C.D. Santa Clara

Santa Clara

Full name	Clube Desportivo Santa Clara
Nickname(s)	Os Açoreanos (The Azoreans)
Founded	May 12, 1927 (84 years ago)
Ground	Estádio de São Miguel, Ponta Delgada, Portugal
Ground Capacity	12,500
President	Mário Jorge Freitas Batista
Manager	Horácio Gonçalves
League	Segunda Liga
2014–15	19th
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours

Clube Desportivo Santa Clara is a Portuguese football club from Ponta Delgada, Azores. They play in the 13,277-seat Estádio de São Miguel that is eligible for UEFA Champion's League and Europa League games. They are the most successful football team from the Azores islands and the only team in the Azores to compete in one UEFA competition: the Intertoto Cup.

To date, Santa Clara is the only club from the Azores islands to have competed in the top division of the Portuguese Liga, being thus the westernmost top flight club in Europe. They compete in the Segunda Liga, the Portuguese second level football league. Santa Clara's current kit manufacturer is Adidas and their main sponsors are Banif and Açoreana Seguros. Main rivals are C.D. Operário from Lagoa. Other major rivals are CS Maritimo and CD Nacional.

Overview

Santa Clara plays in the Estádio de São Miguel in Ponta Delgada, the largest city in the Azores. It is the only team from the Azores islands to ever participate in the Portuguese Liga, where they play for three non-consecutive seasons (1999–00, 2001–02 and 2002–03). The club also qualified once for UEFA Intertoto Cup in 2002. Manuel Fernandes, a former Portuguese international, who took Santa Clara to the First Division the first time, is a highly acclaimed figure in Azores. While it now plays in the Segunda Liga, Santa Clara is always a favorite to get promoted.

The club is known for its close connection to S.L. Benfica, having shared until recently the very same crest. The club played in the old Estádio da Luz, as Benfica's last official opponent before a new stadium was built in Lisbon for the UEFA Euro 2004, which Portugal hosted. The attendance of that game was close to 50,000.

Among the club's most famous players are Paulo Figueiredo, Clayton, Idrissa Keita, Lito Vidigal, and Jorge Ribeiro while Portugal's former all-time leading scorer Pauleta, a native of the Azores, also played for the club.

The Santa Clara Sporting Club is the end result, something distant in time but very close in essence, a social phenomenon that sports beginning in late 1917 had its heyday during the years 1919 and 1920, the peak of lively dispute of "Leagues of Santa Clara," competition in which participating teams representing some of the various "shops of Santa Clara", presenting himself as heir apparent of the other two "Santa Claras"; the "Santa Clara Foot-ball Club" and "Sport Club Santa Clara", both before him also affiliated to the "Foot-ball Association Sam Miguel" today; Football Association of Ponta Delgada.

The first direction Clube Desportivo Santa Clara was elected by acclamation to May 12, 1927, with its founding statutes were approved shortly after the June 21, 1927, a General Assembly for that purpose had been called and then was chaired by Lieutenant John Joaquim Vicente Jr. The process of formation of the club culminates July 29, 1927 with the grant by the Civil Government of Ponta Delgada the respective permit.

The Clube Desportivo Santa Clara requested its inclusion on the Football Association to August 6, 1927, that opportunity was granted only about three months later. Their first official match took place on November 20, 1927.

Honours

• Segunda Liga
  • Winners (1): 2000–01

• Portuguese Second Division
  • Winners (1): 1997–98

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Pedro Freitas 12 GK João Botelho -- GK Rodolfo Cardoso 2 DF João Dias 3 DF Gustavo Rosa 4 DF Accioly 13 DF Igor Rocha 19 DF Rui Silva 20 DF Roberto Silva 7 MF Carraça 8 MF Pacheco (captain)

No. Position Player 17 MF Cédric Sanches 18 MF Nikola Zugić 22 MF Jimmy (on loan from Académica Coimbra) 31 MF Davide 70 MF Tiago Ronaldo -- MF Paulinho 9 FW Clemente 10 FW Hugo Santos 16 FW Lucas Silva 25 FW Rafael Batatinha 29 FW Erik Mendes 99 FW Reginaldo

