My FC Porto Football Shirt Collection - Orlando DaSilva

The latest addition to the Classic Football Shirts Collectors Club is Orlando DaSilva, born in Barcelos (a small town near Porto) he is now a Toronto resident who has amassed an impressive collection of FC Porto shirts including a number of matchworn jerseys. Orlando took time out to speak to the Classic Football Shirts blog and tell us about his collection and the shirts he hopes to add to it.

Why collect FC Porto shirts?

I was born in Portugese city Porto and to this day it is the only football team that I support. My father was also a Porto fan so it was the only club for me and the only team whose shirts I wanted to get hold of and collect.

How many shirts do you have in your collection?

I now own around 60 FC Porto shirts with 10 of those being matchworn, I mainly try to get Adidas era FC Porto shirts but I also have a few Nike, Kappa and New Balance shirts.

What was your first shirt and when did you buy it?

I was very fortunate, my father is good friends with the Vice President of FCP, he was kind enough to provide me with some shirts when I was younger and this sparked my love for FC Porto shirts and I still collect them to this day!

Below is my first shirt, my parents bought it me as a child and I still have it!

Which is your favourite shirt and why is it so special?

I think the most important shirt to me would be a long sleeved Deco shirt from 2003, to have a matchworn shirt from a player as influencial as Deco is amazing. It is also exremely important to me due to the season it is worn, this was during Mourinho's record breaking spell as FC Porto manager, he won everything whilst he was here and this is from the season that we won the UEFA Cup!

I also have a matchworn Domingos Paciência shirt that he played in, in the late 80s. This is huge to me as he was my idol from when I was growing up and first fell in love with the club, to now own a shirt we wore is very special.

I also have to mention a matchworn Jorge Costa shirt, known affectionately by FC Porto fans as "Bicho" which means animal in Portuguese. This was from Bicho's first season playing at Estádio das Antas, it didn't take long for him to make a name for himself and cement himself as a legend at Porto, I have a few other shirts that he wore too.

What is the shirt you would like most in your collection but don't have yet?

If I could get hold and shirt I think it would be have to be a long sleeve Adidas Fernando Gomes from the victorious 1986-87 European Cup campaign, he is an idol for any FC Porto fan and was hugely important for the team that season and a big reason why we were able to lift that trophy, the shirt being an Adidas design makes it even better!

Do you have any funny stories involving your collection?

I have a kappa Paulinho Santos from 1998/99, this was the year we won Penta (5 league titles in a row). Porto are still the only team to have this honour in Portugal last year I wore that shirt again when we celebrated winning the league and stopping out Lisbon rivals Benfica from winning their 5th consecutive title and becoming the second team to win the Penta, the shirt still has marks from flairs from the celebrations from that 5th title.

Do you have any other interesting shirts you'd like to share with us?

I am proud to own shirts worn by the two greatest keepers to have played for FC Porto. Vitor Baia won everything during his career and played with FC Porto either side of a spell with Spanish giants Barcelona. I have a shirt worn by Baia during the 1999/00 season in which we won the Taça de Portugal. I love Vitor, he began his career with Porto, retired with Porto and is still here in ambassadorial role.

The other is worn by Real Madrid legend and current FCP keeper Iker Casillas, he has been great since joining Porto and a big reason for our recent success. This is one of the few New Balance shirts that I own and I love the design.

We would like to thank Orlando for writing this blog for Classic Football Shirts and would also like to welcome him to the Classic Football Shirts Collectors Club

To check out more of Orlando's collection follow him here

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