Leixões S.C.

Leixões

Full name	Leixões Sport Club
Nickname(s)	Os Bébés (The Babies) Heróis do Mar (Sea Heroes)
Founded	1907
Ground	Estádio do Mar, Matosinhos (Capacity: 16,035)
Chairman	José Fonseca Carlos Oliveira
Manager	Litos
League	Liga de Honra
2009–10	Portuguese Liga, 16th (relegated)
Home colours Away colours

Leixões Sport Club, commonly known as just Leixões, is a sports club from Matosinhos, Portugal. It is organized into several specialized departments for many events such as football, boxing, karate, volleyball, swimming, and billiards. Its professional football team is its most well known department.

Leixões won the 1960-61 Portuguese Cup.

History

Leixões Sport Club was founded in 1907, making them one of Portugal's oldest sports clubs in continuous operation. Although not known to many clubs in Europe in the modern game, in the 1960s, they managed to win the Cup of Portugal (against FC Porto in 1961) and featured regularly in the European Competitions. They then disappeared in the late 1970s into the lower echelons of Portuguese football and were seemingly forgotten. But, in 2002, they returned to the main stage with a tremendous Cup run, defeating Sporting de Braga 3–1 away to secure a place in the final and the UEFA Cup next season. They lost 1–0 to Sporting Clube de Portugal, who also became national champions that year. The following season, they lost 5–3 on aggregate to Greek side PAOK after winning the first leg 2–1 at home, being eliminated in the first round of the UEFA Cup. That same year, they romped to the Segunda Divisão (Division Two) title with 94 points and with it they gained promotion to the Liga de Honra. In 2004, they just avoided relegation back to Division Two and finished 14th. A year later, they battled to finish seventh in the league. And finally in 2006, they almost reached the Portuguese Liga, losing out to Desportivo das Aves in the promotion chase, finishing third, two points behind Aves. Third place used to merit a promotion, but due to a re-construction to all leagues, it meant only the top two would go up (Beira-Mar as champions and Aves as runners-up). Finally, in 2007, they gained promotion to the Liga, 18 years after their relegation. During this stint, which lasted 3 seasons, their best result was a 6th place finish in 2008-2009. Their last match in the Portuguese Liga was a 1-0 away loss to Olhanense on 2 May 2010.

Honours

• Liga de Honra: 2006–07 (2nd Tier)
• Portuguese Second Division: 1937–38 (2nd Tier), 2002–03 (3rd Tier)
• Portuguese Cup: 1960–61; Runners-up 2001–02
• Portuguese Supercup: Runners-up 2002

Current squad

As of 18 September, 2011

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Fonseca 2 DF Paulinho 3 DF Nuno Silva 4 DF José Pedro 6 DF Nélson 7 FW Fangueiro 8 FW Hernâni 10 FW Fausto 11 MF Luís Silva 12 GK Waldson 13 DF Joel 14 MF André Carvalho 15 DF Florent Hanin 16 DF Marcelo

No. Position Player 17 FW Pedro Santos 18 MF Wesllem 19 MF Paulo Tavares 20 FW Moisés 22 MF Tiago Costa 21 FW Feliciano 25 FW Diego Mourão 26 MF Capela 27 MF Eduardo Jumisse 29 MF Rafinha 30 FW João Beirão 89 GK Vincent Degré TBA MF João Fonseca

Notable former players

• António Frasco
• Álvaro Magalhães
• Frederico Rosa
• Ricardo Nascimento
• Rui Duarte
• Beto
• Jorge Gonçalves
• Paulo Machado
• Diogo Valente
• Vieirinha
• Filipe Oliveira
• João Moreira
• Vítor Castanheira
• Nuno Laranjeiro
• Zé Manel
• Fernando Alexandre

• Nelson Benítez
• Hans-Peter Berger
• Nail Besirović
• Brasília
• Élvis
• Leandro Tatu
• Roberto
• Jaime
• Ezequias
• Tales Schutz
• Wesley
• Roberto Souza
• Chumbinho
• Wênio
• Herve Xavier Zengue
• Christian Pouga

• Brayan Angulo
• Phil Walker
• Dionisio Mendes
• Jean Sony
• Udo Nwoko
• Brandon Poltronieri
• Lê Công Vinh

Managers

• József Szabó (1957-58)
• Filpo Nunes (1960-61)
• António Teixeira (1967-70)
• António Teixeira (1972-74)
• José Rachão (1982-84)
• Acácio Casimiro (1986-87)
• Henrique Calisto (1990-91)
• Henrique Calisto (1993-94)
• Ruben Cunha (1994-95)
• António Caldas (1996-98)

• Ruben Cunha (1998-99)
• Carlos Carvalhal (2001-03)
• João Alves (2003-04)
• José Gomes (2004-05)
• Rogério Gonçalves (2005-06)
• Vítor Oliveira (2006-07)
• Carlos Brito (2007-08)
• António Pinto (2008)
• José Mota (2008-10)
• Fernando Castro Santos (2010)
• Augusto Inácio (2010-2011)
• Litos (2011–)

Europe

• Cup Winners' Cup 1961–62
  • 07/09: Chaux Fonds 6–2 Leixões
  • 05/10: Leixões 5–0 Chaux Fonds
  • 23/11: Leixões 1–1 Progresul Bucureşti
  • 30/11: Progresul Bucureşti 0–1 Leixões
  • 22/02: Motor Jena 1–1 Leixões
  • 25/02: Leixões 1–3 Motor Jena
• Inter-Cities Fairs Cup 1964–65
  • 23/09: Leixões 1–1 Celtic
  • 07/10: Celtic 3–0 Leixões
• Inter-Cities Fairs Cup 1968–69
  • 19/09: Leixões 1–1 Argeş Piteşti
  • 02/10: Argeş Piteşti 0–0 Leixões
• UEFA Cup 2002–03
  • 15/08: Leixões 2–2 Belasica
  • 29/08: Belasica 1–2 Leixões
  • 17/09: Leixões 2–1 PAOK
  • 03/10: PAOK 4–1 Leixões

League and cup history

The club has 22 presences at the top level of Portuguese football, and was present at two cup finals, one of which it won, beating FC Porto on the latter's home ground (Estádio das Antas).

