Clube Desportivo Santa Clara is a Portuguese professionalfootball club fromPonta Delgada,Azores. As the most successful football team from the Azores Islands, they are the only team from the archipelago to compete in aUEFA competition, having qualified for theUEFA Intertoto Cup and theUEFA Europa Conference League.
Despite coming 14th in their first top-flight season, Santa Clara were chosen byUEFA to play in the2002 UEFA Intertoto Cup whenVitória S.C. withdrew, needing the summer to renovate theirEstádio D. Afonso Henriques forUEFA Euro 2004.[2] They beat Armenia'sShirak FC 5–3 on aggregate in the first round before falling 9–2 to CzechsFK Teplice in the second.[3] Santa Clara were relegated in 2003,[4] and then spent the next 15 years in the second tier, with the lowest point being2014–15 when the club came 19th, saving themselves from relegation with three games remaining.[5]
In 2018,Carlos Pinto's Santa Clara team ended their exile by finishing second toC.D. Nacional, and he subsequently left.[6] His successorJoão Henriques led Santa Clara to two consecutive 10th-placed finishes, their best results for position and points (43) in their history. He left in July 2020, having secured a third consecutive top-flight season for the first time in club history.[7] Under his successorDaniel Ramos in2020–21, the club finished a best-ever sixth to qualify for the inauguralUEFA Conference League.[8]
Santa Clara defeatedKF Shkupi (North Macedonia) andNK Olimpija Ljubljana (Slovenia) before falling toFK Partizan (Serbia) in theConference League playoffs.[9] Ramos left unexpectedly in October 2021 with the team in 15th.[10]Mário Silva concluded the season with the team in 7th, earning a two-year contract extension, as well as taking the team to the semi-finals of theTaça da Liga (atFC Porto's expense) for the first time.[11] Silva was sacked in January 2023 with the team 15th after as many games;[12] the form did not improve under successorsJorge Simão andDanildo Accioly and Santa Clara finished last, ending five years in the top flight.[13]
The following season, under new managerVasco Matos, Santa Clara were crowned champions of the2023-24 Liga Portugal 2, securing their promotion back to the top flight of Portuguese football. The2024-25 Primeira Liga season saw Santa Clara finish with a club record 57 points, good enough for 5th place and qualification to the2025-26 UEFA Conference League for the second time in club history.
Santa Clara play in the 12,500-seatEstádio de São Miguel inPonta Delgada, the largest city in the Azores.[14] Prior to this, the club also used Campo Municipal Jácome Correia to host home games.[15]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Pauleta played for Santa Clara in 1991 at youth level before moving on to bigger clubs where he would become one of the best Portuguese strikers of all time.
^"Santa Clara eliminado da Intertoto" [Santa Clara eliminated from the Intertoto].Record (in Portuguese). 13 July 2002.Archived from the original on 27 August 2023. Retrieved30 July 2020.
^"Carlos Alberto Silva de saída" [Carlos Alberto Silva leaving].Record (in Portuguese). 28 May 2003.Archived from the original on 27 August 2023. Retrieved30 July 2020.
Current season
Klevis Dalipi
Figueiredo
Leandro Machado
Pedro Pacheco
Hernâni Borges
Denis Pineda
Malick Evouna
Mamadu Candé
István Vincze
Shahriyar Moghanlou
Osama Rashid
Idrissa Keita
Hidemasa Morita
Muaid Ellafi
Faysal El Idrissi
Reginaldo Faife
Garba Lawal
Abdiel Arroyo
Pauleta
Martin Chrien
Mikel Villanueva
Shirak
Teplice
Shkupi
Olimpija Ljubljana
Partizan
Varaždin
Larne
Shamrock Rovers
