S.C. Lusitânia
| Full name | Sport Clube Lusitânia |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1922 |
| Ground | Estádio João Paulo II, Angra do Heroísmo, Azores Islands |
| Capacity | 7,000 |
| Chairman |  João Orlando Rebelo |
| Manager | João Eduardo Alves |
| League | Liga 3 |
| 2023–24 | Campeonato de Portugal, 2nd, Promoted |
The Sport Clube Lusitânia (commonly shortened to S.C. Lusitânia) is a sports club located in Angra do Heroísmo on the island of Terceira, in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores. Besides a football department, the club also has a basketball department that has played in the top level of the Portuguese men's basketball league system.
History
In 1922, a group of enthusiastic footballers met in the Recreio dos Artistas, and founded the Sport Clube Lusitânia, naming it for the airplane of the same name, used by Portuguese trans-Atlantic flight pioneers Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral. It became the delegation number 14 of Sporting Clube de Portugal (Sporting CP).[1][2] SC Lusitânia is club with the most championships in the Açores, which gave them their nickname "Os Verdes Campeões" (The green champions)
SC Lusitânia quickly became the dominant force in the Terceira Island, as they won the first championship of Angra Heroísmo in 1925, and won 9 of the first 10 championships, only being interrupted by SC Angrense in 1932. The club won 11 championships in a row from 1945-1955. Lusitânia continued to win most of the district championships, with unwavering support from their supporters, with many mainland clubs saying they feared the trip to Lusitânia for the intense crowd. Fans would pack the terrace and sometimes have to find a spot on a wall or roof to watch the match. The club, and the Terceira Island as a whole, reached its golden era from the 1940's to the early 1980's, with passionate fans attending matches every week, especially for Lusitânia. In 1964, they won the Açores Island championship, which gave them access to the Taça de Portugal, which in they reached the Semi Final, SC Lusitânia won promotion to the national leagues in 1978/79, becoming the first club from the Açores to do so. In the early days of national football, their support and atmosphere at the stadium was better than almost all the mainland clubs, as they regularly fought for promotion to the 2nd National Division. Slowly, with the access of television for the younger generation, support faded for Lusitânia as the younger generation watched the best clubs in the world on the television instead of the Lusitânia match. They remained in national divisions until 2011/12.
Their highest achievement is reaching the semifinals of the Taça de Portugal in 1964. They had defeated Ferroviário Lourenço Marques in the quarterfinals, the highest a Portuguese colony club ever reached in the Portuguese Cup (and only because the dictatorship of António de Oliveira Salazar allowed them to play as a means of demonstrating that Portugal's African possessions were provinces and not colonies). The headquarters of the club is in the historic manorhouse of Dona Violante do Canto.[1]
Current squad
- As of 8 November, 2024
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Basketball team
The men's basketball team is part of the Portuguese Basketball League (LCB).[3]
References
- ^ a b "História – Sport Club Lusitânia" (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 2024-04-05.
- ^ "História e projeto: eis o passado recente do centenário Lusitânia :: zerozero.pt". www.zerozero.pt (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2024-04-05.
- ^ www.basquetebol.sclusitania.com/ Archived 2007-01-01 at the Wayback Machine
External links
- Official site (in Portuguese)