Vitoria Guimaraes U19

The origins of Vitória Sport Clube (1913–1922)

Vitória Sport Clube owes its origins to a group of young students who set up a football team, made up of two teams, the 1st team being Sport Club Vimaranense and the 2nd team being Foot-ball Grupo Vimaranense, in 1913, a date that some researchers point to as the true founding date of the club, which in 1918 was given its current name.

The club was founded on 22 September 1922, the official date of its foundation, the club set up its first board of directors after one of the Victorian gatherings that took place at the Chapelaria Macedo and was affiliated to the Braga Football Association in its first year of operation.

20th century (1922–2000)

Vitória's first emblem was created by Capitão Mário Cardoso in the late 1920s and depicts Afonso Henriques, the first King of Portugal, a symbol that inspires a club of conquerors, of fearless men who courageously fight for their goals.

After seasons of hard work, which culminated in winning several titles in Braga's AF league, the Conquistadores were promoted to the Primeira Liga in 1941, and two seasons later battled the Sadinos from Setúbal for the first time in the League. Against the odds, he reached his first Portuguese Cup final in their debut season, but lost to Belenenses 2–0.

Throughout the 20th century, Vitória Sport Clube was a possible contender to win the Portuguese Cup, reaching the final in 1942, 1963, 1976 and 1988. However, they were always defeated and avoided winning their first national trophy.

In 1980, Pimenta Machado took over the leadership of the club and since then, Vitória has been one of the leading clubs in Portuguese football, participating several times in European competitions.

Vitória's furthest progress in a European tournament was in the 1986–87 UEFA Cup, in which they were defeated 5–2 on aggregate in the quarter-finals by West German club Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Finally, in 1988, Vitória won its first national trophy, winning the Super Cup as finalists in the Portuguese Cup against FC Porto 2–0 (aggregate result).

New millennium (2001–present)

In the early 2000s, Vitória struggled in some years to retain its status in the top Portuguese division, then named the Superliga. Those years were marked by the decline of the leadership of Pimenta Machado, former club president, who was accused on charges of embezzlement. In February 2008 he was sentenced to four years and three months of prison on a suspended sentence, though a year later he was cleared of this charge and instead ordered to pay a €4,000 fine for falsifying a document.

Despite this, in 2004–05, the club secured a fifth-place finish in the league and qualified for European competition via the UEFA Cup. The next season (2005–06), however, they were relegated to the Segunda Liga (where they last played in 1958) after finishing 17th in the Superliga, despite reaching the Taça de Portugal semi-final, having beaten Benfica in the quarter-finals. The club also failed to progress from their UEFA Cup group, as eventual winners Sevilla, Premier League outfit Bolton Wanderers and Russian team Zenit Saint Petersburg progressed.

Vitória bounced back immediately to the top-flight as runners-up to Leixões S.C. under the management of Manuel Cajuda. A joint-best third-place finish in 2007–08, guaranteeing them a place in the third qualifying round of the 2008–09 UEFA Champions League, their first such campaign. There they fell to Swiss side FC Basel 2–1 on aggregate, with a potential away goal winner by Roberto Calmon Félix being ruled out late on for offside, despite being a bad call from the referee. Vitória dropped into the 2008–09 UEFA Cup first round as a result of their elimination, and lost 4–2 on aggregate after extra time to England's Portsmouth.

Led by Rui Vitória in 2012–13, Vitória found themselves in financial problems, which caused them to lose many experienced players and bet on young players. However, they would go on to win their first Taça de Portugal title after previously losing five finals. Vitória beat rivals Braga en route to the final, where they recovered from 1–0 down against Benfica to win 2–1.

In 2016–17, Vitória made the cup final again, losing 2–1 to double winners S.L. Benfica. That September, the team left their mark in UEFA competitions, being the first team to start a game without a European player on the field. In 2019–20, Vitória SC's presence in European competition in the UEFA Europa League was essentially marked by a win in Frankfurt (2-3) over Eintracht and a draw (1-1) against Arsenal in Guimarães. In 2020–21, the club went through four managers – Tiago, João Henriques, Bino and Moreno – before finishing seventh, missing Europe by one place.

Centenary of Vitória SC (2022) and League Cup Glory (2026)

In the run-up to the club's centenary, the «Vitória Sport Clube 1922-2022» exhibition was held, retracing 100 years of the emblem from the city of Guimarães. This was done to photographically remember many of the club's most emblematic players, as well as images of the oldest pitches.