Paços de Ferreira

Full name	Futebol Clube Paços de Ferreira
Nickname(s)	Pacenses (Those from Paços) Castores (Beavers)
Founded	5 April 1950; 74 years ago (1950-04-05)
Ground	Estádio da Mata Real
Capacity	9,076
Chairman	Paulo Meneses
Manager	Ricardo Silva
League	Liga Portugal 2
2023–24	Liga Portugal 2, 5th of 18
Website	www.fcpf.pt
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

Futebol Clube Paços de Ferreira (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈpasuʒ ðɨ fɨˈʁɐjɾɐ]) is a Portuguese professional football club based in Paços de Ferreira, district of Porto. Founded in 1950, the club competes in Liga Portugal 2, holding home games at the 9,076 seat Estádio da Mata Real, a municipal stadium where the team has been based since 1973.^[1] The club's colours are yellow and green. The club is now owned by Real Club Celta de Vigo.

They have won four Segunda Liga titles (now Liga Portugal 2), and in 2007 they qualified for the UEFA Cup for the first time. In the 2012–13 Primeira Liga, the team finished third and qualified for the 2013–14 UEFA Champions League play-offs for the first time in their history. They were also runners-up of the 2008–09 Taça de Portugal, the 2009 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira and the 2010–11 Taça da Liga.

The origin of the club dates back to the 1930s, when it was named Sport Club Pacense. They played for two decades without any official recognition until they entered the lower divisions in 1950, under the name Futebol Clube Vasco da Gama. The club then changed their kit colours to the current ones and renamed themselves Futebol Clube Paços de Ferreira.

Their first match under the current name came on 19 November 1950, beating Lousada 2–1. Agostinho Alves was the first goal scorer in the history of the Pacenses. The club then played in Portugal's third regional division until the 1956–57 season, where they were crowned champions. The club crest was created in 1961–62, and was used ever since.

The club was relegated and then promoted again and supporters hit the streets of the city on 17 June 1973 when they defeated Perosinho 3–0. One year later, they won the Terceira Divisão on 14 June 1974, after defeating Estrela de Portalegre. The hero of the match was the goalscorer Mascarenhas.

After establishing themselves in the first division during the 1990s, and suffering a relegation in 2003–04, the club finished sixth in the first division in 2006–07, thus qualifying for the UEFA Cup, their first ever European competition, under manager José Mota. They lost 1–0 on aggregate to AZ of the Netherlands in the first round.^[2]

Having finished last in the league in 2007–08, Paços would have normally been relegated to the second level, but were readmitted after Boavista's confirmed irregularities.^[3] In the following year, already without Mota, the team finished tenth in the league and a second Europa League qualification spot after losing the Taça de Portugal final 1–0 to eventual league champions Porto on 31 May.^[4] The two clubs met again on 9 August in the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, which Porto won 2–0.^[5]

Paços entered the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League in the second qualifying round, where they defeated Zimbru Chișinău of Moldova before being eliminated by Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv of Israel in the third.^[6] The club reached the 2011 Taça da Liga Final under Rui Vitória, losing 2–1 to S.L. Benfica at the Estádio Cidade de Coimbra.^[7]

In the 2012–13 season, Paços surprisingly qualified for the 2013–14 UEFA Champions League play-offs for the first time in their history after achieving third place in the league by passing favourites Braga and Sporting CP, making it their highest finish ever. The club were managed that season by Paulo Fonseca, who left at the end to join Porto, and was replaced by Costinha, who lost the Champions League playoff to Russians Zenit Saint Petersburg.^[8]

Paços' 13-year spell in the Primeira Liga ended in 2018, though they immediately returned as champions of the 2018–19 LigaPro under promotion specialist Vítor Oliveira.^[9] His successor Pepa took them to the UEFA Europa Conference League with a fifth-place finish in 2020–21, then left for Vitória de Guimarães.^[10] Their first European campaign in eight years ended in the playoff, with 3–1 aggregate defeat to Tottenham Hotspur despite winning the first game.^[11] A four-year spell in the top flight ended with relegation in 2022–23, a season in which manager César Peixoto was sacked and then hired again in under three months, either side of José Mota's winless return to the club.^[12][13]

