A Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses Story

[leckuno]

Club Information

Year Founded: 1919
Stadium: Estadio do Restelo
Capacity: 19,856
Rivals: Atletico CP (Ocidental Derby), Benfica (Lisboeta derby), Sporting CP (Lisboeta derby)
Training Facilities: Great
Youth Facilities: Great

Honours

Liga Nos: 1946

Taca de Portugal Placard: 1942, 1960, 1989


History

Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses, commonly known as Belenenses, is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 25,000-seat Estádio do Restelo in the Belém parish of Lisbon, hence the club name, which translates as "The ones from Belém". Among its fanbase, the club is commonly nicknamed O Belém, in reference to the neighborhood; Os Pastéis (The Pastries), in reference to a traditional Portuguese pastry originated in the parish; Azuis (Blues) or Azuis do Restelo (The Blues from Restelo), in reference to the club's color and its home stadium; and A Cruz de Cristo (The Order of Christ Cross), for its emblem, or also "Os Rapazes da Praia" (The Boys of the Beach), a reference to the zone of Belém in the earlier 20 Century.

Belenenses won the 1945–46 Primeira Liga, making them the first club other than the Big Three to win the league title. Belenenses has also won six Championship of Portugal/Portuguese Cup trophies, and is the fifth most decorated team in Portuguese football.

Until 1982, Belenenses was one of four teams that had never been relegated from the first division. Nowadays, it is the team with the fourth most seasons in the Primeira Liga as well as the team with the fifth most points in the championship's history.

Belenenses was the first Portuguese team with a turf pitch and artificial lighting, and was also the first Portuguese club to participate in the UEFA Europa League.

The main sports of the club are football, handball, basketball, futsal, athletics, and rugby union. The club has won national championships in all these sports, but it remains best known for football, its original activity. In the club's history, Belenenses has won more than 10,000 trophies, including the first divisions of football, handball, basketball, rugby, and the Portuguese Cup in football and futsal, among other sports.

At the end of 2017–18 season, CF os Belenenses and Belenenses SAD went their separate ways, as the "Protocol on the use of Estádio do Restelo" ended and the SAD refused to negotiate a new contract with the club. So from the 2018–19 season, Belenenses SAD (the professional team) play their Primeira Liga home games at Estádio Nacional, whereas CF os Belenenses registered an amateur team in 1ª Divisão Distrital de Lisboa, the equivalent to the Sixth Division (lowest Portuguese division), with the support of the majority of fans and club members.

As a consequence, Belenenses SAD was legally forbidden from using Belenenses' Logo and name and now uses a new logo. In the first games of the season, the professional team saw home attendances of only a few hundred, whereas the new, amateur team saw home attendances of approximately 5,000, reversing a long decline in attendance figures.


So why have I picked CF os Belenenses?

With whats happened to the team over the years this is a great chance to rebuild what was once a great club from the ground up they are also just one of two teams to win the top league outside of the big 3 clubs. With the facilities at the club as well then we will be looking to make the most of them over the course of the save to bring some exceptional youth through and it would be even better if we can get one early in the save to then stay with us to the top league.

Its not all going to be easy though as there is no way we can wave a magic wand and get a team good enough to get 2 promotions in two seasons in my eyes so its going to be a long time to overtake the top 3 teams and then get European success at the end of it all.​

 

[leckuno]

The Squad

First thing I notice about the squad is how big it is as we have a total of 30 players in the first team squad so there is certainly some room to shift some players. The next thing is that only 1 player has a contract that lasts longer than the end of this season and he's our most promising player who is away on loan this season sadly. We will be looking to sit down with the more promising players to offer new deals while we can hopefully get them to agree to cheaper contracts than later in the season. Finally we do see that there is certainly some quality players in the squad which gives us a good starting point for this season to build upon while going for promotion

Board Vision

So it turns out the board don't really expect much from us at all as they just want us to avoid relegation this season but I want to be fighting it out at the other end of the table so we'll see how it goes

Supporters Vision

Its actually quite nice to see that there is no corporate profile at the moment meaning more space for the real fans but again the supporter vision is as unambitious as the board as they just expect us to avoid relegation this season.

