Sport Clube Beira-Mar () is a Portuguese

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

based in

Aveiro, Portugal Aveiro ( or ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. In 2021, the population was 80,880, in an area of : it is the second most populous city in the Centro Region of Portugal (after Coimbra). Along with the neighbouring city of Ílhavo, Aveiro ...

. Its football team currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth national level, having gained promotion by winning the Aveiro FA First Division 2018/19 championship season. The old

Estádio Mário Duarte Estádio Mário Duarte was a football stadium in Aveiro, Portugal. It was used as the stadium of S.C. Beira-Mar matches. The capacity of the stadium was 12,000 spectators. It was demolished in the summer of 2020 as part of the expansion plans of ...

was the home ground from 1935 until 2019. From 2020, SC Beira-Mar plays home matches at

Estádio Municipal de Aveiro The Estádio Municipal de Aveiro is a football stadium in Aveiro, Portugal. It was designed for the UEFA Euro 2004 tournament by Portuguese architect Tomás Taveira. It has a capacity of 32,830 spectators, making it the fifth largest football sta ...

. The club also has

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

, judo, handball, billiards, athletics, and paintball departments. Famous Portuguese players who have represented the club include

Eusébio Eusébio da Silva Ferreira (; 25 January 1942 – 5 January 2014), nicknamed the "Black Panther", the "Black Pearl" or "O Rei" ("The King"), was a Portuguese footballer who played as a striker. He is considered one of the greatest players of ...

António Veloso António Augusto da Silva Veloso (born 31 January 1957) is a Portuguese former footballer who played most of his professional career with Benfica. A gritty defender who could appear in the flanks and on occasion in the middle, he played fo ...

, and

António Sousa António Augusto Gomes de Sousa (; born 28 April 1957) is a Portuguese former football central midfielder and manager. During his career he played, among others, for Porto and Sporting, amassing Primeira Liga totals of 483 matches and 83 go ...

. All three players have regularly been chosen for the Portugal national team and have played for the biggest clubs in the country—the former two with Benfica and the latter with both

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

and

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

. After becoming a manager, Sousa also coached the team, guiding it to win the 1999

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 sea ...

. Sport Clube Beira-Mar is a very representative club in the Centro Region.

History

File:Eusebio Portugal.JPG, 200px,

, one of the world's greatest footballers, played for Beira-Mar in the 1976–77 Primeira Liga, 1976–77 season. Beira-Mar was founded on 1 January 1922. It first reached the Primeira Liga, top division in 1961, only lasting one 1961–62 Primeira Liga, season. Subsequently, Beira-Mar reached the top flight several times enjoying a spell lasting from 1971 to 1974. In the 1976–77 campaign, former

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904 as ''Sport Lisboa'', Be ...

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

legend

signed up to play for Beira-Mar, requesting to be excluded in all matches against S.L. Benfica. Injuries prevented him from being fielded regularly, and the campaign ended in relegation. In 1988 Beira-Mar returned to the "Primeira Divisão" managing to remain there most of the following years and achieving a best ever sixth place overall finish in the 1990/91 top league season and also reaching the Cup final. In 1999 the club again reached the Cup final, this time defeating S.C. Campomaiorense 1–0 to win the

. Beira-Mar's goal was scored by Ricardo Sousa, son of coach

, who played for the club in the 1970s. Despite winning its biggest honour to date, the team was relegated at season's end. As the

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tourn ...

was discontinued in 1999, Beira-Mar participated in the

1999–2000 UEFA Cup The 1999–2000 UEFA Cup season was the 29th edition of the UEFA Cup competition. The final took place at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen and was won by Galatasaray, who defeated Arsenal in the final. The game was scoreless through the first nin ...

, losing 1–2 on aggregate to Dutch club Vitesse. In the domestic league, the club finished second place in the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

, automatically returning to the top flight. On 23 February 2002, Beira-Mar achieved a 3–2 away win against FC Porto, which was managed by a young José Mourinho; it would be his last home defeat in the following decade. In 2006, former

European Golden Shoe The European Golden Shoe, also known as European Golden Boot, is an award that is presented each season to the leading goalscorer in league matches from the top division of a European national league. The trophy is a sculpture of a football boo ...

winner

Mário Jardel Mário Jardel de Almeida Ribeiro (; born 18 September 1973) is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He was most noted for his positioning on the field and his heading ability. He was a legend for Grêmio, play ...

