C.D. Nacional

Nacional

Full name	Clube Desportivo Nacional
Nickname(s)	Alvinegros (White-and-Black) Nacionalistas (Nationalists)
Founded	8 December 1910 (8 December 1910)
Ground	Estádio da Madeira [1]
Ground Capacity	5,000
Chairman	Rui Alves
Manager	Manuel Machado
League	Primeira Liga
2014–15	7th
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours

Clube Desportivo Nacional, commonly known as Nacional and sometimes Nacional da Madeira (Portuguese pronunciation: [nɐsjuˈnaɫ dɐ mɐˈdɐjɾɐ]), is a Portuguese football club based in Funchal, in the island of Madeira.^[2]

Founded in 1910, it currently plays in the Primeira Liga, Portugal's top-tier division of professional football. It plays its home games at Estádio da Madeira, also known as Estádio da Choupana. Built in 1998 and named at the time Estádio Eng. Rui Alves after the current club president Rui Alves, it seats approximately 5,132 people. The stadium is located in the north of Funchal, high in the mountains of the Choupana district.

The club's home colours are black and white striped shirts with black shorts and socks. Nacional is also known for being one of the clubs that formed Portuguese international Cristiano Ronaldo and to honour the club's most famous player they named their youth training facilities Cristiano Ronaldo Campus Futebol.

The Alvinegros best top-tier league finish was fourth in the 2003–04 Primeira Liga season and their best participation in European competitions was in the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League after beating Zenit St. Petersburg in the play-off round and managing to secure a third place in the group stage.

Like many other Portuguese clubs, Nacional operates several sports teams outside of the football team. Other sports groups within the organisation include beach soccer, boxing, artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, tennis, triathlon, muay thai, padel, rallying, swimming and veterans' soccer.

History

Nacional reached the first division for the first time ever in the mid-90s, returning again in 2002–03. The following season was arguably the best ever season, as the side finished fourth in the league, just squeaking past Braga. In that season, three of its key players were Paulo Assunção, a defensive midfielder, and goal-machine Adriano, who netted 19 times. Both would later go to Porto, while the third key player, winger Miguelito, joined Benfica in 2006.

Nacional also had a quarter-final run in the domestic cup, and would lose in the first round of the subsequent 2004–05 UEFA Cup, being defeated twice by Sevilla. In 2006–07's edition, more of the same occurred with two early losses to Rapid Bucureşti.

In the 2008–09 season, Nacional again edged Braga for the final fourth spot, mainly courtesy of Nenê, who scored 20 goals and won the Golden Boot honor. The side also reached the last-four in the Portuguese Cup, losing on aggregate 5–4 to Paços de Ferreira, with the decider coming at the Estádio da Madeira in the 90th minute.

2009–10 started without Nenê, who was sold to Cagliari for a club-record fee of €4.5 million. In August 2009, however, the club managed to defeat former UEFA Super Cup winners Zenit St. Petersburg in the UEFA Europa League last round prior to the group stages; after a 4–3 home win, youngster Rúben Micael scored another last-minute goal, as the club was trailing 1–0 in Russia. In the next round, Nacional was drawn alongside Athletic Bilbao, Austria Wien, and Werder Bremen; the Austrians were beaten 5–1 in Madeira, but the Portuguese did not progress to the knockout rounds.

In the 2014–15 season Nacional had a slow start to it, being eliminated of 2014–15 UEFA Europa League in the play-off round against Dinamo Minsk, after losing two times in a 2–0 away loss^[3] and a 2–3 home loss.^[4] But after that the club accomplished a major achievement, after beating rivals Marítimo in a 3–0 home win for the 2014–15 Primeira Liga^[5] the Alvinegros managed to beat them again, this time in a 1–1 away draw for the quarter-finals of the 2014–15 Taça de Portugal where Nacional eventually won 6–5 at penalties, granting the team the qualification for the semi-finals of the competition.^[6]

Stadium

The Estádio da Madeira, better known as the Choupana, houses Nacional. The current stadium is located around nearby training pitches. The club also built an academy campus in name of its most famous player, Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo. The stadium was renovated in 2007 for a new stand and also increasing the capacity to over 5,000 spectators. The total price of the renovations was €20 million.

In these new facilities, no stands were put behind the goals, with a tall fence used in its place. In mid-2007, the stadium name was changed to Estádio da Madeira, because of the excellent sports facilities.

Rivalry

Nacional in 1925

Nacional has a big rivalry with Madeira-neighbours Marítimo. Historically, Marítimo dominated Nacional in the early years, being the first to reach European competition. Nacional, however, have crept up in the UEFA standings, finishing fourth twice and fifth in the 2000s.

The Madeira Derby is often associated with the clubs' followers differing culture and way of life. The fans of Nacional, being of a higher socio-economic status than those of Marítimo, were mainly lobbyists for the commercial expansion of Madeira, but the working class Marítimo followers were keen to preserve Madeira. This only exacerbated the ill-feeling between the clubs.

