FC Porto vintage handball win +35 and +45 Europe, plus Masters | OneFootball

FC Porto Vintage Handball ended the season with a rare stamp of authority: it conquered Europe in two age groups, +35 and +45, and also added the National Masters Championship. As the trophies were handed over to the Museum, Mário Santos highlighted the weight of that journey, the bond between former athletes and the club, and the ambition to extend that winning cycle. At its core, the message was clear: preserve identity, compete to win, and keep alive the bond of those who have already made history in blue and white, as he summed it up: “keep winning.”

It was a moment for reflection, but also for reaffirming the path ahead. Mário Santos, sporting director for the club’s sports sections, spoke with the confidence of a season finished on a high and with the central idea firmly underlined: Vintage Handball does not live on memory alone; it lives on standards, continuity, and belonging.

Looking back on 2025/26, the official painted a broad picture of a team that once again placed FC Porto at the top, at home and abroad. More than celebrating titles, he emphasized the competitive and symbolic meaning of a group made up of former leading figures and players developed at the club.

“It was an excellent season, in which yet another team managed to experience the Year of the Dragon, with a return to victories both nationally and internationally,” he said. “Vintage Handball won the most prestigious trophy at European level in a competition featuring several renowned clubs. Many of these athletes represented the senior handball team in the past or were developed at FC Porto and now have the chance to continue playing the sport at the highest level and to set an example. Many of them hold leadership roles, inside or outside FC Porto, and they are able to set an example through their work and the bond they maintain with the Club and with handball.”

In Mário Santos’s words, success does not come merely as an accumulation of trophies, but as the natural extension of a competitive culture. The idea of setting an example, repeated throughout his speech, gives substance to a project that wants to honor the past without giving up on the present.

When he paused on the debut at Dragão Arena, the official drew on memory to give it a purpose in the present. The focus was on the continuity of a bond that spans generations and that, in his view, helps preserve the club’s identity.

“Many of them were Champions with the senior team at Dragão Arena, and continuing that connection means keeping FC Porto’s spirit alive and recognizing the effort these athletes make to stay active, competing and representing the Club always with the same ambition to win.”

That recognition has a double significance: it celebrates what these athletes once were and values what they continue to be. There is no room here for a merely nostalgic logic; instead, there is a defense of an identity that carries on in practice, training, and competition.

The next look turned to the future, without changing tone or lowering standards. Mário Santos made it clear that the next step is to consolidate the habit of winning and strengthen these teams with figures who left their mark on the club.

“We want to keep winning, both nationally and internationally, and we want to continue attracting athletes who represented the Club and who were references at FC Porto to be part of these teams, always with the same spirit that made them great athletes and with the desire to keep training and competing to win.”

The ambition, therefore, does not end with the season that has just concluded. FC Porto Vintage Handball wants to extend its competitive strength with the same identity-based raw material that Mário Santos praised from the very first moment: former champions, a sense of belonging, and an untouched desire to keep winning.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.