Vilaverdense F.C. (known for 4 years as Länk FC Vilaverdense) is a Portuguese
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
club based in
Vila Verde in the
district of Braga.
They currently play in the
Liga 3, the third tier of
Portuguese football
Association football (), the most popular sport in Portugal, has a long and storied history in the country, following its introduction in 1875 in cities such as Funchal, Lisbon, Porto and Coimbra by English merchants and Portuguese students a ...
.
The club is affiliated to
Associação de Futebol de Braga and has competed in the AF Braga Taça. The club has also entered the national cup competition known as
Taça de Portugal
The Taça de 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 Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...
on occasion.
It also competes in
women's football Women's football most often refers to:
* Women's association football
Women's football may also refer to:
* Women's gridiron football
* Women's Australian rules football
* Ladies' Gaelic football
* Women's rugby league
* Women's rugby union
...
, with a more successful
team
A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal.
As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to in ...
playing in the first tier,
Campeonato Nacional de Futebol Feminino, using the 3,000-seat Municipal Stadium.
History
The club was founded in 1953 as Vilaverdense F.C. and play their home matches at Campo da Cruz do Reguengo in Vila Verde. The stadium is a 1,000 spectator all-seater.
In 2020, the club's name and crest was changed following an acquisition of 90% of the club's SAD (Anonymous Shareholder Sport Association) by Länk. These changes caused some controversy.
On 11 June 2023, In the
2022–23 season, following a strong season that had the team in the top half of the table for the majority of the time, they managed to jump to second place in Série A, in the promotion rounds finish in second place at Série 2 and qualified for the promotion play-off against
B-SAD
B-SAD was a Portuguese football club currently based in Almada, founded on 30 June 2018 as an independent entity. An offshoot of Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses, they played four seasons in the Primeira Liga, being relegated to the Liga Portugal ...
. They drew the first leg at home with 1–1 and won the second leg in Rio Maior with 0–1 and thus with an aggregate score of 1–2, secured promotion to the
2023–24 Liga Portugal 2
The 2023–24 Liga Portugal 2 (also known as Liga Portugal SABSEG for sponsorship reasons) was the 34th season of Portuguese football's second-tier league and the fourth season under the current Liga Portugal 2 title. A total of 18 teams compete ...
for the first time in history from next season. They were relegated after one season following a 17th finish.
Involvement with Länk
In 2020, a Canadian group named Länk acquired 90% of Vilaverdense's SAD, promising to improve the club's stadium. With this they changed the club's name to Länk Vilaverdense and its badge to one in black and white, removing the green used to represent Vila Verde ("Green Town"). The team's kits, however, are still green.
Although the acquisition was approved by the club's associates, the changes made by Länk came under heavy fire by the club's supporters and caused controversy.
League history
Players
Current squad
Out on loan
Honours
*
AF Braga Divisão de Honra: 2010–11
*AF Braga Taça: 1988/89, 1990/91, 1992/93, 1997/98, 2009/10
References
External links
* . .
{{Liga Portugal 2
Football clubs in Portugal
Association football clubs established in 1953
1953 establishments in Portugal
Sport in Vila Verde
Liga Portugal 2 clubs
Campeonato Nacional Feminino teams