The League

So the league is split into a north and south split with 12 teams in each half with each team playing twice meaning there are only 22 games in the first half with the top 4 from each league then going into a further league to decide who gets promoted. In the promotion split even though there is 8 teams apparently only 6 games are played which I don't really understand but we'll see how it works once we reach that stage.​

 

[leckuno]

Transfers

When looking at the squad there were a few players with a value of 0 so they were first out of the club and sadly they were the only ones we managed to shift so all it meant was that we reduced the wage budget by a few hundred pounds.

We did however sign another player though for midfield in Ailson Tavares who adds a bit more for us as a ball winning midfielder

Preseason

We just had a couple of friendlies to try and increase the bank balance along with trying to get the team use to playing with each other in a different formation but it all went well apart from a surprise defeat to a nonleague team.

Expectations

As before the board doesn't expect much from us as just wants to make sure we don't get relegated this season


August

Just the 2 games this month and we are going to have a lot of time between games it seems this season with so few games to play

​

 

[leckuno]

August

Oliveira do Hospital v Belenenses

A nice solid start in the league which is all we can ask for at this stage

Belenenes v Academica Coimbra

Pedro Martelo is one of our better players as he's already shown in 2 games how big a player he'll be with us as he bags a hat-trick here with a great finish from just outside the box for his 3rd goal of the game.

League

2 games in and we're already being matched for goal difference.

September

A big game this month against Vitoria de Setubal who is another former Liga Bwin team who has fallen down the leagues
​

 

[leckuno]

September

Vitoria de Setubal v Belenenes

Well only 3 games in and our first loss against one of the teams I'd expect to be up the top of the league come the end of the season. The sending off right after the goal really didn't help things but we were lucky only to keep it to a one goal loss.

Belenenes v Fontinhas

We bounce straight back with a great win and even limit Fontinhas to 0 shots on target for a complete performance

Amora v Belenenes

Martelo is key again here for us as he pops up with another 2 goals before Xavi gets his first goal for the club as well

League

We're 2nd in the league after our loss to Vitoria de Setubal but as long as we finish in the top 4 thats all that matters

October

We've got our first taste of cup football this season and we've been lucky in the draw before getting back into league football.​

 

[leckuno]

October

Taca de Portugal Placard 2nd Round
Amora v Belenenses

Much harder that the previous match in the league as we did well to come back from 1 down but thankfully was a tale of two halves as we rallied in the final half hour to make it to the 3rd round.

Belenenses v Uniao de Leiria

A really disappointing draw here as we should of done better.

Taca de Portugal Placard 3rd Round
Belenenses v Estoril Praia

We did really well here to take the lead even if it didn't last long at all but we did push them to penalties before dropping out of the cup.

Alverca SAD v Belenenses

Another disappointing game here where we conceded within 5 minutes of scoring.

Belenenses v Caldas SC

We finally get back to winning ways as Martelo gets another brace. The key seems to be if Martelo is firing then we should be fine

League

We stay in 2nd spot 3 points off top and 5 points ahead of 4th spot which is the important piece.

November

Just the 2 games this month thanks to the world cup coming up.​

 

[leckuno]

November

Sporting CP B v Belenenes

We knew the big sides B teams were going to be tough for us but we came close to settling for a draw before Martelo won us the game in the final minute

Belenenes v Moncarapachense

Brought straight back down with a bang here as we really should have done better but we've got to take the lows with the highs.

League

Funnily enough not much has changed after another 2 games.

December

This brings us up to the halfway mark of the season and we have 2 straightforward games before we face Academica Coimbra as always wary of the B teams​

 

[leckuno]

December

Real v Belenenes

A standard win as expected against the team sitting second bottom of the league after we got off to an early start we never looked in trouble.

Belenenes v Oliveira do Hospital

Well this was a shock as we concede 2 goals in 3 minutes to fall behind to the team bottom of the league before striking back just before half time. Its a shame the 2nd half was pretty boring with neither teams taking any chances.

Academica Coimbra v Belenenes

Trust us to put in a much better performance against one of the tougher teams. Again though Martelo scores and we win.

League

We've now cut the deficit to 3 points from top spot but we're now 6 points ahead of 3rd as well so we should be a shoe in for top 4

January

We have a big chance to close the gap on top spot this month in the first game before then 3 easier games which are the ones that probably won't go to plan​

 

[leckuno]

January

Belenenses v Vitoria de Setubal

We got a bit lucky here thanks to a bad tackle in the box to give us a penalty but it is a respectable draw against the league favourites.

