Leça F.C.

Leça Futebol Clube, better known as Leça FC or simply Leça, is a Portuguese football club located in the town of Leça da Palmeira, Matosinhos. Founded in 1912, it had a spell in the top-flight Primeira Liga in 1941–42 and between 1995 and 1998, when it was relegated for financial irregularities. In the 2022–23 season they played in the Campeonato de Portugal. The club currently play their home games at the Estádio do Leça FC, which holds a capacity of 12,000 spectators. The current chairman is António Pinho and their current manager is João Crespo. The club's shirt and socks are white while their shorts are green.

Leça FC

Full name	Leça Futebol Clube
Founded	1912
Ground	Estádio do Leça FC, Leça da Palmeira, Matosinhos
Capacity	12,000
Chairman	António Pinho
Manager	Domingos Barros
League	Portuguese District Championships – Divisão de Elite da Porto FA, Série 1
2022–23	9th of 14 in Serie B of Campeonato de Portugal (relegated)
Website	https://lecafutebolclube.com/
Home colours Away colours

History

Founded in 1912, Leca participated in the Portuguese championships, held in cup format, from the 1927–28 to 1931–32 season, reaching the quarter-finals in 1928–29.

In 1941, the team achieved promotion to the top division – Primeira Divisão, where they played for one season 1941-42. The next participation at this level occurred more than 50 years later.

Leca participated in the Portuguese Liga from 1995 to 1998 but a decision taken by the Portuguese Football Federation based on past acts of corruption decided to relegate Leça to the Liga de Honra for 1998–99 season. The team was expected to fight for promotion but the efforts were not enough to bring the team to the top level again. In the upcoming years, the club was affected by financial problems that cut some of the desire of wanting the team back to the top. Because of the team's lower budget, new goals were set. The main goal was now to make the club financially secure and then try to put the team back on the first division.

However, after a series of events of bad management of the financial status by the presidents, it has been related that some of the presidents stole money from the club to use for their own benefit, which was unpaid wages to the team professionals, unqualified team coaches and other sporting factors. Since then, they've been dubbed as strong candidates to promotion but never confirmed the expectations, finishing in mid-table and surprisingly sometimes near the bottom of the table.

In the 2002–03 season they were relegated from the Segunda Liga, a year later and from the third league (Segunda Divisão B). Since then they have made one appearance in the third tier of the league system - in the 2007/08 season, playing in the lower leagues, including at regional level. In the 2020–21 season of league Campeonato de Portugal they achieved promotion, but due to the inability to obtain a license due to debt to tax authorities, a place in the new Liga 3 was given to the team that took the next place.

Since June 7, 2021 registered as Leça Futebol SAD (Leça Futebol Clube - Futebol SAD)

In the 2022–23 season, the team finished 9th out of 14 in Serie B of the league Portuguese Championship, and since the last 6 teams were relegated, Leca moved to the Championship of Porto FA.

Badge

The club's badge is in green and white, the club colours. The castle on top of it represents Leça da Palmeira, the city which the club was in on its foundation in 1912.

Rivalries

• Leixões S.C.

Famous players

• Sérgio Conceição
• Ricardo Carvalho

Stadium

Leça play their games at the Estádio do Leça FC. The current stadium has played host to many matches down the years in the Portuguese Liga or in the Liga de Honra. It currently has a capacity of 12,000 spectators and has two big stands in green and white which symbolizes the club's colours. The stands also feature the name of the club on both sides of the pitch. The club built the stadium in 1992 as Leça were ready to go into the top flight of Portuguese football.

