Benfica de Santa Cruz

Benfica de Santa Cruz
Full name Grupo Desportivo Benfica de Santa Cruz
Grupo Desportivo Benfica
Founded November 25, 2005
Ground Estadio Municipal 25 de Julho, Pedra Badejo, Santiago Island, Cape Verde
Ground Capacity 8,000
League Santiago Island League (South)
2015–16 10th

Grupo Desportivo Benfica de Santa Cruz, sometimes as Grupo Desportivo Benfica is a football (soccer) club that plays in the Santiago Island North League in Cape Verde. It is based in the town of Calheta de São Miguel in the island of Santiago and plays at Estádio Municipal 25 de Julho located northwest of the city center.

The club is an affiliate to Portugal's S.L. Benfica of Lisbon. It is the only one affiliated to in the North Zone and one of the three on the island, the others are Praia's CD Travadores and Benfica (Benfiquinha), forming the only on the island having three Benfica based clubs.

History

The club was founded on November 25, 2005 and first competed in the regional competitions in the late 2000s.

In 2011, they got their greatest position of first place of the final phase and won the North Zone's regional championships and qualified into the Nationals. Their first national level challenge was from the south of the island, Sporting Clube da Praia and lost 1-0 on May 15. Benfica Santa Cruz defeated Sal Rei and later São Nicolau's FC Ultramarina. On 4 June, a goal draw was made with Fogo's Vulcânicos and the final match was also a draw with CS Mindelense from São Vicente, neither goals were scored, their final position was that the club did not head to the playoffs, third place with 8 points, 2 wins and 4 goals scored. From 2012 to 2014, the seasons would not be successful for the club.

In recent history, in 2015, the club finished 7th in the first phase and had 15 points, 3 wins and scored 11 goals. Another aim for the success came for Benfica in the 2015-16 season, the first ever as the Premier Division, their extended season doubled the matches than the previous season and failed to reached the tops as they finished 10th with 29 points and had 8 wins and scored 33 goals, just above the division decisional match qualification zone, a fifty-fifty chance of staying or being relegated.

In the 2016-17 season, the second season as the Premier Division, the club started 4th, then down to 7th after a draw with Grémio Nhágar and a loss to Desportivo Santa Cruz but steadily came back to third on January 25 after defeating the previous champion GD Varandinha 2-1 on January 25. Benfica headed for another successful season and reached 2nd, dropped to third after a loss to Estrela dos Amadores at home at the 9th round, regained it after a win over AJAC de Calheta and reached 1st place at the 12th round, after a win over Flor Jovem, later their statistics reached record level, never before for Benfica. Their last place position eroded on 25 March as they lost to Scorpion Vermelho of the same municipality 0-1. Benfica headed on a four match winning streak, after a win over Tarrafal's Beira-Mar regained the first position for the remainder of the season, their last win of the season was a victory over União Picos and kicked that club out of the Premier Division in the following season. The winning streak ended as they made a goal draw with Tarrafal's Estrela dos Amadores, then their 5 match unbeaten streak ended after the final loss of the season was made to AJAC who was attempted to make their fake championship but did not. At the same time, Benfica Santa Cruz and some other clubs protested AJAC's round 16 win over Juventus Assomada where AJAC fielded a suspended player that had two yellow cards, named Marco Aurélio, AJAC did not and that president defended it along with other clubs.[1] The final match of the season was a two-goal draw with Juventus Assomada and the final result went to uncertainty. On May 11, the Judicial Council of the North Zone said that Benfica de Santa Cruz were crowned Premier Division champions of the North Zone and would have got their next regional title in six years.[2] It was overturned and AJAC became champions and Benfica was placed second.[3]

Their win totals equals to AJAC. Benfica Santa Cruz was placed in Group A alongside Fogo's Vulcânicos, their first round match with Vulcânicos of Fogo which was to be on May 13 was delayed.

Record statistics

Their record of 46 points has become a club record and become one of the highest in the North Zone and any of the regional championships, it equals to the South Zone's Sporting made in 2006 and Praia's Boavista's and Desportivo's in 2016, also both of the South Zone. It is behind Sporting Praia's totals of 2012 (47 points, also shared with Fogo's Académica) and 2013 (48 points) alongside others with 48 points including Vulcânicos and ahead of its 45 points in 2010 made by Sporting, Académica Praia's in 2004 and recently in 2017 and Vulcânicos of Fogo in 2004 and 2017.

Logo and uniform

Its logo is colored red and white, nearly the same as SL Benfica.

Its logo is with a white crest (not fully circular) with a golden bird above, a green-red ribbon, as SL Benfica reads "E pluribus unum", Benfica Santa Cruz reads its club name, not the full name but as Benfica Santa Cruz. It has a red and white shield with a ball and a blue ribbon with the club name acronym in the middle. Other logos in the nation are the same (with some similarity) are Praia's CD Travadores, Benfica da Praia (Benfiquinha), Paulense, Sport Sal Rei Club, Ribeira Brava's SC Atlético, Nô Pintcha dos Mosteiros and Benfica of Brava.

Honours

2011

League and cup history

National championship

Season Div. Pos. Pl. W D L GS GA GD P Cup Notes Playoffs
2011 1A 3 5212 54+18 Did not advance Did not participate

Island/Regional Championship

Season Div. Pos. Pl. W D L GS GA GD P Notes
2010–11 2 1 ---- --- Promoted into the National Championships
2014–15 2-1 7 12363 1110+1115 Did not advance
2015–16[4] 2 10 258512 3330+329
2016–17 2 2 221444 3316+1746

Statistics

References

  1. ↑ "Campeonato Nacional/Futebol: Presidente da AJAC acredita que foi reposta a justiça desportiva" (in Portuguese). Inforpress. 18 May 2017. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  2. ↑ "Futebol/Santiago Norte: Conselho Jurisdicional penaliza AJAC de Calheta e Benfica de Santa Cruz vai ao Nacional" [Judicial Council Barred AJAC da Calheta and Benfica de Santa Cruz Goes to National Championships] (in Portuguese). Inforpress. 11 May 2017. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
  3. ↑ "Campeonato Nacional de Futebol: Conselho de Justiça da FCF decide a favor da AJAC." [National Championships: FCF Justice Council Chose to Favour AJAC] (in Portuguese). Inforpress. 17 May 2017. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  4. ↑ Batalha, José (16 December 2015). "2015/16 Santiago North Premier Division". RSSSF. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
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