Iconic kits: Belenenses 1988/89 | OneFootball

Belenenses line up ahead of the 1988/89 Portuguese Cup final against Benfica at Jamor

For a club that spent decades being considered one of the big names in Portugal, 1988/89 was more than just a special season. It was a sort of last hurrah, a remembering that the Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses were an indispensable part of the emotional DNA of Portuguese football. The Restelo side finished a brilliant campaign by lifting their last Portuguese Cup trophy, and they did it in style, with probably one of their most dashing ever football shirts on. The mix of the German manufacturer Adidas, their iconic Ipswich template, and the light blue of the Belém squad was something worth remembering.

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By 1988, Belenenses were on their fourth consecutive season with Adidas as their manufacturer. The relationship between the historical club and the Herzognaurach brand began in 1984 and became easily associated with their famous blue and white kit. In that first season, Belenenses, who had embraced the novelty of shirt sponsorship the previous campaign, signing an agreement with Lubritex, used the popular three-striped shirt with their iconic crest, the Christ cross, emblazoned in red. In the following seasons, Belenenses struck a deal with Império Seguros, an insurance company, but kept the same stylish sober shirt template with the usual white shirt and blue shorts away combination as an alternative.

Then Euro 1988 came and everything changed. Adidas had already tested some more modern templates four years prior with the French national team kit, but it had been a one-off. In Mexico, for the World Cup, their templates were as sober as expected, while other brands, like Hummel, started to push the boundaries to more groundbreaking designs. Come Euro 1988, and Adidas decided it was time to join the pack, providing two iconic football shirt templates. The most famous, perhaps, was the one worn by West Germany, with the country’s jagged three-striped flag drawn through their chest, a model so popular that Franz Beckenbauer himself, then head coach, demanded it be used again in the World Cup played in Italy two years later. Germany won.

Adidas revolutionised football kit designs in the late 1980s, as evidenced by Netherlands versus Germany in the 1988 Euro (Photo: Bongarts/Getty Images)

Yet, the true winner in 1988 was the Ipswich template. Adidas moved to a style of shirt where several triangles juxtaposed themselves upwards to create a sensation of movement as the players ran on the pitch. The template was used by the Netherlands and the Soviet Union, only in their primary kits of Orange and Red, and both sides ended up reaching the final. It was a massive boost to the popularity of the brand and its new design. Swiftly, Adidas made it available for most of the clubs that had a commercial relationship with the brand, even if not all of them were convinced of its modernity. In Portugal, for instance, Benfica refused to move from the more sober and traditional template while Porto did use it, but on the secondary blue kit. Belenenses, who enjoyed a good relationship with the brand, also tested it, and they were rewarded with a memorable campaign on the back of it.

The blue shirt followed the Ipswich template to heart, with the three shoulder stripes and collar still designed in white to reinforce the contrast between both colours. The Christ Cross crest was emblazoned with a smaller plain white cross inside the larger dashing Maltese style red cross. The new sponsorship of logo of O Trabalho Seguros was printed in full horizontally, somehow taking a bit of the effect of the template at first sight. The usual white shorts – with blue shorts as an alternative – had the three stripes dashed vertically on the sides, and the first kit included blue socks.

Belenenses 1988/89 kit (Image: www.oldfootballshirts.com)

The alternative kit didn’t go with the same shirt pattern, moving to the more traditional plain white, with the Adidas logo and three stripes designed in blue instead, and the sponsorship logo printed horizontally with a blue background similar to the first kit. There were also occasions when Belenenses used the same shirt from the previous campaign, but for the great majority of the season, the Ipswich template was the preferred one.

Coached by the great Brazilian manager and former international Marinho Peres, one of the most beloved foreign managers ever to grace the Portuguese game, Belenenses had high expectations as they returned to European football due to a UEFA place booked in the previous season. Adão, Delei and Rafael were the most renowned signings in the transfer market, as the starting eleven didn’t change much from the previous campaign, with Jorge Martins in goal, usually accompanied by Teixeira, Sobrinho, José António and Zé Mario, while Adão joined Juanico and Macaé in midfield. Chiquinho Conde, who later moved to Vitória Setúbal, and Chico Faria, a cult player at the Restelo, sat alongside Bulgarian striker Stoycho Mladenov. The squad also included the likes of Paulo Sérgio (who later became Sporting manager), Paulo Monteiro, and Baidek, a Brazilian centre-back who became a football agent after hanging up his boots.

With Peres at the helm, Belenenses famously beat Bayer Leverkusen, the UEFA cup holders, in the first leg, after a brilliant away win, the match where the Ipswich template made its European debut. Sadly, two goalless draws against Velez Mostar in the following round meant Belenenses were out of continental football by September, at a time when their league fortunes didn’t seem as exciting as some had hoped. Defeats against Porto and Benfica were expected, with Farense and Beira-Mar not quite so, and three consecutive draws versus Braga, Chaves and Nacional, always wearing their new blue shirt, seemed enough to raise concern.

Disappointing league campaign compensated by brilliant Cup triumph

The Cup campaign was another story though. They easily marched on from beating the likes of Sintrense, Covilhã and Portalegrense in the first rounds, and then surprisingly overcame favourites Porto with a single goal by Mladenov in extra-time. After toppling Espinho, they had to overcome Sporting in the semis, with a memorable 3-1 win that set up a final against Benfica on the last day of the season.

By then, the league had been wrapped up with Belenenses finishing seventh, on 40 points, five fewer than fourth-placed Sporting, behind Boavista, FC Porto and Benfica, who claimed the league title. For most of the league matches, Belenenses kept on wearing their famed blue shirt, except when they faced FC Porto away and Chaves away, when they decided to go for the alternative white kit. Come the day of the final, at Jamor, the all-blue kit worn often was back in style in time to face a Benfica side that wore a more traditional Adidas shirt.

Belenenses wore an all-blue kit in their famous Portuguese Cup final triumph against Benfica in 1989 (Image: www.equipamentosvintage.blogspot.com)

It was a brilliant spring afternoon in Oeiras, as Belenenses completed a hat-trick of victories over Portugal’s traditional Big Three to claim the trophy with a 2-1 win over Benfica. A Juanico goal cancelled out Vata’s late equaliser after Chico Faria had opened the score in the first half, despite Belenenses playing with ten men for the last fifteen minutes. It was the last Portuguese Cup won by the boys from Restelo, a testament to their greatness and with a shirt up for the challenge.

Funnily enough, despite the popularity of their home kit, the following year Belenenses broke their partnership with Adidas and signed with Diadora, who went for a more dashing pinstriped model, but in 1992 they were back in business with the German brand who kept on sponsoring Belenenses until 1996, when they moved to the British brand Umbro before changing to Lotto by the mid-2000s.

The Ipswich model, which had been replicated in shirts all over Europe, became one of the most popular in the history of Adidas, even though it seemed to be too much of a vanguardist design for many high-profile clubs that worked with the brand. Germany still used it as an alternative for their away green kit at the 1990 World Cup, but by the 1990s it was deemed out of fashion as the three stripes brand moved to a different template that put more focus on their own stripes.

Belenenses captain José António grasps the Taça de Portugal trophy after the 2-1 triumph against Benfica at Jamor

Belenenses’ 1989 Cup win is still remembered as one of the greatest moments in the club’s modern history, particularly as it came on the back of wins against their historical rivals, and the shirt is now considered a highly prized asset among collectors from all over the world. A testament to its uniqueness and brilliant story.