Santa Clara

Clube Desportivo Santa Clara is a Portuguese football club from Ponta Delgada, Azores. They play in the 13,277-seat Estadio de Sao Miguel. They are the most successful football team from the Azores Islands as 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.

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 Primeira Liga, the Portuguese first division football league. Santa Clara's kit manufacturer is Kelme and their main sponsor is Santander. Main rivals are CD Operario from Lagoa. Other major rivals are C.S. Maritimo 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.

Despite coming 14th in their first top-flight season, Santa Clara were chosen by UEFA to play in the 2002 UEFA Intertoto Cup when Vitoria S.C. withdrew, needing the summer to renovate their Estadio D. Afonso Henriques for UEFA Euro 2004. 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. Santa Clara were relegated in 2003, 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.

In 2018, Carlos Pinto's Santa Clara team ended their exile by finishing second to C.D. Nacional, and he subsequently left. His successor Joao Henriques led Santa Clara to two consecutive 10th-placed finishes, their best results for position and points (43) in their history. He left

This page also has a version in other languages :  Санта-Клара (russian)