 December 2016 – 8 March 2017) *

Pedro Emanuel Pedro Emanuel dos Santos Martins Silva (born 11 February 1975), known as Pedro Emanuel, is a Portuguese retired Association football, footballer who played mainly as a Defender (association football)#Centre-back, central defender, currently Manag ...

(8 March 2017 – 21 October 2017) * Filipe Pedro ''(interim)'' (22 October 2017 – 12 November 2017) *

Ivo Vieira Ivo Ricardo Abreu Vieira (born 10 January 1976) is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a defender, currently a manager. He spent his entire playing career with Nacional, where he also began his managerial career in 2011. He managed s ...

(13 November 2017 – 30 June 2018) *

Luís Freire Luís Carlos Batalha Freire (born 3 November 1985) is a Portuguese professional football manager who is currently in charge of Vitória de Guimarães. Beginning as a manager in amateur football in his 20s, he won six promotions in his first ei ...

(1 July 2018 – 21 January 2019) *

Bruno Baltazar Bruno Miguel Nunes Baltazar (born 6 July 1977) is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back. Playing career Born in Lisbon, Baltazar started his career with local S.U. Sintrense after having alre ...

(22 January 2019 – 30 June 2019) * Tiago Fernandes (1 July 2019 – 6 January 2020) * Pedro Duarte (8 January 2020 – 30 June 2020) * Bruno Pinheiro (1 July 2020 – 30 June 2022) * Nélson Veríssimo (1 July 2022 – 24 February 2023) *

Ricardo Soares José Ricardo Soares Ribeiro (born 11 November 1974), known as Soares, is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a winger, currently manager of Chinese Super League club Changchun Yatai. After a playing career spent almost entirely at th ...

(28 February 2023 – 8 June 2023) *

Álvaro Pacheco Álvaro Adriano Teixeira Pacheco (born 25 June 1971) is a Portuguese former footballer and current manager. After achieving a total of 70 games in the second tier as a player, he worked as an assistant manager to Miguel Leal before managing i ...

(1 July 2023 – 24 September 2023) *

Vasco Seabra Vasco César Freire de Seabra (born 15 September 1983) is a Portuguese professional football manager, currently in charge of Primeira Liga club Arouca. Club career Born in Paços de Ferreira, Seabra played youth football for F.C. Paços de Fe ...

(25 September 2023 – 30 June 2024) *

Ian Cathro Ian Cathro (born 11 July 1986) is a Scottish football coach and former player who is the head coach of Portuguese Primeira Liga club Estoril. Cathro was previously an assistant coach at Rio Ave, Valencia, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur, ...

(1 July 2024 – ''present'') *

League and cup history

:A. Also participated in the Campeonato de Lisboa. :C. The

was not held due to the end of the regional championships. As a result of this, a new format and scheduling scheme was introduced for the competition. :D. Best league classification finish in the club's history. :E. The

was not held due to the

Latin Cup The Latin Cup was an international official football tournament for club sides from the Southwest European nations of France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. In 1949, the football federations came together and requested FIFA launch the competition ...

being held at the

Estádio Nacional The Estádio Nacional ', also known as Jamor National Sports Centre (), is a football stadium. It is located in the civil parish of Algés, Linda-a-Velha e Cruz Quebrada-Dafundo, in the municipality of Oeiras, in the southwestern part of Lisb ...

. :E. Due to COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal, LigaPro was cancelled with 10 matches to play. Last updated: 18 July 2014
Div. = Division; 1D = Portuguese League; 2H =

; 2DS/2D =

Pos. = Position; Pl = Match played; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Lost; GS = Goal scored; GA = Goal against; P = Points

References

External links

*
Club profile
at

LPFP The Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (English: Portuguese Professional Football League), also known by its acronym LPFP, is a governing body that manages professional football club competitions in Portugal. It was founded in 1978 as Liga Po ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Estoril Praia Football clubs in Portugal Association football clubs established in 1939 1939 establishments in Portugal Primeira Liga clubs Liga Portugal 2 clubs David Blitzer