Honours

• Segunda Liga (Tier 2)

• Winners (1): 1994–95

• Segunda Divisão (Tier 2)

• Runners-up (1): 1940–41

• Segunda Divisão B (Tier 3)

• Winners (1): 1992–93 (zona Norte)

• Terceira Divisão (Tier 4)

• Winners (1): 2006–07 (Série B)

• Campeonato de Portugal (league) (Tier 4)

• Runners-up (1): 2020–21 (Serie C and Serie 3 of qualification Series)

• Taça de Portugal

• Quarter-finals (2): 1994–95, 2021–22

• Campeonato de Portugal (1922–1938)

• Quarter-finals (1): 1928–29

League Cup and History

As of April 14, 2009

Season	Division	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	Pts	Portuguese Cup	Notes
1968–69	II Divisão	7th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	–
1969–70	II Divisão	14th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	–
1970–71	II Divisão	7th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	–
1971–72	II Divisão	5th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	–
1972–73	II Divisão	8th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	–
1973–74	III Divisão	9th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	–
1974–75	III Divisão	12th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	–
1975–76	III Divisão	9th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	–
1976–77	III Divisão	14th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	Relegated
1977–78	1º Escalão Dist.	1st	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	Promoted
1978–79	III Divisão	4th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	–
1979–80	III Divisão	10th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	–
1980–81	III Divisão	1st	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	Promoted
1981–82	II Divisão	10th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	–
1982–83	II Divisão	14th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	Relegated
1983–84	III Divisão	15th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	Relegated
1984–85	Distritais – 1ª Divisão	8th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	–
1985–86	Distritais – 1ª Divisão	2nd	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	Promoted
1986–87	III Div.	6th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	Relegated
1987–88	III Div.	6th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	Relegated
1988–89	III Div.	7th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	Relegated
1989–90	III Div.	4th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	Relegated
1990–91	II Divisão B	17th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–
1991–92	II Divisão B	2nd	??	??	??	??	??	??	–
1992–93	II Divisão B	1st	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	Promoted
1993–94	Liga de Honra	8th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–
1994–95	Liga de Honra	1st	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	Promoted
1995–96	Primeira Liga	14th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	–
1996–97	Primeira Liga	14th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	Relegated
1997–98	Primeira Liga	12th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	Relegated
1998–99	Liga de Honra	6th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–
1999–2000	Liga de Honra	11th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–
2000–01	Liga de Honra	13th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–
2001–02	Liga de Honra	11th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–
2002–03	Liga de Honra	17th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	–
2003–04	II Div.	19th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	Relegated
2004–05	III Div.	5th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	–
2005–06	III Div.	9th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	–
2006–07	III Div.	1st	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	Promoted
2007–08	III Div.	13th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	Relegated
??	??	??	??	??	??	–
2008–09	III Div.	7th	??	??	??	??	??	??	–	–
??	??	??	??	??	??	–

Current squad

As of 22 April 2020

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

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
2	DF	POR	Joel Mateus
3	DF	POR	Manuel Lopes (on loan from Gil Vicente)
4	DF	POR	Cláudio Borges
5	DF	POR	João Pedro
7	FW	CPV	João Paulino
8	MF	POR	Nelsinho
9	FW	POR	Adilson Silva
10	MF	CPV	João Paulo Fernandes
11	FW	POR	João Van Zeller
12	MF	BRA	Jair
13	MF	POR	Samuel Teles
14	FW	CIV	Isaac Cissé
16	DF	CAN	Ishwar Bhatti

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
17	FW	GHA	Isaac Boakye
19	DF	UKR	Maksym Lapushenko
20	MF	POR	Bruno Simões
21	FW	BRA	Guilherme Henrique
22	GK	BRA	Gustavo Galil
25	DF	CPV	Pecks
37	DF	POR	Paulo Lopes
47	FW	SWE	Lucas Gomes
70	FW	POR	Pedro Prazeres
77	FW	POR	Rafael Cardoso
88	GK	POR	Cristiano Magalhães
—	GK	POR	Afonso Saldanha

Former players

• Wesley John – Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago international who played in Portugal for 23 years, including for clubs Ribeira Brava and Porto da Cruz, both below the Portuguese fourth tier)

External links

• Leça F.C. at Zerozero
• "Website". lecafutebolclube.com. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
• "Old Website". lecafc.pt. Archived from the original on 21 February 2024. Retrieved 21 February 2024. (in web.archive.org)