The rivalry heightened when youngster Ronaldo declined an offer from Marítimo in favour of Nacional, where his godfather was a member of the board.

Honours

National

• Portuguese Second Division
  • Winners (1): 1999–00

Regional

• AF Madeira Championship
  • Winners (8): 1934–35, 1936–37, 1938–39, 1941–42, 1942–43, 1943–44, 1968–69, 1974–75

• AF Madeira Cup
  • Winners (6): 1943–44, 1944–45, 1973–74, 1974–75, 2001–02, 2007–08

Other titles

• Ramón de Carranza Trophy
  • Winners (1): 2012

Recent seasons

Last updated: 26 May 2015
Pos. = Position; Pl. = Match Played; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Lost; GS = Goal Scored; GA = Goal Against; Pts = Points

European record

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2004–05	UEFA Cup	R1	Sevilla	1–2	0–2	1–4
2006–07	UEFA Cup	R1	Rapid Bucureşti	1–2	0–1	1–3
2009–10	UEFA Europa League	PO	Zenit St. Petersburg	4–3	1–1	5–4
		Group L	Werder Bremen	2–3	1–4	3rd place
			Austria Wien	5–1	1–1
			Athletic Bilbao	1–1	1–2
2011–12	UEFA Europa League	2Q	FH Hafnarfjördur	2–0	1–1	3–1
		3Q	Häcken	3–0	1–2	4–2
		PO	Birmingham City	0–0	0–3	0–3
2014–15	UEFA Europa League	PO	Dinamo Minsk	2–3	0–2	2–5

Last updated: 28 August 2014
Q = Qualifying; PO = Play-off

Current squad

As of 18 January, 2016^[7]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Eduardo Gottardi 2 DF João Aurélio 4 DF Alan Henrique 5 DF Nuno Sequeira 6 MF Ali Ghazal 7 FW Salvador Agra 8 MF Nenê Bonilha 12 GK Rui Silva 17 MF Boubacar 18 FW Francisco Soares 19 MF Joan Román (on loan from Braga) 20 MF Jota 22 DF Nuno Campos

No. Position Player 24 GK Kevin Sousa 27 FW Ricardo (on loan from Vitória Guimarães) 28 FW Willyan Barbosa 30 MF Luís Aurélio 31 DF Hicham Belkaroui 33 DF Rui Correia 34 DF Miguel Rodrigues 36 GK Duarte Nuno 52 MF Paulinho 55 DF Mauro Cerqueira 81 FW Witi 89 MF Washington 91 FW Rodrigo Pinho (on loan from Braga)

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 68 MF Edgar Abreu (on loan from Leiria) -- DF Diogo Coelho (on loan from Chaves) -- MF Sérgio Duarte (on loan from Oriental)

Notable former players

Rafik Halliche Marco Airosa Mateus Fernando Ávalos Julio Marchant Walter Otta Adriano Adriano Rossato Alexandre Goulart Alonso André Pinto Claudemir Cléber Diego Barcellos Fernando Cardozo Geufer Juliano Spadacio Leandro Bonfim Leandro Salino Luís Alberto Nenê Paulo Assunção Pedro Oldoni

Rafael Bracalli Serginho Serginho Baiano Wendel Georgi Chilikov Douglas Pajetat Fernando Aguiar Pedro Pacheco Darko Bodul Duje Čop Kristijan Brčić Arnaud Margueritte Jérôme Sykora Adilson Kevin Amuneke Pascal Kondaponi Sylvanus Okpala Bruno Amaro Bruno Fernandes Bruno Patacas Carlos Chainho Costinha Cristiano Ronaldo

Fábio Coentrão Henrique Hilário João Coimbra João Moreira Luís Neto Miguelito Miguel Fidalgo Oceano Orlando Sá Ricardo Esteves Ricardo Fernandes Ricardo Pateiro Rúben Micael Vítor Pontes Predrag Jokanović Darko Anić Jovo Bosančić Carlos Pérez José Belman Ermin Rakovič Nejc Pečnik Diego Benaglio Marcelo Lipatin

Cristiano Ronaldo was one of Nacional's successful youth products, playing for the club from 1995–97.

Former managers

Chairmen

Records and statistics

Most appearances Competitive, professional matches only, appearances as substitute included in total. # Name Career Appearances 1 Bruno Patacas 2002–11 271 2 Serginho 1994–04 270 3 Ivo Vieira 1994–04 202 4 Cléber 2003–10 213 5 Mateus 2008–13 142 6 Fernando Ávalos 2003–08 131 7 Felipe Lopes 2007–12 129 8 Alonso 2004–09 128 9 Rafael Bracalli 2006–11 126 10 Claudemir 2010–14 118

Most goals Competitive, professional matches only, appearances as substitute included in total. # Name Career Goals 1 Serginho 1994–04 80 2 Adriano 2002–05 47 3 Mateus 2008–13 35 4 Claudemir 2010–14 25 5 Nenê 2008–09 22 6 André Pinto 2002–06 21 7 Alonso 2004–09 13

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Clube Desportivo Nacional.

• Official website (Portuguese)