Traditional games and sports

In the early years, children in Portugal, built, discovered, played, and had fun creating their own games with their own materials from their environment.

For example “piāo”, “jogo da macaca” and “jogo das latas” are some of the most popular traditional games of Portugal. “Piāo”, or spinning top in English, is a game using a top where the goal of the player is to knock over the other player’s tops and must be the last top spinning to be considered winner. “Jogo das latas” is a can game. The cans are placed on top of each, forming a pyramid. The players have three turns to knock down as many cans as possible. The player who takes down most cans is the winner.

Bullfighting

Bullfighting is still a popular activity in Portugal although it is neither as common nor as famous as in Spain. It is also very different as the bullfighter rides a horse and does not seek to kill the bull. The most famous bullfights in Portugal are held in Vila Franca de Xira, which is a suburb to Lisbon.

 

Over time, Portugal developed various sports activities:

One of the most popular sports in their country is football. Football is definitely the most popular sport in Portugal and also the most practised. The national team is amongst the higher-rated teams in both Europe and the world and many talented players like Ronaldo and Figo come from Portugal. In EURO 2016 Portugal was European Champion, which was really awesome for the Portuguese population and we are all extremely proud of it. Portugal has 3 main football clubs, well-known in most of the footballing world: Futebol Clube do Porto, Sport Lisboa e Benfica e Sporting Clube de Portugal. Portugal has two major football events each year: the Portuguese Liga, currently named Liga NOS, after its main sponsor, and the Portuguese Cup.

 

Tennis

A big sporting event called Portugal Tennis Open is much awaited by the Portuguese.

The event was started in 1989 with only the women joining, followed by the men’s tournament in the year of 1990.

                                                                                                                

Cycling

Another popular sport event in Portugal is the cycling race Volta a Portugal which is an annual long distance road race for professionals. Some of Portugal’s best cycling teams are FC Porto and Boavista.

 

Athletics

Portugal also has a great tradition in athletics. For example Nelson Évora who win a gold medal in triple jump, and Rosa Mota who win 1  gold medal and 3 bronze medals in woman´s marathon.