• Taça de Portugal
  • Runners-up: 2008–09
• Taça da Liga
  • Runners-up: 2010–11
• Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira
  • Runners-up: 2009
• Segunda Liga/LigaPro
  • Winners (4) – record: 1990–91, 1999–2000, 2004–05, 2018–19
• Terceira Divisão
  • Winners: 1973–74

• AF Porto Jun.B 1ª Divisão (U17)
  • Winners: 2013–14
• AF Porto Jun.D 1ª Divisão (U13)
  • Winners: 2011–12

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Aggregate
2007–08	UEFA Cup	First round	AZ	0–1	0–0	0–1
2009–10	UEFA Europa League	Second qualifying round	Zimbru Chișinău	1–0	0–0	1–0
		Third qualifying round	Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv	0–1	0–1	0–2
2013–14	UEFA Champions League	Play-off round	Zenit Saint Petersburg	1–4	2–4	3–8
2013–14	UEFA Europa League	Group E	Fiorentina	0–0	0–3	3rd place
			Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	0–2	0–2
			Pandurii Târgu Jiu	1–1	0–0
2021–22	UEFA Europa Conference League	Third qualifying round	Larne	4–0	0−1	4−1
		Play-off round	Tottenham Hotspur	1–0	0–3	1−3

Club ranking eligible for 2012–13

Rank	Team	Points
133	Guingamp	13.300
135	Vitória de Setúbal	12.833
135	Paços de Ferreira	12.833
137	Nordsjælland	12.640

• UEFA rankings; at Zerozero

As of 4 September 2024^[14]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 2 DF  BRA Ícaro 3 DF  BRA Diegão 4 DF  POR Gonçalo Cardoso 5 DF  POR Vitorino Antunes (captain) 6 MF  POR João Caiado 7 MF  POR Gonçalo Nogueira (on loan from Vitória de Guimarães) 8 MF  BRA Welton (on loan from Berço) 9 FW  BRA Zé Uilton 11 MF  BEL Ivan Pavlić 12 GK  BRA Jeimes 16 GK  TOG Malcolm Barcola 17 MF  BRA Marcos Paulo 18 DF  POR Rui Pedro 19 FW  POR Rui Fonte

No. Pos. Nation Player 21 DF  BRA Anílson 22 DF  POR Miguel Mota 23 DF  ECU Erick Ferigra 24 GK  POR José Oliveira 27 FW  BFA Joffrey Bazié 28 GK  POR José Marafona 30 FW  POR Costinha 31 DF  POR João Vale 32 MF  SEN Aliou Niang 36 MF  GNB Mutaro Baldé 51 FW  ECU Emerson Pata (on loan from Independiente Juniors) 55 FW  ECU Maelo Rentería (on loan from Independiente Juniors) 90 FW  STP Ronaldo Afonso

Position	Staff
Managing Director	Jaime Sousa
Sporting Director	Carlos Carneiro
Manager	Ricardo Silva
Assistant Manager	Luis Monteiro
First-Team Coach	Nuno Fonseca
Analist	Vasco Silva
Goalkeeper Coach	Filipe Moreira
Physiologist	Gustavo DDunkel
Data Cientist	Prof. Paulo Roriz
Scouting	Cadú
Club Doctor	André Maia Silva
Nurse	Ricardo Neves
Physiotherapist	Rui Dias
Physiotherapist	João Bastos
Kit Manager	Paulo Neto

The supporters' club, "Ultras Yellow Boys," was founded in 1996, then disbanded but returning afterwards in 2001. Two previous groups, however extinct, existed: "Febre Amarela" and "Yellowmania".

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Futebol Clube de Paços de Ferreira.

• Official website (in Portuguese)
• Zerozero team profile
• Detailed up-to-date club news (archived 24 June 2009)