← Outreach · Saturday 18 July 2026 · TagusPark, Oeiras
Portugal had never hosted a FIRST® Tech Challenge event. On a Saturday in July, twelve teams from six countries came to Oeiras for one, 300 people filled the room and 800 more watched online — and we built the whole thing.
Why it happened
Portuguese students who wanted to compete in FIRST® Tech Challenge had to leave the country to do it. There were no events here. There is no reason to start a team.
So instead of waiting, we became the organiser — venue, volunteer programme, referees, judges, field, run of show, safety plan, and a full competition day run to FIRST® tournament standard. Off-season, so the awards were real but unofficial and nothing advanced, which is exactly what a country's first event should be.
Free entry, on purpose
Families, teachers, students and anyone curious walked in without a ticket. Most of them had never watched a robotics match before.
The day
Photographs by Mayumi Miazaki.
Who came
Germany, Türkiye, Lithuania, Romania, the Netherlands and Portugal. For most of these teams it was a long drive or a flight to a country with no FTC scene at all — and they came anyway.
Two Portuguese teams were on the field. One of them was us. The other only exists because we spent the season helping them build a robot.
Who came to see it
President of the Câmara Municipal de Oeiras. Arrived unannounced during the competition, walked the pits with the teams, and took the microphone to address the room.
Councillor for Education, Sport, Libraries, Youth, Science and Innovation, Câmara Municipal de Oeiras. Spoke at the opening ceremony.
President of the Junta de Freguesia de Porto Salvo, the parish that hosted the event. Spoke at the opening ceremony.
Portrait: Junta de Freguesia de Porto Salvo
“TagusPark is, par excellence, the place where talent, science, and technology come together.”
Eduardo Baptista Correia · CEO, TagusPark
“Bringing the FTC to Portugal was a clear goal for us. […] The Lisbon Scrimmage is the seed for an ecosystem we want to see grow in our country. More than just robots, we're building futures for our young people.”
Luís António · Founder and CEO, RAISEBOX
Both quotes: Taguspark press release, July 2026
The crew
Field Supervisor and setup crew, Field Technical Advisor, an assistant, a scorekeeper, a lead queuer and queuers, and four field reset volunteers turning the field around between every match.
A Head Referee and four referees, calling every match to the same standard a team would meet at any official event in Europe.
A Judge Advisor and a seven-person panel, in the room from early morning, running structured interviews and pit visits before deliberating on the awards.
Almost none of them had worked an FTC event before, because almost nobody in Portugal has. They were recruited through an open form, assigned roles by preference, sent a guide and a briefing pack, rehearsed through a full practice day on the Friday, and were on site at 07:45 on Saturday.
How it ended
Four alliances, double elimination, and the Inspire Award revealed last — the same shape as any official event, with nothing riding on it but the day itself.
What it was really for
The Scrimmage is the first step in a five-year plan, run with RAISEBOX, to build an Iberian FIRST® Tech Challenge League based in Oeiras and open to teams from Portugal, Spain and the rest of Europe.
If you're a school, a teacher, or a group of students in Portugal who want in, the next event needs you on the field.