Notable former players

• Pauleta
• Jorge Ribeiro
• Ricardo Sousa
• Nuno Sociedade
• João Botelho
• Bragança
• Sérgio Organista
• Bruno Patacas
• Bruno Ribeiro
• Klevis Dalipi
• Figueiredo
• Kali
• Francisco Zuela
• José Vidigal
• Livio Prieto

• Mauricio Hanuch
• George
• Siston
• Aldo
• Ceará
• George
• Ronaldo
• Clayton
• Orestes
• Leandro Tatu
• Hernâni Borges
• Mateus Lopes
• Daniel Moorehead
• Faysal El Idrissi
• István Vincze
• Gábor Vayer

• Faysal El Idrissi
• Garba Lawal
• Haruna Doda
• Dmitri Prokopenko
• Klevis Dalipi
• Toñito
• José Luis Morales

Pauleta played for Santa Clara in 1991 at youth level before moving on to bigger clubs where he would become one of the best Portuguese strikers of all time.

League and cup history

Season	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Cup	League Cup	Notes
1982–83	3DS	7	30	12	6	12	42	39	30	Round 2
1983–84	3DS	7	30	12	7	11	38	32	31	Round 2
1984–85	3DS	10	30	11	6	13	32	26	28	Round 2
1985–86	3DS	4	30	14	8	8	34	20	36	Round 2
1986–87	3DS	2	30	16	8	6	54	29	40	Round 1		Promoted
1987–88	2DS	20	38	5	13	20	19	51	23	Round 3		Relegated
1988–89	3DS	10	34	13	9	12	35	32	35	Round 2
1989–90	3DS	1	34	18	9	7	54	41	45	Round 2		Promoted
1990–91	2DS	14	34	12	9	17	40	56	33	Round 2		Relegated
1991–92	3DS	5	34	15	9	10	55	34	39	Round 2
1992–93	3DS	14	34	8	14	12	27	40	30	Round 1
1993–94	3DS	13	34	10	9	15	28	52	29	Round 1
1994–95	3DS	18	34	3	9	22	20	70	15	Round 1
1995–96	3DS	1	26	16	7	3	48	15	55	Round 1		Promoted
1996–97	2DS	2	34	19	6	9	67	36	63	Round 3
1997–98	2DS	1	34	18	8	5	60	31	65	Round 4		Promoted
1998–99	2H	3	34	13	13	7	53	37	55	Round 5		Promoted
1999–00	1D	18	34	7	10	17	35	50	31	Round 5		Relegated
2000–01	2H	1	34	20	7	7	60	37	67	Round 3		Promoted
2001–02	1D	14	34	9	10	15	32	46	37	Round 5		Best league finish
2002–03	1D	17	34	8	11	15	39	54	35	Round 5		Relegated
2003–04	2H	13	34	11	9	14	41	44	42	Round 3
2004–05	2H	15	34	11	6	17	39	49	39	Round 4
2005–06	2H	6	34	13	12	9	45	32	51	Round 4
2006–07	2H	4	30	15	5	10	34	31	50	Round 4
2007–08	2H	10	30	10	7	13	31	50	37	Round 4	Round 1
2008–09	2H	3	30	15	7	8	45	32	52	Round 5	Round 1
2009–10	2H	4	30	13	12	5	45	29	51	Round 4	First Group Stage
2010–11	2H	9	30	10	8	12	26	29	38	Round 3	First Group Stage
2011–12	2H	12	30	8	10	12	29	38	34	Round 2	Second Group Stage
2012–13	2H	11	42	15	14	13	55	48	59	Round 4	Round 2
2013–14	2H	15	42	13	9	20	38	46	48	Round 3	Round 2
2014–15	2H	19	46	10	21	15	33	42	51	Round 2	Round 1

European record

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Aggregate
2002–03	Intertoto Cup	R1	FC Shirak	2–0	3–3	5–3
		R2	Teplice	1–4	1–5	2–9

External links

• Official website (Portuguese)