On 3 July 1920, in Lisbon, a group of former pupils of a charity for orphaned children set up their own team. Casa Pia turn 107 on 3 July 2027. And they hold a unique honour: Portugal's national team wore their shirts in its very first match.

The children of the institution

The name is no accident. Casa Pia de Lisboa is an institution for orphaned and poor children, created in 1780 on the initiative of police intendant Pina Manique. Many of the club's athletes were, and still are, "casapianos", children of the institution.

The founders included Cândido de Oliveira, Ricardo Ornelas and David Ferreira. Cândido had entered the institution as an orphan in 1905 and had played for Benfica before becoming captain and star of the new team.

The start was spectacular. As early as 1920 Casa Pia beat Benfica 2-1 for the Bronze Herculano Santos trophy, and in 1920-21 they won the Lisbon championship and cup.

Black, the Cross of Christ and the "Geese"

Casa Pia's colour is black. On the crest, the Cross of Christ in red and white sits on a black background, together with the initials CPAC.

Their nickname is "Gansos", the Geese, but nobody knows for sure where it came from. One version points to the student swimmers who ran bare-chested from the Jerónimos monastery to the beach, another to the sight of the pupils parading in their uniforms.

A national team in borrowed shirts

On 18 December 1921 Portugal played the first official match in its history, against Spain in Madrid. They lost 3-1, but their look went down in history: black shirts and black socks, white shorts and the national shield on the chest.

The kit had been lent by Casa Pia, the newly crowned Lisbon champions. Four of their players were in the starting eleven, and the captain was Cândido de Oliveira.

The "master" of Portuguese football

Cândido later became national team coach and won league titles with Sporting. During the Second World War he worked for a British intelligence network, was arrested in 1942 and sent to the Tarrafal camp in Cape Verde.

After his return he was one of the founders of the newspaper A Bola in 1945. He died in 1958 in Stockholm, where he was covering the World Cup as a journalist, and Portugal's Super Cup now bears his name.

Homeless, and the great comeback

Casa Pia played just one season in the first national championship, 1938-39, and were relegated. Shortly afterwards the regime expropriated their ground at Restelo for the Portuguese World Exhibition.

For years they wandered between other people's grounds, until 29 August 1954, when the Estádio Pina Manique opened. Decades in the lower leagues followed, until the Campeonato de Portugal title of 2019.

In 2022 the Geese flew high again: promotion to the Primeira Liga after 83 years. In 2025-26 they finished 16th, but kept their place in the play-off against Torreense (0-0 and 2-0) and remain in the top flight.

Celebrate with us

From the corridors of an orphanage to the black shirts of Portugal's first national team, Casa Pia carry a piece of the soul of Portuguese football. Happy 107th birthday, Gansos!

See our collectible jerseys at sportarena.gr.

Photo: Casa Pia's team in Paris, December 1920 – Agence Rol, Wikimedia Commons, public domain.