FC Porto (basketball)

Dragon Force
Leagues Proliga
Founded 1926
History FC Porto
(1926–2012)
Dragon Force
(2013–present)
Arena Dragão Caixa
(2,200 seats)
Location Porto, Portugal
Team colors Blue & white
         
President Pinto da Costa
Head coach Moncho López
Championships 11
Website Official site
Uniforms
Home
Away

Dragon Force[1] is a basketball team, based in Porto, Portugal. It is the senior representative of the basketball section of Futebol Clube do Porto, a sports club best known for its football team. They play their home matches at the Dragão Caixa arena. The team was discontinued in 2012 after losing the League to Benfica at Dragão Caixa,[2] and restarted in the third division, the CNB. In the 2013–14 season they won the Proliga.

They are the second most successful team in the LPB having won eleven Portuguese championships, thirteen Portuguese cups, five Portuguese supercups, six league cups and one António Pratas trophy.

History

Foundation

The introduction of the sport in Portugal took place in 1913, and thirteen years later in 1926[3] a group of partners of the club decided to create a basketball team. António Sanches, António Marta and Daniel Barbosa drove the idea, having them joined by Gabriel Batista and A. Cabral to complete the team. The second place in the Cup António Cardoso guaranteed in the first season excites the community that forms immediately four other basketball teams. FC Porto basketball players trained in an outdoor field complex included in Campo da Constituição.

Early years

The decades of the thirties and forties were not very fertile in securities for the basketball section of FC Porto, but still the sport was up solidifying a club that showed increasingly eclectic. In the year 1933, the first Campeonato de Portugal was played, and Porto participated alongside Conimbricense, Académico, Fluvial, Guifões, Sp. Braga, Atlético de Braga and Sporting de Gouveia. In 1940, FC Porto have played in a covered, lighted, on Avenida dos Aliados enclosure. The fruit came in late because in 1947/48 and 1949/50 FC Porto was national champion of the second division and two seasons later was national champion in the First Division in 1951/52 and 1952/53.

The 1990s achievements

The year 1995 marks a crucial turning point in Portuguese basketball. It is in this year that the League Basketball Club, founded six years earlier, organized the first professional league. The FC Porto basketball section is associated with a sponsor at the time the UBP (going to be appointed FC Porto UBP), and enters with his right foot in the era of professional basketball, winning the first two editions of the league. Around the same time, the team moved to the Pavilhão Rosa Mota, which would provide better working conditions. In 1997 it is created the FC Porto, Basquetbol, SAD, alongside with FC Porto Futebol, SAD. The president Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa accumulated the presidency of both SADs and the club, while Fernando Gomes became the primary administrator.

Although nationally FC Porto is among the best title contenders in all competitions, their performance at the international level is modest, reflecting the position of the Portuguese Basketball against the other European and world federations. Their best European performance succeeded in 1997 and 2000, years that reached the quarter-finals of the FIBA Saporta Cup (in 1997 still called FIBA EuroCup). In between, in 1999, Paulo Pinto, then Porto player, was elected by FIBA as one of the 50 best players in Europe and, as such, included in the list of candidates to join the western selection EURO ALL STAR.

Recent years

At the end of the 2011/2012 season the responsible section informed the coaching staff, which was represented by head coach Moncho López, assistant coach Diogo Gomes, and players (captain Nuno Marçal, André Bessa and David Gomes attended) that the senior team would not compete in the major league championship after losing to Benfica in Dragão Caixa. A new project for the section was initiated, they started training under the designation Dragon Force who competed in the national championship CNB third division in season 2012/2013, participating in the final competition.

In the season 2013/2014 the project Dragon Force participated at a senior level, in the second tier of National Basketball designated Proliga, becoming champion.[4]

Honours

FC Porto

Dragon Force

Roster

Current roster

Dragon Force roster
Players Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age
PG 6 Portugal Brito, Diogo 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) 81 kg (179 lb) 18 – 24 April 1997
PF 8 Portugal Ribeiro, João 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 97 kg (214 lb) 21 – 30 July 1993
PG 9 Portugal Bessa, André 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) 78 kg (172 lb) 26 – 13 January 1989
F 10 Portugal Grosso, João 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) 97 kg (214 lb) 21 – 11 February 1994
PF 11 Portugal Queiroz, Miguel 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) 104 kg (229 lb) 23 – 4 July 1991
F 12 Portugal Figueiredo, Pedro 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 84 kg (185 lb) 20 – 6 August 1994
SF 13 Portugal Gallina, João 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) 82 kg (181 lb) 21 – 21 February 1994
G 14 Spain Ventura, Ferrán 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) 81 kg (179 lb) 19 – 4 December 1995
PG 15 Portugal Bastos, Pedro 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) 75 kg (165 lb) 20 – 24 October 1994
F 17 Angola Fernandes, João 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) 22 – 1 December 1992
F/C 20 Portugal Torrie, João 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 24 – 20 March 1991
F/C 23 Angola Monteiro, António 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) 90 kg (198 lb) 26 – 2 April 1989
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
  • Portugal Rui Gomes
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • Injured

Roster
Updated: 2014-11-14

Former notable players

  • Portugal Fernando Sá
  • Portugal Tó Ferreira
  • Portugal Júlio Matos
  • Portugal Rui Santos
  • Portugal João Rocha
  • Portugal Nuno Marçal
  • Portugal Paulo Pinto
  • Portugal José Parente
  • Portugal Alberto Babo
  • Portugal Fernando Gomes
  • Portugal Rui Pereira
  • Portugal Jorge Quintela
  • Portugal Beto Vanzeller
  • Spain Rogelio Legasa
  • United States Greg Stempim
  • United States Scott Stewart

References

  1. ↑ "Information on FC Porto/Dragon Force team". Eurobasket.com. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  2. ↑ "Benfica vence FC Porto (56-53)" (in Portuguese). Record. 23 May 2012. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
  3. ↑ "Historial do Basquetebol do FC Porto". longada.blogspot.pt. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  4. ↑ "Dragon Force campeão da Proliga" (in Portuguese). O Jogo. 9 May 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 "Honours". fcporto.pt (in Portuguese). Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  6. ↑ "FC Porto campeão nacional de basquetebol em Ilhavo (1998/99)" (in Portuguese). bibó-porto-carago.blogspot.pt. 30 July 2013. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  7. ↑ "FC Porto vence Benfica e sagra-se campeão nacional de basquetebol" (in Portuguese). Jornal de Notícias. 2 June 2011. Retrieved 20 August 2014.

External links