UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) is the European branch of FIFA that hosts a European Championship tournament every four years. This tournament is the second most popular in the world with only the FIFA World Cup ahead of it.

Football (soccer for our readers in the United States) is extremely popular throughout Europe, but Portugal ranks 6th in enthusiasm out of the 55 UEFA members! I’d guess that this enthusiasm comes from the history of the sport in the country and the competitiveness of the national team (currently ranked 5th). Further, I’d argue that the enthusiasm ranking is skewed based on the wealth of the rated countries since things like number of stadiums and stadium attendance are limited by expendable income. The only factor not related to money in this rating is World Cup enthusiasm which puts Portugal squarely in the #1 spot.

In any case, the UEFA Euro 2024 tournament happened this summer overlapping Elsa’s visit and the country was bursting with excitement and hoping to finally grab the trophy. Every cafe and bar would play the games (which is what they normally play anyway) and additional Fan Zones were set up in towns and cities throughout the country, even Olhão had one. These were outdoor viewing spaces with giant screens where people could go for free to watch the game. Vendors sold beer and snacks and nearby restaurants made sure their outdoor diners could see the screens.

We ended up going to three viewings and wanted to talk about how different each one was. First up we went to the Faro Fan Zone with Jorge and Elsa. Elsa isn’t a huge football fan so we really appreciated her taking some time during her vacation to go with us.

I’m a horrible judge of crowd size but the picture above with Elsa shows maybe 1/3 of the crowd (it continues behind us for just as far and on either side people are packed in right up to the vendor stalls). Michelle prepared an awesome bag of snacks, we bought a few beers, and a vendor passing by sold us some bon bons that were really yummy.

Portuguese crowds (normally, there are always exceptions) are very relaxed affairs. People are courteous and it’s very common for conversations to start up between strangers about the game or music or whatever else everyone is gathered together to see. Even though emotions are very raw for many people at these sporting events the most extreme outbursts are collective cheers or moans.

We were scheduled to be in Porto for the next Portugal match and Michelle found a gastropub that was showing the game. Musa das Virtudes sits on one of Porto’s many hillsides in what feels like a hipster part of town, a Portlandian wouldn’t feel out of place. The venue inside is quite small with seating for about 20 people and outside is a popular meeting spot to enjoy spectacular sunsets with an amazing river view. Thankfully we arrived early enough to get seats and the highlight was without a doubt the Portuguese pub food.

Our final viewing of the season happened in Lisbon the evening that Elsa left. We had a full day at the aquarium and wanted to relax and enjoy some good food while watching the game. Our first destination was an outdoor pub with a big screen right on one of the main avenues of the city, unfortunately it was filled up well before game time because a lot of locals wanted to see the game being aired just before (Spain was playing). Our destination idea person (Michelle of course) thought we should peek into some of the fancy hotels nearby and find one with a bar. How right she was!

The bar at Hotel PortoBay Liberdade was a relatively fancy establishment and was totally empty except for staff when we arrived. We ordered some drinks and food (both were overpriced but excellent quality) and settled into a very comfy couch to watch the game. Everything was on the line for Portugal and, sadly, they lost – which put them out of the tournament. We still had a great night and plenty of laughs. At one point the staff was chatting in Portuguese (they were all stopping in to watch the game) and we commented on something they said. They were quite taken aback that we spoke Portuguese and had been understanding what they were saying, even though it wasn’t at all inappropriate.

No matter where you are in Portugal you can find an inviting and fun place to watch a football game. Even if watching sports isn’t your favorite thing I think you’ll have a good outing with scrummy snack food, pleasant people watching, and an ice cold Super Bock.