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Vitória
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Bahia
Av. Octávio Mangabeira 3,900, Salvador
(71) 373-5200
Manoel Barradas, the Barradão
Capacity 50,000
13 May 1899
Shirt with vertical red-and-black stripes and black shorts
Dida, Vampeta
Dida, Vampeta
www.ecvitoria.com.br
Esporte Clube Vitória
Do you support Vitória?
Tell us why in an email () and we'll stick it up here.
My Team
Vitória by Gavin McOwan
When I moved to Brazil in 1992 my beloved West Bromwich Albion had just been
relegated to the old Third Division for the first time in their long
history. (In Fever Pitchspeak Nick Hornby would say their woeful predicament
was the reason for my emigrating, and subconsciously it may have been one of
the many reasons I decided to leave the UK.)
I was in need of a new footballing love, and what better place to find one
than Brazil. I moved to the historic city of Salvador, Brazil's first
capital, which has two first division sides, big brash Bahia and smaller
perennially underachieving Vitória. Choosing between them wasn't difficult:
as an Albion fan it was easy to relate to Vitória. And as an Englishman I
had a natural affinity to a club that was christened the Victoria Cricket
Club back in 1899. I also thought the red and black strip (or rubro-negro as
the team is called) was cool, and a bit menacing.
My first year following Vitória they won promotion back to the first
division. My second year was easily the most enjoyable time I've ever had as
a football fan. Apart from a fleeting period in the late 1970s watching the
Albion had never been pleasurable. It was mostly painful and depressing.
In 1993 Vitória reached the last eight of the Brazilian championship and
were put into a semi-final 'group of death' with Flamengo and Corinthians,
the Man United and Liverpool of Brazilian football, as well as Santos,
Pelé's team. With only one team going through to the final, nobody gave us a
hope, especially for our match against Flamengo, the current league
champions and the biggest club in South America.
The game was pure joy, the Brazil of your footballing fantasies. Beer
flowing on the sweltering terraces, deafening samba bands, a wild crowd with
fire crackers and red flares filling the air. The team weren't bad either
and after 70 minutes they won a penalty to go one-nil up.
That's when it happened. We took the lead and by the time the delirious
crowd had calmed down I was a Vitória fan. For the last twenty minutes I
prayed and screamed for us to hang on (They had become We') to the final
whistle as desperately as if I'd been watching Albion playing local rivals
Aston Villa in the FA Cup. We did hang on, not only until the end of the 90
minutes but, miraculously, for the next five games to reach the final of the
Brazilian championship for the first time in the club's history.
The team's tactics was based on all out-attack and putting an implausible
amount of faith in their brilliant 19-year-old goalkeeper, Dida (who went on
to play for Brazil and recently received a prison sentence in Italy for
forging a Portuguese passport).
When we (inevitably) lost the final to Palmeiras, I remember looking around
the stadium, breathing in the atmosphere and thinking, "Don't forget this,
glory like this doesn't to teams like yours very often." Ten years on, I'm
still waiting for either of my teams to emulate that wonderful ride.
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