Fontinhas v Belenenses

What a game for Martelo as he ran absolute riot here as Fontinhas just couldn't handle him at all.

Belenenses v Amora

Another tale of two halves here as we were brilliant in the first half with Martelo continuing his form in front of goal. In the 2nd half thing turned for the worse as we managed to concede twice to have a nervy final end to the game.

Uniao de Leiria v Belenenses

Uniao de Leiria gave us a really good game here as apart from the one chance Tavares scored we really struggled to get through their defence.

League

We're now only a point behind top spot but we're now 14 ahead of 5th so we're definitely going to be fighting it out for a promotion spot

February

3 games to go and they should be simple enough for us hopefully.​

 

[leckuno]

February

Belenenses v Alverca SAD

Martelo just keeps scoring as all we need to do is focus on getting him the ball and letting him do what he does best.

Caldas SC v Belenenses

Of course a surprise comes along and ruins our winning streak and it has to be the team below us in the league as well.

Belenenses v Sporting CP B

We have to fight back from behind twice and Xavi scored two excellent goals from long distance but our defence does need to do better as well.

League

We have now got to top of the league with 2 games to go along with securing a play off spot which is the important piece.

March

Just the 2 games to finish off the first part of the season before we find out what happens next.​

 

[leckuno]

March

Moncarapachense v Belenenes

Xavi got us off to a flyer in just the 2nd minute hear and we just never looked back after it as we looked very comfortable here even if we did concede twice.

Belenenes v Real

A disappointing way to end this stage of the league as we draw with the team sitting bottom of the league as we just couldn't take control of the game

League

We end up run away leaders here so we'll see how it affects us in the split.

Youth Intake

Well this has to be one of the best youth intakes I've even seen as we have no less than 10 players who comes into the club as elite talent

Rather than taking you through them all I have picked out my favourite three who I really believe will make a push for the first team over the next few seasons with one going straight into the first team squad. ( If anybody else does want a screenshot of any of the others then please ask)

Joaquin Algarvio

The first player we look at is Algarvio who looks like he should develop into a decent winger if we can develop his crossing and passing which should come as he gets older.

Ricardo Paulino

Paulino is a versatile wing back who can play on either side and if we can get him a bit better at dribbling then there should be no stopping him

Aneximandro Romao

The player I'm most excited about though is Romao who comes in first team ready it seems as he looks like he could grow into a very good striker for us and he will see first team football before the season is up.

Promotion Stage

We are now split into another two groups with the winners going head to head in the Champions playoff final to see who is the overall winner of the league but both teams will be promoted and 2nd from the groups going into a promotion relegation play off

The Run In

I feel comfortable going in against 2 of the teams here but Varzim worries me as they finished 2nd in their league.​

 

[FM_TNSSO]

That youth intake though

 

[leckuno]

That youth intake though

Yup it has me very excited for the seasons to come

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

crazy youth intake! That striker is surely going to be one of the best in the world

 

[leckuno]

crazy youth intake! That striker is surely going to be one of the best in the world

Fingers crossed. We'll see how long we can hold onto him though

 

[leckuno]

The Run In

Uniao de Leiria v Belenenses

We get off to the perfect start here with Martelo continuing his form with another 2 goals but the one to steal the headlines was Romao who made a dream debut with a goal at just 15 to become the youngest player and goal scorer in the club and league record books.

Belenenses v Varzim SC

Varzim were the team I was the most worried about but Martelo steps up with another hat-trick and I reckon we'll be losing him to a bigger team next season.

AD Sanjoanense v Belenenses

We really struggled here as we just couldn't get past their defence but of course Martelo is there to steer us home in the final minute

Belenenses v Uniao de Leiria

Thank god for Martelo as he digs us out of another hole here as we had to come from behind twice to salvage the point.

Varzim SC v Belenenses

Martelo really has stepped up a gear hear as he single handily demolishes Varzim again as nobody can get near him here.

