Editing Portuguese Mozambique (section)

==Sports==
[[File:TT CMZ-AF-GT E 2-1 6 60 - Clube Sport da Beira.jpg|thumb|The ''Clube Sport da Beira'' in the city of Beira.]]
The Portuguese-ruled territory was introduced to several popular European and North American sports disciplines since the early urbanistic and economic booms of the 1920s and 1940s. This period was a time of city and town expansion and modernization that included the construction of several sports facilities for [[association football|football]], [[rink hockey]], [[basketball]], [[volleyball]], [[handball]], [[sport of athletics|athletics]], [[gymnastics]], and [[swimming (sport)|swimming]]. Several [[sports clubs]] were founded across the entire territory, among them were some of the largest and oldest sports organizations of Mozambique like {{lang|pt|[[Sporting Clube de Lourenço Marques]]}}, that was established in 1920 and became the branch number 6 of [[Lisbon]]-based [[Sporting Clube de Portugal]] (Sporting CP).<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-02-18 |title=O SPORTING CLUBE DE LOURENÇO MARQUES EM 1937 E EM 1962 |url=https://delagoabayworld.wordpress.com/2021/02/18/o-sporting-clube-de-lourenco-marques-em-1937-e-em-1962/ |access-date=2024-04-05 |website=THE DELAGOA BAY WORLD |language=pt-PT}}</ref> Other major sports clubs were founded in the following years like {{lang|pt|[[Grupo Desportivo de Lourenço Marques]]}} (1921), {{lang|pt|[[Clube Ferroviário de Lourenço Marques]]}} (1924), {{lang|pt|[[Sport Club de Vila Pery]]}} (1928), {{lang|pt|[[Clube Ferroviário da Beira (disambiguation)|Clube Ferroviário da Beira]]}} (1943), {{lang|pt|[[Grupo Desportivo da Companhia Têxtil do Punguè]]}} (1943), {{lang|pt|[[Sport Lourenço Marques e Benfica]]}} (1955) and [[GDR Textáfrica|Grupo Desportivo e Recreativo Textáfrica]] (1957).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Domingos |first=Nuno |date=2006-06-01 |title=O futebol Português em Moçambique como memória social |url=https://journals.openedition.org/cea/1242?lang=es |journal=Cadernos de Estudos Africanos |language=pt |issue=9/10 |pages=113–127 |doi=10.4000/cea.1242 |issn=1645-3794|hdl=10071/3123 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Several sportsmen, especially football players, that achieved wide notability in Portuguese sports were from Mozambique and excelled in the [[Portugal national football team]]. [[File:Eusebio (1963 version2).jpg|thumb|200px|[[Eusébio da Silva Ferreira]], a man born in Portuguese Mozambique who graduated as a footballer and played for [[CD Maxaquene|Sporting Clube de Lourenço Marques]] at both youth level and the main squad between the ages of 15 and 18, became the most famous Portuguese sports star during the [[Estado Novo (Portugal)|Estado Novo]].]]Football was a very popular sport in Portuguese Mozambique.<ref name=":0" /> The Portuguese enthusiasm for football led to the spread of the sport into its overseas territories. Eventually, Portugal would attempt to integrate their colonies, which would lead to them having many African players in the teams on the mainland. Introduced in the colonies as early as the 19th century, football became increasingly popular. Mozambique saw a sizable population of white Portuguese people immigrate there during the 20th century. This was a byproduct of the policies of the ''Estado Novo'' and how they saw their colonies. There was widespread infrastructure in Mozambique to prepare the players to play football professionally. This would allow many players from the colonies to easily play for the national teams. Starting in the 1950s, many black Africans from Portuguese Africa would sign for football teams on the mainland. The popularity of the game in the colonies also meant that there were many people who wanted to play it professionally. Many top players from Portuguese Mozambique represented Portugal at the international level, as well as playing for many clubs in the various tiers of the local, national and international leagues, most notably the likes of [[Matateu]], [[Hilário]], [[Costa Pereira]], [[Mário Coluna|Coluna]] and [[Eusébio]] became highly regarded in the history of football in Portugal. But Eusébio's impact in Portuguese football stood out among them all to such an extent that when Eusébio arrived in Lisbon in December 1960 still as a player of Sporting Lourenço Marques, Lisbon-based [[Sporting CP]] had won ten league titles, which was as many as its rival [[S.L. Benfica|SL Benfica]]'s, and when, 15 years later, Eusébio, recognised as Benfica's best player of all time, left Benfica, Benfica had won 21 championships to just 14 for Sporting CP.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=EUSÉBIO NO SPORTING? por Rui Alves - Replay, RTP Memoria - Canais TV - RTP |url=https://www.rtp.pt/rtpmemoria/replay/eusebio-no-sportingt-por-rui-alves_421 |access-date=2024-04-10 |website=www.rtp.pt |language=pt}}</ref> Although being a black player from Mozambique, he is considered one of the greatest Portuguese football players ever.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cleveland |first=Todd |title=Following the Ball : The Migration of African Soccer Players Across the Portuguese Colonial Empire, 1949–1975 |publisher=Ohio University Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-89680-499-9 |location=Athens, Ohio}}</ref> Eusébio's contribution to Portuguese football was tremendous, and his role in the [[1966 FIFA World Cup]] is still remembered today as a significant milestone in Portugal’s football history.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Golden Era: Tracing Portugal's Rise to Football Prominence |url=https://portugoal.net/classics-topmenu/3704-the-golden-era-tracing-portugals-rise-to-football-prominence |access-date=2024-04-10 |website=portugoal.net}}</ref>  

