C.D. Santa Clara

Clube Desportivo Santa Clara is a Portuguese professional football club from Ponta Delgada, Azores. They play in the 13,277-seat Estádio de São Miguel. As the most successful football team from the Azores Islands, they are the only team from the archipelago to compete in a UEFA competition, having qualified for the UEFA Intertoto Cup and the UEFA Europa Conference League.

Santa Clara

Full name	Clube Desportivo Santa Clara
Nickname(s)	Os Açorianos (The Azoreans)
Founded	12 May 1927; 97 years ago (12 May 1927)
Ground	Estádio de São Miguel, Ponta Delgada, Portugal
Capacity	13,277
President	Bruno Vicintin
Manager	Vasco Matos
League	Liga Portugal
2023–24	Liga Portugal 2, 1st of 18 (Promoted)
Website	https://cdsantaclara.com/
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

Santa Clara is the only club from the Azores to have competed in the top division of the Portuguese Liga, being thus the westernmost top-flight club in Europe. They compete in the Primeira Liga, the Portuguese first division football league. Santa Clara's kit manufacturer is Umbro and their main sponsor is Lebull. The main local rivals are CD Operário from Lagoa on the same island of São Miguel. Other major rivals are C.S. Marítimo and C.D. Nacional, from the island of Madeira.

History

Santa Clara reached the Primeira Liga for the first time by coming third in the 1998–99 Liga de Honra, but were instantly relegated back in last place. The team bounced back by winning the 2000–01 Segunda Liga under Manuel Fernandes and later Carlos Manuel. Fernandes, who left for Sporting CP in January 2001, returned in October.^[1]

Despite coming 14th in their first top-flight season, Santa Clara were chosen by UEFA to play in the 2002 UEFA Intertoto Cup when Vitória S.C. withdrew, needing the summer to renovate their Estádio D. Afonso Henriques for UEFA Euro 2004.^[2] They beat Armenia's Shirak FC 5–3 on aggregate in the first round before falling 9–2 to Czechs FK Teplice in the second.^[3] Santa Clara were relegated in 2003,^[4] and then spent the next 15 years in the second tier, with the lowest point being 2014–15 when the club came 19th, saving themselves from relegation with three games remaining.^[5]

In 2018, Carlos Pinto's Santa Clara team ended their exile by finishing second to C.D. Nacional, and he subsequently left.^[6] His successor João Henriques led Santa Clara to two consecutive 10th-placed finishes, their best results for position and points (43) in their history. He left in July 2020, having secured a third consecutive top-flight season for the first time in club history.^[7] Under his successor Daniel Ramos in 2020–21, the club finished a best-ever sixth to qualify for the inaugural UEFA Conference League.^[8]

Santa Clara defeated KF Shkupi (North Macedonia) and NK Olimpija Ljubljana (Slovenia) before falling to FK Partizan (Serbia) in the Conference League playoffs.^[9] Ramos left unexpectedly in October 2021 with the team in 15th.^[10] Mário Silva concluded the season with the team in 7th, earning a two-year contract extension, as well as taking the team to the semi-finals of the Taça da Liga (at FC Porto's expense) for the first time.^[11] Silva was sacked in January 2023 with the team 15th after as many games;^[12] the form did not improve under successors Jorge Simão and Danildo Accioly and Santa Clara finished last, ending five years in the top flight.^[13]

Stadium

Santa Clara plays in the Estádio de São Miguel in Ponta Delgada, the largest city in the Azores.

Honours

• Segunda Liga
  • Winners (2): 2000–01, 2023–24
• Portuguese Second Division B
  • Winners (1): 1997–98

Players

Current squad

As of 2 October 2024^[14]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  BRA Gabriel Batista 2 DF  POR Diogo Calila 3 DF  BRA Matheus Pereira 4 DF  POR Pedro Pacheco 6 MF  BRA Adriano 8 MF  POR Pedro Ferreira 9 FW  BRA Alisson Safira 10 FW  POR Ricardinho 11 FW  BRA Gabriel Silva 12 GK  BRA Neneca (on loan from Cascavel) 13 DF  POR Luís Rocha 17 FW  POR João Costa 19 MF  POR Bruno Almeida 21 DF  POR Frederico Venâncio

No. Pos. Nation Player 23 DF  BRA Sidney Lima 27 DF  POR Guilherme Ramos (on loan from Hamburg) 28 DF  BRA Habraão (on loan from Fortaleza) 31 GK  BRA Denivys 32 DF  BRA MT 35 MF  POR Serginho 41 MF  BRA Dani Borges 42 DF  BRA Lucas Soares 53 DF  BRA Ary Garcia 67 FW  BRA Jean Sales 70 FW  BRA Vinícius Lopes 77 MF  BRA Gustavo Klismahn 94 GK  ARG Andrés Mehring

Other players under contract

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

No. Pos. Nation Player

No. Pos. Nation Player

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 7 FW  BRA Reinaldo (at Guarani until 31 December 2024) 37 FW  BRA Rildo (at Goiás until 31 December 2024) 72 DF  POR João Ferreira (at Oliveira do Hospital until 30 June 2025) — MF  CPV Yannick Semedo (at Vizela until 30 June 2025) 33 FW  BRA Jader (on loan to Universidad Católica until 31 December 2024)

International players

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.

• Klevis Dalipi
• Figueiredo
• Kali
• Mauro
• Francisco Zuela
• José Vidigal
• Leandro Machado
• Pedro Pacheco
• Hernâni Borges
• Mateus Lopes
• Steven Pereira
• Stopira
• Valter Borges
• Platini
• António Duarte
• Hugo Évora
• Denis Pineda
• Malick Evouna
• Mamadu Candé
• Amido Baldé
• Édson
• István Vincze
• Shahriyar Moghanlou
• Osama Rashid
• Idrissa Keita
• Hidemasa Morita
• Muaid Ellafi
• Mohamed Al-Gadi
• Hamdou Elhouni
• Faysal El Idrissi
• Reginaldo Faife
• Garba Lawal
• Haruna Doda
• Abdiel Arroyo
• Alfredo Stephens
• Pauleta
• Marco Paiva
• André Pinto
• Pedro Martins
• Jorge Ribeiro
• Ukra
• Jorge Silva
• José Leal
• António Pacheco
• Martin Chrien
• Mikel Villanueva

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
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
2015–16	2H	16	46	15	12	19	49	52	57	Round 3	Round 1
2016–17	2H	10	42	16	12	14	42	42	60	Round 4	Round 2
2017–18	2H	2	38	19	9	10	55	40	66	Round 5	Round 2	Promoted
2018–19	1D	10	34	11	9	14	43	45	42	Round 4	Round 2
2019–20	1D	9	34	11	10	13	36	41	43	Round 5	Round 3
2020–21	1D	6	34	13	7	14	44	36	46	Quarter-finals		Best league finish
2021–22	1D	7	34	9	13	12	38	54	40	Round 3	Semi-finals

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
2021–22	Europa Conference League	2QR	Shkupi	2–0	3–0	5–0
		3QR	Olimpija Ljubljana	2–0	1−0	3−0
		PO	Partizan	2–1	0–2	2–3

References

1. "Manuel Fernandes já orientou treino do Santa Clara" (in Portuguese). Mais Futebol. 3 October 2001. Archived from the original on 6 June 2022. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
2. "Santa Clara substitui minhotos na Taça Intertoto" [Santa Clara replaced Minho Province team in Intertoto Cup]. Record (in Portuguese). 9 May 2002. Archived from the original on 27 August 2023. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
3. "Santa Clara eliminado da Intertoto" [Santa Clara eliminated from the Intertoto]. Record (in Portuguese). 13 July 2002. Archived from the original on 27 August 2023. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
4. "Carlos Alberto Silva de saída" [Carlos Alberto Silva leaving]. Record (in Portuguese). 28 May 2003. Archived from the original on 27 August 2023. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
5. "Trofense-Santa Clara, 0-0: Insulares garantem permanência" [Trofense 0-0 Santa Clara: Islanders guarantee survival]. Sábado (in Portuguese). 6 May 2015. Archived from the original on 3 June 2023. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
6. "Carlos Pinto deixa o Santa Clara após subida à I Liga" [Carlos Pinto leaves Santa Clara after promotion to the I Liga]. Público (in Portuguese). 14 May 2018. Archived from the original on 6 June 2022. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
7. "João Henriques sai do Santa Clara depois de duas épocas de recordes" [João Henriques leaves Santa Clara after two record-breaking seasons]. Observador (in Portuguese). 24 July 2020. Archived from the original on 26 July 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
8. "Liga: Santa Clara garante qualificação europeia" [Liga: Santa Clara guarantee European qualification] (in Portuguese). Mais Futebol. 19 May 2021. Archived from the original on 27 August 2023. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
9. Salvador, Rui (26 August 2021). "Santa Clara perde com Partizan e Paços de Ferreira derrotado em Londres. Falham fase de grupos da Liga Conferência" [Santa Clara lose to Partizan and Paços de Ferreira defeated in London. They miss the Conference League group stage]. Observador (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 18 July 2023. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
10. "Daniel Ramos abandona Santa Clara rumo a "grande oportunidade"" [Daniel Ramos abandons Santa Clara for a "great opportunity"]. Público (in Portuguese). 5 October 2021. Archived from the original on 18 July 2023. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
11. "Santa Clara renova com o treinador Mário Silva por duas épocas" [Santa Clara renew with manager Mário Silva for two seasons]. Observador (in Portuguese). 19 May 2022. Archived from the original on 18 July 2023. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
12. "Mário Silva deixa comando técnico do Santa Clara" [Mário Silva leaves the helm of Santa Clara]. Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). 6 January 2023. Archived from the original on 8 January 2023. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
13. ""Ninguém da administração do Santa Clara vai a lugar nenhum"" ["Nobody from the Santa Clara administration is going anywhere"]. O Jogo (in Portuguese). 20 May 2023. Archived from the original on 18 July 2023. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
14. "Plantel" (in Portuguese). CD Santa Clara. Archived from the original on 2023-12-04. Retrieved 2023-09-27.

External links

• Official website (in Portuguese)