The club was founded in 1907 and celebrated its centenary year with promotion to the Portuguese Liga in 2007.

The club's best league position is fifth place in the 1962–63 season. Their best finish in Europe is quarter finalist in the UEFA Cup Winner's Cup in the 1961–62 season.

Season		Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Cup	League Cup	Europe		Notes
1936–37	CL	8	14	2	0	12	19	69	4
2 season(s) at lower levels
1939–40	1D	9	18	1	5	12	26	70	7	last 16
1 season(s) at lower levels
1941–42	2H	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	quarter-final
1942–43	1D	10	18	0	2	16	19	81	2	last 16
16 season(s) at lower levels
1959–60	1D	8	26	8	7	11	48	56	23	1st round
1960–61	1D	8	26	10	3	13	38	44	33	winner
1961–62	1D	7	26	10	3	13	47	55	23	quarter-final		CWC	quarter-final
1962–63	1D	5	26	10	10	6	34	33	30	last 16				best classification ever
1963–64	1D	8	26	8	9	9	34	44	25	2nd round
1964–65	1D	9	26	8	5	13	50	51	21	1st round		FC	1st round
1965–66	1D	12	26	7	4	15	28	39	18	quarter-final
1966–67	1D	7	26	8	8	10	23	29	24	quarter-final
1967–68	1D	8	26	10	4	12	29	39	24	quarter-final
1968–69	1D	11	26	7	7	12	21	30	21	last 16		FC	1st round
1969–70	1D	11	26	10	1	15	33	47	21	semi-final
1970–71	1D	13	26	7	5	14	22	44	19	last 16
1971–72	1D	14	30	7	7	16	26	51	21	quarter-final
1972–73	1D	9	30	11	8	11	32	45	30	quarter-final
1973–74	1D	14	30	9	3	18	36	56	21	last 32
1974–75	1D	9	30	10	9	11	29	42	29	last 16
1975–76	1D	12	30	8	6	16	30	65	22	last 32
1976–77	1D	15	30	4	15	11	15	31	23	2nd round				relegated
1977–78	2DN	7	30	12	6	12	43	37	30	2nd round
1978–79	2DN	5	30	14	8	8	53	43	36	last 32
1979–80	2DN	5	30	14	4	11	54	29	34	last 32
1980–81	2DN	2	30	17	6	7	58	29	40	3rd round
1981–82	2DN	6	30	11	9	10	36	35	31	quarter-final
1982–83	2DN	5	30	15	7	8	45	25	37	last 32
1983–84	2DN	3	29	16	5	8	47	29	37	last 32				see notes
1984–85	2DN	4	30	14	10	6	38	29	38	3rd round
1985–86	2DN	10	30	12	6	12	43	37	30	2nd round
1986–87	2DN	6	30	9	3	8	23	26	31	2nd round
1987–88	2DN	2	38	22	9	7	70	32	53	last 16				promoted
1988–89	1D	19	38	7	14	17	29	46	28	3rd round				relegated
1989–90	2DN	8	34	13	9	12	46	42	35	1st round
1990–91	2H	7	38	15	13	10	49	41	43	4th round
1991–92	2H	7	34	12	11	11	31	26	35	semi-final
1992–93	2H	12	34	11	9	14	34	39	31	4th round
1993–94	2H	18	34	8	8	18	24	41	24	last 32				relegated
8 season(s) at lower levels
2001–02	2DN	2	38	25	8	5	73	27	83	final
2002–03	2DN	1	38	29	7	2	73	27	94	2nd round		UC	1st round	promoted
2003–04	2H	14	34	9	15	10	44	48	14	4th round
2004–05	2H	6	34	14	8	12	40	33	50	4th round
2005–06	2H	3	34	17	11	6	47	19	62	4th round
2006–07	2H	1	30	18	6	6	45	21	60	4th round				promoted
2007–08	1D	14	30	4	14	12	27	37	26	6th round	3rd round
2008–09	1D	6	30	12	9	9	30	31	45	quarter final	2nd round

• CL: Campeonato da Liga (winners weren't considered Portuguese champions)
• 1D: Portuguese Liga and predecessors (1st level)
• 2H: Liga de Honra (2nd level)
• 2DN: Portuguese Second Division, Northern Zone (pre–1991: 2nd level; post–1991: 3rd level)

• CWC: Cup Winners' Cup
• FC: Fairs Cup
• UC: UEFA Cup

Other sports

Leixões SC competes in boxing, karate, volleyball, swimming, and billiards.

See also

• Leixões SC (volleyball)

External links

• Official site of Leixões Sport Club
• Detailed up-to-date Leixões news (in English)
• Fan Site
• Fan Blog