C.F. Os Belenenses

Belenenses

Full name	Clube de Futebol «Os Belenenses»
Nickname(s)	O Belém Azúis do Restelo (The Blues from Restelo)
Founded	23 September 1919
Ground	Estádio do Restelo, Lisbon (Restelo Stadium)
Capacity	32,500
Manager	Vacant
League	Portuguese Liga
2008–09	Portuguese Liga, 15th
Home colours Away colours

Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses, commonly known as just Belenenses (Portuguese pronunciation: [bɨlɨˈnẽsɨʃ]), founded in 1919, is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the Belém quarter of Lisbon, hence the club name, which translates as "The ones from Belém."

History

The main activities of the club are football, handball, basketball, futsal, athletics, and rugby union. The club has won major national championships in all these sports, but remains best known for its original activity, football. They have won the Portuguese Liga once (1945–46), the only team, together with Boavista, to do so outside the Big Three: (FC Porto, Sporting Clube de Portugal, and Benfica).

Beleneneses was one of Portugal's "Big Four" from the advent of the Portuguese Liga. In the years since, the club fame and glory has tarnished as it consistently sank in the league table.

It was the first club to compete in the UEFA Cup in a back-and-forth 3–3 draw with Hibernian (at the time one of Scotland's biggest teams) at the Estádio do Restelo in Belém.

Like many Portuguese clubs, fan clubs can be found in countries across the world, such as the former Portuguese colonies of Brazil and Cape Verde as well as countries with significant Portuguese populations, such as Belgium, Canada, and the United States.

In 1933, the club was the most successful in Portugal with the most titles and Cups.

The 2005–06 season saw the football team finishing fourth from bottom, which would mean relegation for the team. However, the team won a subsequent appeal that sent Gil Vicente down instead. With this reprieve, the team played in the top level of Portuguese football once again, for the 69th of 73 seasons – the team with most presences at top level after the "Big Three". This reprieve allowed them to finish fifth in the league, giving them access to the UEFA Cup.

In the Portuguese Cup 2007, fans from Switzerland, Canada, United States, and several Portuguese cities were at the Estádio Nacional in Lisbon to see the final against Sporting CP, one of the "Big Three", where they lost 1–0.

In the 2008–09 season, the football team was again relegated from the league position, 15th out of 16 teams, but again, a decision of the Portuguese Football Federation held them in the top league, because 11th placed Estrela da Amadora were relegated for an infringement, and so Belenenses continued with having just missed four of all the 76 seasons in the 1st Portuguese League.

Cabral Ferreira, who served as president of Belenenses from 2005 until 2008, died on 26 February 2008, of a long illness.

The club has also played in the European Cup Winners' Cup, as well as the UEFA Cup. In the UEFA Cup 1987–88 season, the club played powerhouse Barcelona; in the first leg, they lost 2–0 in the Camp Nou, winning 1–0 in Lisbon at the Estádio do Restelo with Bulgarian international Stoycho Mladenov scoring. In the following season, they ousted holders Bayer Leverkusen out of the same competition.

Honours

• Portuguese League Champions — 1945–46
• Champions of Portugal (prior to creation of modern league) — 1926–27, 1928–29, 1932–33
• Portuguese Cup Winners — 1941–42, 1959–60, 1988–89
• Portuguese 2nd Division Champions — 1983–84
• Lisbon Championship Winners — 1925–26, 1928–29, 1929–30, 1930–31, 1943–44, 1945–46
• Lisbon Honour Cup Winners — 9 times
• Group Winners of UEFA Intertoto Cup — 1974–75

