Esporte Clube Vitória, commonly referred to as Vitória, is a Brazilian professional club based in Salvador, Bahia founded on 13 May 1899. It competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, as well as in the Campeonato Baiano, the top flight of the Bahia state football league.

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Vitória

Full name	Esporte Clube Vitória
Nickname(s)	Leão da Barra (Barra's Lion) Nêgo Rubro-negro (Red and Black) Colossal
Founded	13 May 1899; 124 years ago (1899-05-13)
Ground	Barradão
Capacity	30,618
President	Fábio Rios Mota
Head coach	Léo Condé
League	Campeonato Brasileiro Série A Campeonato Baiano
2023 2023	Série B, 1st of 20 (champions) Baiano, 6th of 10
Website	Club website
Home colors Away colors Third colors

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Vitória's home games are played at the club's own stadium, Manoel Barradas, capacity 35,632.^[1] The team plays in red and black horizontal striped shirts, black shorts and black socks. The stripes have changed over time: they have been sometimes vertical, horizontal, wide and narrow.

The youth system of the club is one of the most successful of the world, holding, between 1995 and 2000, at its peak, at least 21 international titles.^[2] Recent names that started playing in the club are Bebeto, Vampeta, Dida, Júnior, Hulk, David Luiz, Dudu Cearense, Marcelo Moreno, Gabriel Paulista and others.

The rivals of Vitória are Esporte Clube Bahia. Their matches are known as Ba–Vi ("Ba" from Esporte Clube Bahia and "Vi" from Esporte Clube Vitória). It is one of the most intense rivalries, consistently ranked among the world's most bitter.^{[citation needed]}

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.

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 11 April 2024^[7]

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

More information No., Pos. ...

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 Vinícius (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 20 MF  BRA Luan 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 32 MF  BRA Rodrigo Andrade 35 GK  BRA Fintelman 37 FW  BRA Everaldo 40 DF  BRA Reynaldo (on loan from Coritiba) 62 MF  BRA Pablo (on loan from Jacuipense) 80 MF  BRA Daniel Júnior 98 GK  BRA Maycon Cleiton (on loan from Red Bull Bragantino) 99 FW  BRA Léo Gamalho — FW  ECU Erick Castillo

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Youth team

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

More information No., Pos. ...

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

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Out on loan

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

More information No., Pos. ...

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)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  BRA Charlys (at Hellas Verona until 30 June 2024) — 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)

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