returned to Portugal to play for Beira-Mar, signing a one-year contract. The Brazilian scored in his official debut, a 2–2 home draw against Desportivo das Aves, but gradually lost his importance in the team and later transferred to a club in Cyprus. In 2007 Beira-Mar was

relegated In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

in a campaign that included the sacking of manager Carlos Carvalhal, who was replaced by Spaniard Francisco Soler after the team signed a deal with Inverfutbol, a Spanish-based sporting company. In 2010, Beira-Mar finished the season as second division champions and returned to the top division after a three-year absence. In 2013, the team was relegated to the

for finishing in last place. In 2015, Beira-Mar was demoted by administrative decree to the second-lowest league of the Aveiro FA district ( Associação de Futebol de Aveiro), the fifth lowest overall level in the pyramid, despite finishing tenth, due to financial difficulties and debt. According to the FA legislation, the club was found ineligible to participate in national competitions and had to restart competitive activity from the bottom in the regional levels. Following promotions in 2016 and 2019, Beira-Mar returned to the national leagues, entering the third-tier Campeonato de Portugal for the 2019–20 season.

Current squad

League and Cup history

European record

By qualifying to play in the 1999 edition of

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

, Beira-Mar became the second team from a second division to appear in the competition, after Bray Wanderers from the Republic of Ireland in 1990.

Honours

National

:Winners (1): 1998–99 * Segunda Liga :Winners (2): 2005–06, 2009–10 *

Segunda Divisão The Segunda Divisão Portuguesa (English: ''Portuguese Second Division'') was a football league situated at the third level of the Portuguese football league system. The division had previously been the second level of the Portuguese pyramid but, w ...

:Winners (3): 1960–61, 1964–65, 1970–71 *

Terceira Divisão The Terceira Divisão Portuguesa (in English: ''Portuguese Third Division'') was a football league in Portugal, situated at the fourth level of the Portuguese football league system. The Third Division was initially the third level of the Portugue ...

:Winners (1): 1958–59

Other

* Taça Ribeiro dos Reis :Winners (1): 1964–65 * AF Aveiro Championship :Winners (4): 1928–29, 1937–38, 2018–19, 2021–22 * AF Aveiro First Division :Winners (3): 1948–49, 1955–56, 1958–59 * AF Aveiro Cup :Winners (2): 2017–18, 2021–22 * AF Aveiro Supercup :Winners (2): 2019, 2021

Stadiums

From 1935 until 2019, Beira-Mar played home games at

, a 12,000- seating capacity ground in the city center. However, during this time, there were exceptions to Mario Duarte stadium use exclusivity when Beira-Mar occasionally used the new Municipal Stadium, purpose built for the 2004 Euro Championship. After the 2015 relegation, due to the poor economic situation of the club, Mario Duarte Stadium played an important role in the team recovering their support base due to the ease of access by the local fans. Due to the stadium's ground being conveniently situated next door, the latest city planning and infrastructure developments require the area presently occupied by Mario Duarte Stadium for the long waiting expansion of Aveiro's main regional hospital. As a result of these developments, the city authorities reached a deal with the club for the use of the new

by Beira-Mar S. C.. This modern 32000 seat stadium was purpose built to host some matches in the 2004 Euro Championship, is currently undergoing further development on its adjoining grounds by the Aveiro Football Association to establish new training facilities and a football academy. Nevertheless, due to the stadium's position being about 5 km outside the city limits next to the highway, does not enjoy public transportation accesses or shuttle services, thus, it never was very popular with Beira-Mar home or visiting supporters, who preferred the old historical stadium's cosiness and ease of access. To counter the stadium's lack of popularity due to accessibility problems, the local authorities are studying the implementation of a new shuttle service scheme incorporating the metropolitan bus services for match days, to help supporters reach the stadium easily. A passenger link from Aveiro railway station could also become a reality in the future by using the existing Vouga railway line that passes a few hundred meters from the stadium.

Notable players

Note: this list includes players who have played at least 100 league games and/or have reached international status. * Eugene Galeković *

Fernando Aguiar Fernando João Lobo Aguiar (born 18 March 1972) is a Canadian former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He was arguably Canada's second most successful player to have competed in Portugal, after Alex Bunbury, and w ...

Pavel Srníček Pavel Srníček (10 March 1968 – 29 December 2015) was a Czech football coach and former professional player who played as a goalkeeper. In a career that lasted from 1990 to 2007, he notably played in the Premier League mainly for Newcastle ...

Magdi Abdelghani Magdi Abdelghani Sayed Ahmed ( ar, مجدي عبد الغني سيد أحمد; born 27 July 1959) is an Egyptian retired professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Playing career Abdelghani won 50 caps for Egypt, and at the ...

Javier Balboa Javier Ángel Balboa Osa (born 13 May 1985) is a former professional footballer who played as a winger, most notably for Real Madrid and Benfica. After emerging at Real Madrid's youth system, he could never establish himself in its first t ...

Nazmi Faiz Muhamad Nazmi Faiz bin Mansor (born 16 August 1994) is a Malaysian professional footballer who plays for Malaysia Super League club Johor Darul Ta'zim and the Malaysia national team. Nazmi plays mainly as a central midfielder but can also pla ...

* Mourtala Diakité *

Andrija Delibašić Andrija Delibašić (Serbian Cyrillic: Андрија Делибашић, ; born 24 April 1981) is a Montenegrin retired professional footballer who played as a striker. After starting out at Partizan he went on to spend most of his career in ...

Antolín Alcaraz Antolín Alcaraz Viveros (born 30 July 1982) is a Paraguayan professional footballer who plays for Club Olimpia as a centre-back. He rarely settled with a team in his early career, before signing in 2003 with Beira-Mar and remaining with ...

* Dinis *

* Fary Faye *

Marián Zeman Marián Zeman (born 7 July 1974) is a Slovak former footballer who played at both professional and international levels as a central defender. Active at club level in Slovakia, Turkey, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Greece and Portugal, Zeman made ...

* Jan Lechaba * Tobias Grahn * Andy Marriott

Former managers

* Fernando Vaz (1975–76) *

Fernando Cabrita Fernando da Silva Cabrita (1 May 1923 – 22 September 2014) was a Portuguese football forward and manager. He amassed Primeira Liga totals of 295 games and 88 goals over the course of 14 seasons, in representation of Olhanense and Sporting d ...

(1977–79) * Mário Lino (1986–87) *

Jean Thissen Jean Thissen (born 21 April 1946) is a retired Belgian international footballer. At the club level, he played for Standard Liège and Anderlecht. He also played internationally for the Belgium national football team in the 1970 FIFA World Cup ...

(1987–90) * Zoran Filipović (1993–94) * Rodolfo Reis (1994–95) * Acácio (1995) *

(1997 – 2004) *

Mick Wadsworth Michael Wadsworth (born 3 November 1950) is an English football coach and former player. Born in Barnsley his playing career spanned only one season in The Football League with Scunthorpe United, along with spells playing for Gainsborough Tr ...

(July 2004 – Sept 04) *

Manuel Cajuda Manuel Ventura Cajuda de Sousa (born 27 June 1951) is a Portuguese retired footballer who played as a midfielder, and the manager of Leixões SC. In a career which spanned three decades, he managed nearly 20 teams in his own country, and also ...

(Sept 2004 – Dec 04) * Augusto Inácio (April 2005 – Nov 06) * Carlos Carvalhal (Nov 2006 – Jan 07) * Francisco Soler (Jan 2007 – May 7) *

Rogério Gonçalves Rogério de Sousa Gonçalves (born 1 October 1959) is a Portuguese football manager, currently in charge of Mozambican club Clube Ferroviário da Beira. In a career of over three decades, he had brief Primeira Liga spells at Varzim, Naval, ...

(May 2007 – Feb 08) * Paulo Sérgio (Feb 2008 – May 8) *

(June 2008 – Nov 08) *

Leonardo Jardim José Leonardo Nunes Alves Sousa Jardim (; born 1 August 1974) is a Portuguese football manager, currently in charge of Emirati club Shabab Al Ahli. He started working at the professional level at the age of 35, initially with Camacha and Cha ...

(May 2009 – Feb 11) *

Rui Bento Rui Fernando da Silva Calapez Pereira Bento (born 14 January 1972) is a Portuguese former footballer who played mostly as a central defender, currently manager of the Kuwait national team. Over 13 seasons, he amassed Primeira Liga totals of 321 ...

(March 2011 – Feb 12) * Ulisses Morais (Feb 2012 – Feb 13) *

Costinha Francisco José Rodrigues da Costa (born 1 December 1974), known as Costinha (), is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder, currently a manager. Best known for his tackling and positioning, as well as ...

(Feb 2013 – May 13) * Jorge Neves (May 2013 – January 14)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beira-Mar Association football clubs established in 1922 Taça de Portugal winners 1922 establishments in Portugal Primeira Liga clubs Liga Portugal 2 clubs Football clubs in Portugal