League and cup history

Season		Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Cup	Europe		Notes
1934–35	CL	4	14	8	2	4	45	20	18
1935–36	CL	4	14	7	3	4	28	22	17
1936–37	CL	2	14	11	1	2	46	17	23
1937–38	CL	5	14	5	0	9	29	28	10
1938–39	1D	4	14	6	1	7	38	29	13	quarter-final
1939–40	1D	3	18	11	3	4	58	21	25	final
1940–41	1D	3	14	9	1	4	59	22	19	final
1941–42	1D	3	22	12	6	4	66	32	30	winner
1942–43	1D	3	18	14	0	4	78	20	28	quarter-final
1943–44	1D	6	18	9	3	6	41	32	21	quarter-final
1944–45	1D	3	18	13	1	4	72	29	27	quarter-final
1945–46	1D	1	22	18	2	2	74	24	38	last 16			best classification ever
1946–47	1D	4	26	14	5	7	66	31	33	not held
1947–48	1D	3	26	16	5	5	76	30	37	final
1948–49	1D	3	26	16	3	7	68	36	35	last 16
1949–50	1D	4	26	10	7	9	36	41	27	not held
1950–51	1D	9	26	10	4	12	45	48	24	semi-final
1951–52	1D	4	26	14	8	4	60	28	36
1952–53	1D	3	26	15	6	5	60	29	36
1953–54	1D	4	26	13	5	8	43	39	31	semi-final
1954–55	1D	2	26	17	5	4	63	28	39		LAT	4th place
1955–56	1D	3	26	16	5	5	67	25	37	semi-final
1956–57	1D	3	26	13	7	6	74	50	33
1957–58	1D	4	26	12	4	10	54	42	28
1958–59	1D	3	26	16	6	4	65	27	38
1959–60	1D	3	26	15	6	5	58	25	36	winner
1960–61	1D	5	26	12	4	10	45	37	28	semi-final
1961–62	1D	5	26	12	7	7	51	35	31	semi-final	FC	1st round
1962–63	1D	4	26	16	4	6	47	30	36	semi-final	FC	1st round
1963–64	1D	6	26	12	6	8	46	36	30		FC	2nd round
1964–65	1D	8	26	12	2	12	39	40	26		FC	1st round
1965–66	1D	7	26	9	7	10	28	29	25
1966–67	1D	11	26	7	6	13	26	34	20
1967–68	1D	7	26	10	5	11	38	40	25
1968–69	1D	8	26	8	10	8	31	33	26
1969–70	1D	7	26	9	5	12	23	34	23	semi-final
1970–71	1D	7	26	7	8	11	20	27	22
1971–72	1D	7	30	11	7	12	35	33	29	semi-final
1972–73	1D	2	30	14	12	4	53	30	40
1973–74	1D	5	30	17	6	7	56	34	40		UC	1st round
1974–75	1D	6	30	14	7	9	45	37	35	semi-final
1975–76	1D	3	30	16	8	6	45	28	40
1976–77	1D	10	30	7	12	11	29	40	26		UC	1st round
1977–78	1D	5	30	14	8	8	25	21	36
1978–79	1D	8	30	10	9	11	47	43	29
1979–80	1D	5	30	13	8	9	33	38	34
1980–81	1D	11	30	8	10	12	24	39	26	semi-final
1981–82	1D	15	30	5	10	15	28	48	20				relegated
1982–83	2D	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
1983–84	2D	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?				promoted
1984–85	1D	6	30	11	8	11	40	46	30
1985–86	1D	8	30	7	14	9	27	30	28	final
1986–87	1D	6	30	13	4	13	52	40	30
1987–88	1D	3	38	18	12	8	52	38	48		UC	1st round
1988–89	1D	7	38	13	14	11	44	35	40	winner	UC	2nd round
1989–90	1D	6	34	16	4	14	32	33	36	semi-final	CWC	1st round
1990–91	1D	19	38	10	9	19	27	38	29				relegated
1991–92	2H	2	34	19	10	5	53	25	48				promoted
1992–93	1D	7	34	11	12	11	42	40	34
1993–94	1D	13	34	12	6	16	39	51	30
1994–95	1D	12	34	10	7	17	30	39	27
1995–96	1D	6	34	14	9	1	53	33	51
1996–97	1D	13	34	10	10	14	37	50	40	last 32
1997–98	1D	18	34	5	9	20	22	52	24	last 64			relegated
1998–99	2H	2	34	17	10	7	55	28	61				promoted
1999–00	1D	12	34	9	13	12	36	38	40	last 64
2000–01	1D	7	34	14	10	10	43	36	52	last 32
2001–02	1D	5	34	17	6	11	54	44	57	last 16
2002–03	1D	9	34	11	10	13	47	48	43	last 32
2003–04	1D	15	34	8	11	15	35	54	35	semi-final
2004–05	1D	9	34	13	7	14	38	34	46	quarter-final
2005–06	1D	15	34	11	6	17	40	42	39	last 64
2006–07	1D	5	30	15	4	11	36	29	49	final
2007–08	1D	8	30	8	12	10	32	41	40	last 64

CL=Campeonato da Liga (winners weren't considered Portuguese champions); 1D=First Division/League
2D=Second Division/League; 2H=Liga de Honra
CWC=Cup Winner's Cup; UC=UEFA Cup
FC=Fairs Cup; LAT=Latin Cup

UEFA Cup (formerly known as Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, now known as the Europa League)

Season	Team1	Team2	Result1	Result2	Result3
1961–62	Hibernian	Belenenses	3–3	3–0
1962–63	Belenenses	Barcelona	1–1	1–1	2–3
1963–64	Trešnjevka Zagreb	Belenenses	0–2	1–2
1963–64	Roma	Belenenses	2–1	1–0
1964–65	Belenenses	Shelbourne	1–1	0–0	1–2
1973–74	Belenenses	Wolverhampton Wanderers	0–2	1–2
1976–77	Belenenses	Barcelona	2–2	2–3
1987–88	Barcelona	Belenenses	2–0	0–1
1988–89	Bayer Leverkusen	Belenenses	0–1	0–1
1988–89	Velež Mostar	Belenenses	0–0	0–0	4–3 (pen.)
2007–08	Bayern Munich	Belenenses	1–0	2–0

Cup Winner's Cup

Season	Team1	Team2	Result1	Result2
1989–90	Belenenses	Monaco	1–1	0–3

Current squad

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	Assis
3	GK	POR	Nélson
4	MF	POR	Barge
5	DF	POR	Tiago Gomes
6	MF	PAN	Gabriel Gómez
7	MF	POR	Mano
9	MF	CMR	Jean Paul Yontcha
10	MF	POR	Celestino
11	MF	POR	José Pedro
13	DF	BRA	Rodrigo Arroz
14	MF	POR	André Almeida
15	DF	SRB	Vukašin Dević
16	FW	POR	Tiago Almeida

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
17	FW	BRA	Igor (on loan from Sevilla)
20	MF	BRA	Fellipe Bastos (on loan from Benfica)
21	DF	POR	André Pires
22	FW	POR	Fredy
23	GK	POR	Bruno Vale
25	FW	USA	Freddy Adu (on loan from Benfica)
26	MF	BRA	Ivan Santos
27	DF	POR	Cândido Costa
33	DF	POR	Beto
55	DF	POR	Fábio Marques
59	MF	NGA	Azeez Balogun
80	MF	MLI	Mourtala Diakité
89	FW	BRA	Romário
90	FW	BRA	Lima

Notable former players

• Fernando Chalana
• Jorge Martins
• José António
• Paulo Madeira
• Matateu
• Félix Mourinho
• António Morato
• Pepe
• Rolando
• Ruben Amorim
• Silas
• Luís Sobrinho
• António Mendonça
• Wilson
• Batista
• Marco Aurélio
• Emerson
• Weldon

• Fábio Januário
• Borislav Mikhailov
• Stoycho Mladenov
• Albert Meyong
• David Embé
• José Rui
• Dady
• Pelé
• Tomislav Ivković
• Henry Antchouet
• Edgaras Jankauskas
• Armando Sá
• Gabriel Gómez
• José Luis Garcés
• Dariusz Adamczuk
• Anders Andersson
• Nick Sakiewicz

Former Coaches

• John Mortimore
• Helenio Herrera

Trivia

Belenenses played the inaugural football match at the Santiago Bernabéu on 14 December 1947, against Real Madrid.

The club's anthem

Ilustrando o nosso emblema
Consagrado e popular
Vê-se a cruz que foi um tema
nas conquistas de além mar
Hoje, como antigamente
Nada temos que temer
Belenenses para a frente!
Com a certeza de vencer

Illustrating our emblem
Established and popular
There is the cross that was a symbol
of the conquests overseas
Today, like yesterday
We have nothing to fear
Go forward Belenenses!
Certain of the victory

Basketball

Main article: CF Belenenses (basketball)

Futsal

Main article: CF Belenenses (futsal)

Handball

Main article: CF Belenenses (handball)

Rugby

Main article: C.F. Os Belenenses (rugby)

External links

• Official website (in Portuguese).
• Detailed up-to-date Belenenses news (in English)
• CF Belenenses
• Blog do Belenenses
• Canto Azul ao Sul
• Armada Azul
• Daily Portuguese futebol news, discussion, stats, images, and more in English