Clube Desportivo Santa Clara (IPA: ['klub(ɨ) dɨʃpuɾ'tivu 'sɐ̃tɐ 'klaɾɐ]) is an Portuguesefootball club from Ponta Delgada, Azores. To date, it is the only club from the Azores to have competed in the top division of the Portuguese Liga, although they currently compete in the Liga de Honra. Among its most famous players are Paulo Figueiredo, Lito Vidigal and Jorge Ribeiro. Pedro Pauleta was a youth player at the club. Santa Clara is one of the only teams from the Azores area to participate in the Portuguese Liga: due to the geographic area of the Azores, Santa Clara's rivals are C.D. Nacional and C.S. Marítimo, both from Madeira Island. Matches against teams from Madeira prove to be very heated affairs, with both sets of fans segregated and heightened security required. Santa Clara play in the Estádio de São Miguel (In English, The Stadium of Saint Michael) in Ponta Delgada, the largest city in the Azores. The club also shares lesser rivalries with F.C. Vizela and Trofense The club also qualified for the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 2002, where they crushed and ran riot against Armenia club FC Shirak, while Santa Clara were in the Second division. The current Club captain is Nuno Sociedade. The clubs most successful manager was Manuel José Tavares Fernandes a former Portugal International. Fernandes was the first manager to take Santa Clara to the First Division, where he was praised in the Azores. Santa Clara's current kit manufactuer is Umbro and their sponsors are Açoreana Seguros. The club also played in the old Estádio da Luz as Benfica's last official match before a new stadium was built in Lisbon FOR EURO 2004 in which Portugal hosted,the total capacity that game was close to 50,000 people.
Prior to CS Maritimo's October 2006 betandwin.com Liga clash against Naval 1º de Maio, Maritimo and fellow Madeira rivals CD Nacional announced that construction would begin on the brand-new 31,000 all-seated Estádio do Madeira in the nearby Praia Formosa area of Funchal. After Portuguese press released this statement, officials in the Azores also prompted for a brand new stadium in the Azores for Santa Clara, where Santa Clara and Portugal would play in. So far Madeira's new stadium is in the works but Santa Clara's new stadium is now being looked at, but President Cruz says he will only consider it when Santa Clara get promoted into the Superliga. During the 1990s the lack of funds going into Santa Clara where noticeable as the Club fell from the First Division and sank deeply into the 2nd. It was this period that also saw the Azores and Madeira derby grow even stronger as CD Nacional and C.S. Marítimo fans would sing "O Baco Açoreana esta no Fundo" (Translated as: "the Azorean boat has just sank to the bottom"), but in recent times, President Cruz Marques has been investing more time and money into the club such as into the ever growing talent of Rúben Rodrigues and players such as talented keeper João Botelho. The club is favourite in the Liga de Honra to get promoted for the current season. Politics also takes part in the Madeira and Azores derby with Madeira's controversial regional governor Alberto João Jardim being a self-confessed C.S. Marítimo supporter and also because of the heated relationship with the two regional governors, while of course the Azores regional governor, Carlos César is a self confessed Santa Clara fan. The derby even competes with each other using players as Madeira's most famous footballer being Cristiano Ronaldo who played for Madeira club CD Nacional who currently plays for Manchester United FC and the Azores had Prolific Striker and all-time leading scorer for Portugal,Pedro Pauleta who played for C.D. Santa Clara, this only exacerbates the ill-feeling between the clubs and Islands.
Current Squad
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Cruz Marques
Diogo Rodrigues Siston Transferred To Aris FC
Pedro Pauleta
Klevis Dalpi
Dimitri Prokopenko
Youssef Nader
Moisés Alvarez Goya
Figueiredo
Faysal El Idrissi
István Vincze
