In 1922, a group of enthusiastic footballers met in the Recreio dos Artistas, and founded the Sport Clube Lusitânia, naming it for the airplane of the same name, used by Portuguese trans-Atlantic flight pioneers Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral.

[1][2] Their highest achievement is reaching the semifinals of the Taça de Portugal in 1964.

They had defeated Ferroviário Lourenço Marques in the quarterfinals, the highest a Portuguese colony club ever reached in the Portuguese Cup (and only because the dictatorship of António de Oliveira Salazar allowed them to play as a means of demonstrating that Portugal's African possessions were provinces and not colonies).

The headquarters of the club is in the historic manorhouse of Dona Violante do Canto.

[1] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply.