Leixoes

Leixoes Sport Club, commonly known as Leixoes (Portuguese pronunciation: [lɐjˈʃoj̃ʃ]), is a Portuguese sports club from Matosinhos. It is organised into several departments for many sports, such as football, boxing, karate, volleyball, swimming and billiards. It is most well known for its professional football department.

Leixoes won the 1960–61 Taca de Portugal.

History

Leixoes Sport Club was founded in 1907, making them one of Portugal's oldest sports clubs in continuous operation. In 1961, they won their only Taca de Portugal, defeating Porto 2–0. This qualified Leixoes to the 1961–62 European Cup Winners' Cup, in which they reached the quarter-finals before losing 4–2 on aggregate to East German side Motor Jena. Leixoes had their best top-flight league performance in 1962–63, finishing fifth, 12 points behind champions Benfica.

Present in the top-flight since 1959–60, Leixoes were relegated on goal difference in the 1976–77 season. Apart from the 1988–89 season, Leixoes did not play in the top-flight again until 2007.

In 2002, Leixoes beat Braga 3–1 away to secure a place in the Taca de Portugal final (the first and only third division club to play a final) against Sporting CP. The club, however, lost 1–0, but nonetheless secured a spot in the following season's UEFA Cup and Portuguese Supercup after Sporting had also finished as national champions for the year. The following season, Leixoes lost the Portuguese Supercup against Sporting CP by 5–1. That same year, Leixoes lost 5–3 on aggregate to Greek side PAOK after winning the first leg 2–1 at home, thus suffering elimination in the first round of the UEFA Cup. They also romped to the Segunda Divisao B title with 94 points and with it they gained promotion to the Segunda Liga.

In 2004, they just avoided relegation back to Division Two and finished 14th. A year later, they battled to finish seventh in the league. Finally in 2006, they nearly reached the top-flight Primeira Liga, losing out to Desportivo das Aves in

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