On 17 May 1939 a club born out of a tourism project was founded on the Portuguese Riviera. Estoril turns 88 on 17 May 2027. It is the team in yellow, which took its colours from the sun and the sea of its coast.

A club born from a resort

Behind the founding was Fausto de Figueiredo, a businessman who wanted to make Estoril a famous resort. Through his company, the Sociedade Estoril-Plage, he controlled the Lisbon-Cascais railway, hotels and the famous casino.

The club started out as Grupo Desportivo Estoril-Plage, for the workers of the hotels, the casino and the railway. From the start it was a multi-sport club, with basketball, volleyball, roller hockey and table tennis, and sources even mention a band and a theatre group.

The French "Plage" was later replaced by the Portuguese "Praia", which also means "beach". The sources we found do not say exactly when the change happened.

Yellow for the sun, blue for the ocean

The colours were chosen to represent the two greatest treasures of the area. Yellow is the sun and blue is the Atlantic that washes Estoril's beaches.

The classic kit is a yellow shirt with blue shorts. It also gave the club its nickname, "Canarinhos", the canaries, which according to Portuguese Wikipedia is also a nod to Brazil's yellow national team.

The golden 1940s

The early years were also the brightest. In 1944 Estoril reached the Portuguese Cup final, but lost 8-0 to Benfica, the most one-sided score in a final in the competition's history.

The following season it reached the top flight for the first time, and in 1947-48 it finished fourth. In those years four of its players wore the national team shirt, and the side also featured Argentine Anselmo Pisa, a former Lazio and Inter player.

Difficult decades followed, with relegation in 1953 and a fall as low as the district leagues. Estoril returned to the top division in the 1970s and moved up and down for many years after that.

The Amoreira and the big names

Its home is the Estádio António Coimbra da Mota, known as the Amoreira, a small ground close to the sea. Sweden used it as its training base for Euro 2004.

Estoril has been home to Pauleta, to Paulo Ferreira, a product of its academy, and to Bolivian Erwin Sánchez. Fernando Santos played here for six years and made his coaching debut here, long before leading Portugal to the Euro 2016 title.

Europe, Panathinaikos and shirts as works of art

Under coach Marco Silva Estoril were promoted in 2012 and finished fifth and then fourth, equalling their best ever. That earned two seasons in the Europa League group stage, against Sevilla, Freiburg, PSV and Dynamo Moscow.

In 2014 they were drawn in the same group as Panathinaikos. They won 2-0 in Portugal and drew 1-1 in Athens.

In recent years the club has also stood out for its special shirts. One honoured Ayrton Senna and the history of the Estoril circuit, while another featured the founder's statue, the Santa Marta lighthouse, palm trees, the train and the old badge.

Celebrate with us

Few teams can say their colours are the sun and the sea of their home town. Happy 88th birthday, Canarinhos!

See our collectible jerseys at sportarena.gr.

Photo: Estoril's Estádio António Coimbra da Mota – Rúdisicyon, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.