Leiria Football Association

The Leiria Football Association (Portuguese: Associação de Futebol de Leiria) is one of the 22 District Football Associations that are affiliated with the Portuguese Football Federation. The AF Leiria administers lower-tier football in the district of Leiria.[1]

Associação de Futebol de Leiria
AbbreviationAF Leiria
Formation9 September 1925
PurposeDistrict Football Association
HeadquartersRua Manuel Ribeiro de Oliveira
Location
President
Júlio João Carreira Vieira
WebsiteOfficial Website

On 5 January 2014 Leiria FA won the Portuguese Regions Cup and will represent Portugal in the 2015 UEFA Regions' Cup, starting in September 2014.

Background

The association, commonly abbreviated as the AF Leiria, is the governing body for football in the Portuguese district of Leiria. The Football Association is based in Cruz de Areia in Leiria, close to Escola Secundária Francisco Rodrigues Lobo (Francisco Rodrigues Lobo Secondary School) and LeiriaShopping. The Association's President is Júlio Vieira.[2]

Established on 9 September 1925, known then as Federação Desportiva do Distrito de Leiria (Leiria District Sports Federation), this Federation however ceased to exist in May 1926, due to the trouble times of the politically unstable and financially chaotic years of the Portuguese First Republic. On 20 May 1929, Leiria Football Association was restarted, in his current name. New statutes and regulations was discussed and approved, and elected his first President, Acácio de Almeida Henriques. The founding clubs were: Sport Club Bombarralense, Caldas Sport Clube, Sporting Club das Caldas, Grupo Desportivo "Os Nazarenos", Sporting Club da Nazaré, Atlético Clube Marinhense, Sport Operário Marinhense, Leiria Gimnasio Club, Gimnasio Sportivo Lis e Associação Académica.[3]

Competitions

Leiria clubs compete in the three national levels of the Portuguese football league system in competitions run by the Portuguese League for Professional Football (Primeira Liga and Liga de Honra) and Portuguese Football Federation (Campeonato Nacional de Seniores).

Caldas Sport Clube join the First National Division, where remained four seasons from 1955–56 to 1958–59. In 2012 União de Leiria were demoted to the Segunda Divisão after failing to meet the deadline to sign the team in Liga de Honra, Leiria was automatically relegated to the third level.[4] Ginásio Clube Alcobaça join the First National Division in 1982-83 for one season.[5]

Below the Campeonato Nacional de Seniores (Portuguese Third Division) the competitions are organised at a district level (known in Portuguese as Distritais) with each District Association organising its competitions according to geographical and other factors. The AF Leiria runs to league competitions with the Liga de Honra (1ª division) being at the fourth level of the league system and 1ª Divisão (2ª division) at the fifth level. This second tier is divided into two groups on a geographical basis

In more general terms the AF Leiria currently organises District Championships for Soccer and Futsal for men and women for all age groups including Senior, Junior, Youth, Beginners, Infants and Schools.[6]

Notable clubs affiliated to AF Leiria 2023–24 season

District championships

Historic champions

Recent Division Honra winners

[7]

List of member clubs
Footnote

See also

References
  1. "Associação Futebol Leiria". Archived from the original on 2013-02-10.
  2. "Associação Futebol Leiria - Dirigentes".
  3. "Associação Futebol Leiria - História".
  4. U.Leiria fora dos Campeonatos profissionais (U. Leiria out of professional competitions); Record, 25 May 2012 (in Portuguese)
  5. "Ginásio Alcobaça".
  6. "Associação de Futebol do Leiria - zerozero.pt". zerozero.pt. Retrieved 2013-01-10.
  7. "AF Leiria Divisão Honra". Zerozero.pt.

39.739776°N 8.816271°W / 39.739776; -8.816271

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