União Leiria

União Leiria
Basic data
Surname	União Desportiva de Leiria
Seat	Leiria , Portugal
founding	June 6, 1966
Colours	White
Website	uniaodeleiriasad.pt
First soccer team
Head coach	Rui Amorim
Venue	Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa
Places	24,000
league	Campeonato de Portugal (3rd division)
2015/16	5th place (2nd phase, south zone)
home Away

União Desportiva de Leiria (also UD Leiria , União Leiria or União de Leiria ) is a Portuguese football club from the city of Leiria in central Portugal . The club was created in 1966 from the merger of two clubs.

Players like Derlei , Hugo Almeida and the former Portuguese international Nuno Valente played at the club . The best-known personality to stop off at Leiria is coach José Mourinho , who headed the team here in the 2001/02 season before moving to FC Porto .

history

União Leiria was created in 1966 through the merger of the Sporting Club Leiriense and Colipolense clubs . In 1979, the first promotion to the first division was achieved , but the team just missed relegation there and thus rose straight back to the second division in 1980. The direct resurgence in 1981 was followed by another immediate descent the following year. It was not until 1994 that the club returned to first class, and with sixth place the club even qualified for the so-called UEFA Intertoto Cup , a summer competition in which the winners could qualify for the UEFA Cup of the following season. Despite two wins and two differences in the group games, it was only enough for second place behind the Dutch representative SC Heerenveen .

After a seventh place in the 1995/96 season, the three-year interlude in the top division was ended the following year and in 1997 the third relegation to the second division took place. In 1998 they were promoted again directly and, like four years before, they almost made it through to qualification for the UEFA Cup. In the following years União Leiria established itself in the first division and in the 2003/04 season the team qualified as a cup finalist (0: 1 against FC Porto ) for the first time for the UEFA Cup, as FC Porto as champions were already for the Champions League qualified and thus, according to the regulations at the time, the defeated cup finalist in the UEFA Cup was allowed to move up. There the club survived the qualifying round against the Northern Irish representative Coleraine FC , but then dropped out in the main competition against Molde FK from Norway. In the period that followed, Leiria took part in the UEFA Intertoto Cup, which was usually only briefly referred to as the UI Cup , several times - mostly due to the fact that better-placed clubs were dispensed with. This competition, which was relatively unpopular with many clubs due to the fact that it was scheduled in the middle of the summer and was later completely abolished, qualified for the 2007/08 UEFA Cup in summer 2007 . After a successful qualifying round against the Israeli club Maccabi Netanya , União was eliminated by Bundesliga club Bayer 04 Leverkusen . In the same season, the club was subject to a bribery scandal from the 2003/04 season with a point deduction of three points and a fine of 40,000 euros and was relegated to the second division . In the 2008/09 season , however, the direct return to the top division followed.

After two years with placements in the middle of the table, the club got into serious financial difficulties in the 2011/12 season . On the 28th matchday of the season, the bottom of the table with only eight players played in the league game against CD Feirense , which was lost 4-0. 16 professionals had recently terminated their contracts due to a lack of salary payments. The following season União Leiria was transferred directly to the third-class Segunda Divisão .

In total, the club spent 18 seasons in the first division .

Names and numbers

successes

• 1 × Portuguese Cup finalist : 2002/03
• Participation in the UEFA Cup twice : 2003/04 , 2007/08
• 2 × champions of the second division: 1980/81 , 1997/98

Selection of former players

• Michael Kimmel (1992–1996)
• Kwame Ayew (1995–1996)
• Nii Lamptey (1998-1999)
• Nuno Valente (1999-2002)
• Such (1999-2002)
• João Paulo Andrade (1999-2006)
• Hugo Almeida (2002-2003)
• Helton (2002-2005)
• Bartosz Ślusarski (2006-2007)
• Cássio Barbosa (2008-2010)

Selection of former coaches

• Félix Mourinho (1981–1982, 1983–1984)
• José Mourinho (2001-2002)
• Domingos Paciência (2006-2007)

International games

season	competition	round	opponent	total	To	Back
1995	UEFA Intertoto Cup	Group stage	Békéscsabai Előre FC	2: 2	2: 2 (A)
			Næstved IF	1: 1	1: 1 (H)
			Clay Pentre AFC	3-0	3: 0 (A)
			SC Heerenveen	1-0	1: 0 (H)
2002	UEFA Intertoto Cup	1 round	Levadia Maardu FC	2: 4	00: 3 (H) 1	2: 1 (A)
2003/04	Uefa cup	qualification	Coleraine FC	6: 2	1: 2 (A)	5: 0 (H)
		1 round	Molde FK	2: 3	1: 0 (H)	1: 3 (A)
2004	UEFA Intertoto Cup	3rd round	Shinnik Yaroslavl	6: 2	4: 1 (A)	2: 1 (H)
		Semifinals	KRC Genk	2-0	0: 0 (A)	2: 0 (H)
		final	Lille OSC	0: 2	0: 0 (A)	0: 2 n.v. (H)
2005	UEFA Intertoto Cup	3rd round	Hamburger SV	0: 3	0: 1 (H)	0: 2 (A)
2007	UEFA Intertoto Cup	3rd round	FK Hajduk Kula	4: 2	0: 1 (A)	4: 1 a.d. (H)
2007/08	Uefa cup	2nd qualifying round	Maccabi Netanya	1-0	0: 0 (H)	1: 0 (A)
		1 round	Bayer 04 Leverkusen	4: 5	1: 3 (A)	3: 2 (H)

Legend: (H) - home game, (A) - away game, (N) - neutral place, (a) - away goal rule , (i. E.) - on penalties , (n. V.) - after extra time

Overall record: 24 games, 11 wins, 5 draws, 8 defeats, 34:26 goals (goal difference +8)

¹The first leg ended 1-0 for União Leiria. The game was rated 0: 3 for FC Levadia Maardu, as União Leiria used an unauthorized player.

Stages

The home stadium is the Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa , with a capacity of around 24,000 spectators, was rebuilt for the 2004 European Football Championship and originally had a capacity of 30,000. The stadium is in the south of the city, near the Lis River . After the European Championship, a grandstand was dismantled, which reduced the capacity by approx. 5000 seats.

In the 2011/12 season , the club left the Estádio Dr. Magalhaes Pessoa and moved into the Estádio Municipal da Marinha Grande in a few kilometers westerly Marinha Grande . The stadium capacity there is 6000 seats. In the following season União Leiria played its home games at Campo da Portela in Santa Catarina da Serra , about ten kilometers southeast of Leiria. The club later returned to the Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa back.

Web links

• Official Website (Portuguese)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ U.Leiria SAD jogará no campo da Portela . O Derbie, August 1, 2012 (Portuguese), accessed June 4, 2016