4 June 1922: FC Porto began title race with historic win over Sporting CP | OneFootball

On June 4, 1922, the first match in the history of the Campeonato de Portugal was played, a competition that would go on to mark the beginning of major national tournaments in Portuguese football.

In that inaugural edition, the format called for the participation of the regional champions. However, for financial reasons, AF Madeira and AF Algarve did not take part, leaving the competition reduced to the representatives of AF Porto and AF Lisboa, in a final played as a best-of-three series.

In the first match, FC Porto beat Sporting CP 2-1 at Campo da Constituição, in Porto. Tavares Bastos stood out as the key figure of the game by scoring both Porto goals, giving the blue-and-whites the advantage in this historic decider.

The match was refereed by the Englishman Merik Barley, at a time when organized football in Portugal was still in its early stages. The game thus went down as the starting point of a competition that, for decades, played a central role in shaping the national competitive landscape.

The match of June 4, 1922, remains a symbolic date in the history of Portuguese football and FC Porto, as it marked the official beginning of the Campeonato de Portugal and the club’s first win in the competition.

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