The joint team from the Universities of Porto (FCUP/FEUP) and Aveiro was crowned world champion in Simulated Robot Soccer for the fourth consecutive time, winning the final of the RoboCup Soccer (3D Simulation League) league, part of RoboCUP 2025, held from July 15 to 21 in the city of Salvador, Brazil.
As in the 2024 final, the FC Portugal 3D team beat by 4-1 the German team magmaOffenburg, from the University of Offenburg, a remarkable result that sets the Portuguese team apart from the other teams in the competition.
The team that took the podium brings together a highly specialized community from the Faculties of Science and Engineering, including students, graduates, and faculty members. The following individuals contributed decisively to this victory: Luís Paulo Reis (professor at DEI, director of LIACC, and co-director of L:IACD), Pedro Mota (research fellow at FEUP and doctoral student at FCUP), M.IA master’s students Francisco Silva and Tomás Azevedo (IACD graduates), Eduardo Portugal (L.EIC alumnus and current M.EIC master’s student) and Nuno Lau (professor at the University of Aveiro).
The success of this team is proven by the 30 international awards it has won, inspiring the publication of more than 100 scientific articles in indexed journals and conferences throughout its 25 years of existence.
According to Ubbo Visser, Chairman of the Board, a new chapter in RoboCup is being written, in an era where the field of Robotics and AI is advancing at an unprecedented pace. In his words, Ubbo Visser states that “the emergence of a new generation of robots, AI methods, and technologies is a unique historical opportunity. RoboCup is seizing this opportunity to continue to lead. That is why we are introducing changes to the international RoboCup competitions, which are our window to the world. We are bringing together all the advances from all the soccer leagues into a single entity focused on humanoid robot soccer. We are advancing the state of the art in robotics and AI by introducing humanoid robots for general-purpose applications, including the @home, work, and rescue leagues…”.
On this side, we will continue to applaud the successes of the Portuguese team, hoping that they will serve as inspiration for new generations.