Grupo Desportivo de Chaves (Portuguese pronunciation:[ˈʃavɨʃ]ⓘ), commonly known asChaves, is a Portuguese professionalfootballclub fromChaves, who are playing in theLiga Portugal 2. They were founded in 1949 and currently play atEstádio Municipal Eng. Manuel Branco Teixeira. Their home kit is red-and-blue striped shirt with blue shorts and socks, and the away kit is all white. Their current president is Bruno Carvalho and their manager isMoreno. Chaves have competed in thePortuguese First Division 18 times and had their best finish of fifth-place in the 1989–90 season. They went to Europe in the 1987–88 season, where they played in theUEFA Cup, beating Romanian sideUniversitatea Craiova in the first round and losing to Hungarian teamBudapest Honvéd in the next round.
Grupo Desportivo de Chaves was founded on 27 September 1949 and is one of the most experienced teams in thePortuguese Second Division, not just because of its old culture, but also many years in the top-flightPrimeira Liga, doing quite well and playing in European tournaments, such as theUEFA Cup. Their best ever finish was in the Primeira Liga when they finished fifth in both 1986–87 and 1989–90. In the 1986–87 season, meanwhile, they had fantastic results, beatingSporting Clube de Portugal 2–1 at home in a memorable night at theEstádio Municipal de Chaves. After those fantastic seasons, they finished sixth, seventh and ninth before getting relegated in the 1992–93 season to theLiga de Honra. They returned for another few seasons but then again suffered relegation to the Liga de Honra until 2007, where they eventually got relegated to thePortuguese Second Division: Série A. In the previous season of 2007–08, they finished in fourth place, just missing out on promotion.
After a series of great results in 2008–09 that granted the team the lead of Série A, Chaves finally achieved promotion to the second-flight Liga de Honra with an aggregate 1–0 win overPenafiel, the winner of thePortuguese Second Division: Série B in a semi-final playoff. In the playoff final, it was between Chaves andFátima, in which both were guaranteed promotion to the Liga de Honra, with the final set to determine the champions. Fátima won the match 2–1.[2] Chaves spent the following three years in the third division before being crownedSegunda Divisão champions in 2012–13, thus gaining promotion back to the Segunda Liga. After missing out on promotion to the first division during a thrilling final day of the2014–15 season, Chaves were promoted the following season back to the top-flight Primeira Liga for the first time in 17 years.[3]
In September 2025, G.D. Chaves was purchased by the Mexican company GLS Promotoría del Deporte, owned by tequila entrepreneur Arturo Lomelí. This company also ownsAtlético La Paz, club of the Liga de Expansión MX, the second tier of Mexican football.[4] After the purchase, Francisco José Carvalho stepped down as club president, which was then taken over by Mexican lawyer Dante Elizalde, who had previously presided overSantos Laguna in Liga MX.[1]
Estádio Municipal Eng. Manuel Branco Teixeira is a multi-use stadium in Chaves. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of G.D. Chaves. The stadium is able to hold 8,400 people.[5] The stadium normally holds the Portugal national team youth games and also someunder-21 games, and also very rarely the senior team. This stadium is famous because it is whereCristiano Ronaldo made his seniorinternational debut withPortugal.[6]
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.
The football section has 13 presences at the top level of Portuguese football. Its best position was two fifth-place finished, in the 1986–87 and 1989–90 seasons, the first earning Chaves its only presence in the European cups.
Current season
Universitatea Craiova
Budapest Honvéd