Belenenses v AD Sanjoanense

A great way to round off the league in front of our home fans for us to celebrate promotion as well in front of them was great as it was the main man again who really shone here

League

We ran absolute riot here only dropping 2 points but we scored 18 goals in just 6 games which Martelo managed to get 12 of them but we now face Caldas SC to see who wins the championship

Belenenses v Caldas SC

It was an entertaining opening 10 minutes with both teams finding the back of the net but Martelo then stepped it up and added another two to his tally to seal us the championship win

Budgets

We've not got the biggest transfer budget for this season but we can concentrate on the free market with the wage budget as its pretty much quadrupled from this season where we only had about £10,000 a week to spend​

 

[leckuno]

Season 2

Transfers

There was only 1 player who has left the club so far this preseason and sadly its last years top scorer in Pedro Martelo who leaves to join FC Vizela for £120,000 when the activated his release clause and his goals will be sorely missed.

We have gone and made 12 signings so far this season as we really needed to improve the club for this season and even try and start building for a promotion push as we bring in players for all areas of the pitch

Afonso Valente

Pedro Lucas

Keffel

Rodrigo Fernandes

Mizuki Arai

Joao Paulo

Diego Raposo

Pedro Soares

Matis Carvalho

Kindo Delorge

Guy-Marcelin Kilama

Stefan Simic

Squad

We've made a lot of changes over the summer with all of our new additions and we now hopefully have a team that will keep us up this season.

Preseason

We had a very strong preseason with just the one loss in the friendlies and us scoring plenty of goals in them as well.

We did manage to squeeze in the first round of the Taca da Liga where we narrowly lost out to Estoril Praia on penalties but something good that came out of it was Romao is now the youngest goal scorer and player in that completion as well.

Expectations

We've still got a bit of cash to spend if the right player becomes available but I'm not sure what we'd be looking for just now so may keep it for January. We aren't expected to do much this season though as we just need to avoid relegation and perform well in the cup.

August

We've got a huge game to start the season off as we come up against the team we split from a couple of seasons to go
​

 

[leckuno]

August

Belenenses v BSAD

What a start to the season as we beat our rivals here and it was great to see Romao score the second with a close range tap in to become the youngest scorer in the league history again.

Pacos de Ferreira v Belenenses

Goals right at the end of each half is what decided the game and I feel a little hard done by as we conceded right at the death of the game

Belenenses v CD Tondela

Well this game had everything as Romao ran absolute riot and Tondela couldn't handle him and just as well we had him as there was a fight back and it was a nervy end to the game. Its amazing how good this 15 year old is though for us.

League

Top of the league so now how long can it last.

September

Another 3 games this month to see how our team stands up​

 

[leckuno]

September

Caldas SC v Belenenses

Well its safe to say we got very fortunate here thanks to us scoring via a big deflection off a defender to ****** a draw.

Belenenses v Moreirense FC

Another draw which we were fortunate to get as we were 2nd best for most of this game.

Vilafranquense v Belenenses

What a game. Looking like we were going to lose this game when we were 4-2 down so we brought Romao on and what a substitution it was as he bagged a hat-trick in just over 20 minutes to win us the game

League

2 points off the top spot after 6 games but obviously its still very close behind us and a bad result or two could see us drop right down the table

October

A nice easy start to the cup for us as we start in the 2nd round again but then we have what I think will be a decent test against the B team of Benfica to see what those youngsters can do.​

 

[leckuno]

October


Taca de Portugal 2nd Round
Cartaxo v Belenenses

The team talk at half time made all the difference here as we came out afterwards and made an instant impact with Tavers scoring a great solo effort.

Portimonense SC v Belenenses

What a win here against the favourites for promotion as the sending off made the difference even though they did give us the fear by taking the lead but their legs had gone and we took full advantage of the extra man.


Taca de Portugal 3rd Round
Oliveira do Hospital v Belenenses

We conceded early again here to give us a fright but it gave us a kick when we needed it and Romao gets a 15 minute hat-trick to see us into the 4th round.

Belenenses v Benfica B

I'm not going to lie here but I did expect better here but our good run comes to an end as we got a bit complacent and concede a late goal

Belenenses v CD Feirense

Both teams were really disappointing today as there weren't any real chances as we have a boring goalless draw

League

We drop down to 5th but its still very close in the league

November

A very quiet month thanks to the international window but we should be looking to win the 2 league games before a tough match in the cup​