Diogo Costa keeps 99, Hwang In-beom gets striker's shirt | OneFootball

The match against Aston Villa, scheduled for 8:00 p.m. this Saturday and followed live minute by minute by Maisfutebol, is the main event of FC Porto’s 2026/2027 squad presentation. However, the celebrations began several hours earlier, next to the Estádio do Dragão.

Since early afternoon, thousands of Porto supporters had been gathering around the stadium, taking advantage of the sunshine in Porto to return to the atmosphere of matchdays. After all, it has been more than two months since FC Porto last played at home.

The stadium gates opened at 5:30 p.m., and the squad arrived shortly afterwards. The players entered through Gate 1 and headed to the pitch via the West Stand, following a tradition that the national champions uphold with particular care.

The ceremony to present the players who, for now, are part of the blue-and-white squad began at 6:45 p.m. It was confirmed that goalkeeper Diogo Costa will continue to wear the number 99, turning down the invitation to take the number 2 shirt in tribute to Jorge Costa.

Among the new faces, André Silva received the number 19 shirt, João Afonso was given number 50, and Hwang In-beom chose 16, the shirt number made famous by striker Mário Jardel in the late 1990s.

Victor Froholdt, Zaidu and Vasco Sousa were also greeted with loud applause, although André Silva, Rodrigo Mora, Oskar Pietuszewski and Diogo Costa—especially the latter—were the players most warmly received in the stands. The same happened with Francesco Farioli, a coach much loved by the Dragão supporters.

Stephen Eustáquio was also present at the presentation, despite being on his way out of the club. And he is unlikely to be the only player in that situation.

As for Eirik Granaas, the young Norwegian only 16 years old and signed this summer from Fredrikstad, he was not part of the celebration reserved for the first-team squad.

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