Since the 1960s, with the latest developments on [[commercial aviation]], the highest ranked football teams of Mozambique and the other African overseas provinces of Portugal, started to compete in the {{lang|pt|[[Taça de Portugal]]}} (the Portuguese Cup) in football. This became also true for other sports, like basketball and rink hockey. Before the independence of Mozambique, Sporting Clube de Lourenço Marques won the [[Liga Portuguesa de Basquetebol]] three times, in 1968, 1971 and 1973, and the  Desportivo de Lourenço Marques won the 1969, 1971 and 1973 [[Portuguese Roller Hockey First Division]].

There were also several facilities and organizations for [[golf]], [[tennis]] and [[wild hunting]]. The [[nautical sports]] were also well developed and popular, especially in {{lang|pt|Lourenço Marques}}, home to the {{lang|pt|[[Clube Naval de Lourenço Marques]]}}. The largest stadium was the {{lang|pt|[[Estádio da Machava|Estádio Salazar]]}}, located near {{lang|pt|Lourenço Marques}}. Opened in 1968, it was at the time the most advanced in Mozambique conforming to standards set by both [[FIFA]] and the [[Union Cycliste Internationale]] (UCI). The [[cycling track]] could be adjusted to allow for 20,000 more seats.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/emoitas/3765484514/|title=Estádio Salazar 1968|work=Flickr – Photo Sharing!|date=28 July 2009}}</ref>

Beginning in the 1950s, motorsport was introduced to Mozambique. At first race cars would compete in areas around the city, Polana and along the {{lang|pt|marginal}} but as funding and interest increased, a dedicated race track was built in the [[Costa Do Sol]] area along and behind the {{lang|pt|marginal}} with the ocean to the east with a length of {{convert|1.5|km|abbr=off}}. The initial surface of the new track, named {{lang|pt|[[Autódromo de Lourenço Marques]]}} did not provide enough grip and an accident in the late 1960s killed 8 people and injured many more. Therefore, in 1970, the track was renovated and the surface changed to meet the highest international safety requirements that were needed at large events with many spectators. The length then increased to {{convert|3909|km|abbr=off}}. The city became host to several international and local events beginning with the inauguration on 26 November 1970.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://autosport.aeiou.pt/gen.pl?p=stories&op=view&fokey=as.stories/64170|title=Autódromo Lourenço Marques|author=Eurotux S.A.|work=Autosport|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005064411/http://autosport.aeiou.pt/gen.pl?p=stories&op=view&fokey=as.stories%2F64170|archive-date=2011-10-05}}</ref>