Gil Vicente FCGil Vicente FC carries the name of one of Portugal's most important playwrights of the late 15th and early 16th centuries, chosen by a group of friends who used to play football near Barcelos's theatre bearing his name. The club, whose full name is Gil Vicente Futebol Clube, was founded on 3 May 1924 as Gil Vicente Foot-Ball Club, on a municipal holiday, and today ranks among the most representative clubs of the Minho region alongside SC Braga and Vitória de Guimarães. Its colours have shifted more than most: the very first shirt was plain red, later giving way to green-and-white horizontal stripes, before red, white and blue - drawn from the Barcelos coat of arms - eventually became established as the club's identity, a combination the team readmitted to its badge in 2021 and to its main kit again in 2025 after fans campaigned for its return.
The club spent its formative decades in regional and second-tier competition, playing at the Campo da Granja, later renamed Estádio Adelino Ribeiro Novo in memory of a Gil Vicente goalkeeper who died on the pitch on 16 September 1946 after a collision with an opponent. That modest ground, with room for 8,500 spectators, served as the club's home for roughly seventy years. Gil Vicente reached the Primeira Liga for the first time in the 1990-91 season and has since been relegated three times, twice winning promotion back by taking the Segunda Liga title and once through an administrative decision; its best league finishes remain two fifth-place campaigns, in 1999-2000 and 2021-22.
In 2004 the club moved into the newly built Estádio Cidade de Barcelos, a 12,046-seat, UEFA Category 3 venue owned by the local council, which allows it to host international matches. The Roosters, as they are nicknamed after the club's rooster mascot, reached their first cup final in 2011-12, losing the League Cup decider, and made their European debut only in 2022-23, when they eliminated Riga FC 5-1 on aggregate in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Europa Conference League before falling to Dutch side AZ Alkmaar in the play-off round - still the club's only continental campaign to date. Rooted firmly in its local community and regularly punching above its resources against Portugal's traditional giants, Gil Vicente plays its home matches at the Estádio Cidade de Barcelos.
