Esporte Clube Vitória

The club was founded on May 13, 1899, by the brothers Artur and Artêmio Valente, along with seventeen other young fellows. They were from an old Bahia family, and discovered football during their studies in England. Initially Vitória was a cricket club, named Club de Cricket Victoria, because all of them lived at the Vitória neighborhood, in Salvador.[3][4]

On May 22, 1901, Vitória played its first football match, at Campo da Pólvora, against International Sport Club, a team whose players were English seamen. Vitória beat International 3–2. Two months after that match, Vitória changed its original colors, which were black and white, to red and black, which are still in use.

1908 Bahia State Champions – Milzen, Álvaro Tarquinio e Mario Pereira; A. C. Martins, Adriano Porto e Noé Nunes; Armando Gordilho, Oscar Alves, Fernando Alves, C. Muller, R. Mc. Nair, Oscar Luz, A. Galeão e Alfredo Seixas.

On September 13, 1903, Vitória beat a club formed by people from São Paulo state, São Paulo Bahia Football Club 2–0 in the club's first official match. In 1908, Vitória won its first title ever, the Campeonato Baiano. They won the next year as well.

From 1910 to 1952, they didn't win any titles because they were still an amateur club. In 1953, the club turned professional, and won its third Baiano honor. Bahia was dominating the state championship, and Vitória only won titles in 1955, 1957, 1964, 1965, 1972, 1980, 1985 and 1989.

The club was runner-up in the 1993 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A to Palmeiras, with an extremely small payroll. Vitória was champion of Bahia in 1990, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2000, becoming the top club of the state for the first time. In the 1999 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, Vitória reached the semifinals.

In the 2000s, the Campeonato Baiano trophy was won by Vitória eight out of ten years.[5]

In 2004 Vitória, after a poor campaign, was relegated to the Brazilian Second Division. In 2005, the club competed in the Brazilian second division, finishing 17th, and so was relegated to the Third Division for the first time in its history.

In 2006, Vitória was runner-up of the third division, and was promoted to the Brazilian second division. In 2007, the club was promoted back to the first division after finishing in fourth place. This meant the club had managed to return from the lowest Brazilian national division to its original place in the first division in only two years.

In February 2018 the intense rivalry between Vitória and Esporte Clube Bahia drew international attention when nine players (four from Bahia and five from Vitória) were shown the red card in a State Championship match.[6]

The club's mascot is a lion named Lelê Leão (Lion), and according to Vitória's official site, his objective is to stimulate the club's supporters and players on match days.

The competitions record of Vitória's last ten seasons:

  Champion.

  Runner-up.

  Classified for Sudameriana.

  Promoted.

  Relegated.

Its colours are red and black, which made it to be called "Rubro-Negro" ("red-black", in portuguese). In the early years, the club's colours would be green and yellow, but due to difficulty in find the proper materials in these colours, it was chosen to be white and black. That was the colours worn in the inaugural match facing the International Sport Club. The current red-black colours were adopted 3 years later, in 1902.

Many kinds of shirts have been worn by Vitória's players over the years.

1987

1993

2000

2003

2007

2008

2009

2012

2023

2023 kit

home

away

alternative

2024 kit

alternative

As of 23 April 2024[7]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  BRA Lucas Arcanjo 2 DF  BRA Zeca 3 DF  COL Cristián Zapata 4 DF  BRA Wagner Leonardo 5 MF  BRA Léo Naldi 6 DF  BRA Felipe Vieira 7 FW  BRA Iury Castilho 8 MF  BRA Luan (on loan from São Paulo) 9 FW  BRA Alerrandro (on loan from Red Bull Bragantino) 10 MF  BRA Jean Mota 11 FW  BRA Osvaldo 12 FW  BRA Luiz Adriano 13 DF  BRA Camutanga 14 DF  BRA Patric Calmon 15 MF  BRA Caio Vinícius 16 DF  BRA Lucas Esteves 17 FW  BRA Zé Hugo

No. Pos. Nation Player 21 MF  BRA Dudu 22 GK  BRA Muriel 23 FW  BRA Mateus Gonçalves 25 DF  BRA Bruno Uvini 27 DF  PAR Raúl Cáceres 29 MF  BRA Willian Oliveira 30 FW  BRA Matheuzinho 31 FW  ECU Erick Castillo 32 MF  BRA Rodrigo Andrade 35 GK  BRA Fintelman 37 FW  BRA Everaldo 39 FW  BRA Janderson 40 DF  BRA Reynaldo (on loan from Coritiba) 62 MF  BRA Pablo (on loan from Jacuipense) 80 MF  BRA Daniel Júnior 97 DF  BRA Willean Lepo 99 FW  BRA Léo Gamalho

Youth team

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 50 MF  BRA Breno 83 FW  BRA Fábio Soares

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  BRA Pedro (at Campinense until 30 April 2024) — GK  BRA Yuri Sena (at CSA until 30 November 2024) — DF  BRA João Victor (at Mirassol until 30 November 2024) — DF  BRA John (at Confiança until 30 November 2024) — DF  BRA Marco Antônio (at Portuguesa until 30 April 2024) — DF  BRA Mateus Moraes (at Yokohama FC until 31 December 2024) — MF  BRA Alan Pedro (at FC Cascavel until 30 November 2024) — MF  BRA Charlys (at Hellas Verona until 30 June 2024)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  BRA Dionísio (at Brusque until 30 November 2024) — MF  BRA Eduardo (at Portuguesa until 30 April 2024) — MF  BRA Gabriel Santiago (at Ponte Preta until 30 November 2024) — MF  BRA João Pedro (at CRB until 30 November 2024) — FW  BRA Alisson Santos (at Figueirense until 30 November 2024) — FW  BRA Ruan Nascimento (at Figueirense until 30 November 2024) — FW  BRA Xandy (at Itabuna until 30 September 2024)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Esporte Clube Vitória.

• (in Portuguese) Official website
• (in Portuguese) Vitória on Globo Esporte