União Desportiva de Leiria, commonly known as União de Leiria (), is a Portuguese football club based in Leiria, central Portugal. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, holding home matches at Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa, with a 24,000-seat capacity.

History

Leiria's biggest rivals in Portugal are

S.C. Beira-Mar Sport Clube Beira-Mar () is a Portuguese sports club based in Aveiro, Portugal. Its football team currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth national level, having gained promotion by winning the Aveiro FA First Division 2018/19 ...

, Associação Naval 1º de Maio and Académica de Coimbra, which belong to the same geographical region. In 1979–80, the club first competed in the top division, finishing in 13th position and being the first team inside the relegation zone. A heavy contender in the battle to reach European competitions in the 2000s, the club was relegated in 2007–08 to the second level, after finishing last. The team would be immediately promoted back, coming in second after champions S.C. Olhanense. On 23 August 2004, União de Leiria reached the UEFA Intertoto Cup final with Lille. After getting a 0–0 in France in the first leg, the whole city thought it would be possible for the club to win a European competition. However, in the second leg, after another 0–0 draw at their home stadium, the team would lose the game in extra time by 0–2, mostly due to the excessive fatigue. For the history, it was the first Portuguese team to reach the final of this competition. The 2011–12 season was lived amongst serious financial difficulties, with the squad not being paid their wages for several months, as three coaching moves also happened during the campaign and president João Bartolomeu resigned amongst accusations of ingratitude towards the players. On 29 April 2012, after most of the squad rescinded their contracts, only eight players took the pitch for the league match at home against C.D. Feirense in an eventual 0–4 home loss. Curiously, one of those players was the well-known goalkeeper

Jan Oblak Jan Oblak (born 7 January 1993) is a Slovenian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for La Liga club Atlético Madrid and captains the Slovenia national team. He is frequently ranked as one of the best goalkeepers in the world. O ...

. The side played the last two matches, against

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904 as ''Sport Lisboa'', Be ...

and C.D. Nacional, with a complete team, but three players came from the juniors. After failing to meet the deadline to register the team in Division Two, Leiria were automatically relegated to the

third level Tertiary education, also referred to as third-level, third-stage or post-secondary education, is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank, for example, defines tertiary education as including univers ...

. Overwhelmed with the task of rebuilding a squad from scratch, the organization hired several players in an attempt to return to the professionals, as a second senior team also begun competing in the Leiria regional leagues, coached by former club player

Luís Bilro Luís Miguel Bilro Pereira (born 1 April 1971), known as Bilro, is a Portuguese retired football and beach soccer player. While playing association football, in a career that lasted over a decade, he operated as right back or central defender, ...

. On 28 June 2013, the UD Leiria SAD was declared

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

in a meeting of creditors, which demanded the payment of a debt amounting to €13.5 million, with the Portuguese state abstaining for demanding a debt of over €3.6 million. The second senior team that competed in the regional league took the place of the SAD by buying their sports rights for €1,000, with the club returning to the Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa after playing their home matches at other grounds for two seasons. In February 2015, at an extraordinary general assembly, UD Leiria would vote for the creation of another SAD, opening doors to the arrival of Alexander Tolstikov, who after João Bartolomeu would become the new "Lord" of Leiria. The club would have already had a SAD between 1999 and 2013, having been extinguished in the face of its high debt value. The SAD's initial share capital is 40% owned by UD Leiria and 60% owned by DS Investment LLP, of which Alexander Tolstikov is one of those responsible. Thus, DS Investment started to control the main Football team and also the junior team. Currently, the club is competing in the Liga 3 (National Third Division).

Current squad

League and cup history

Honours

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

: 1997–98 * Third Division: 1980–81 * UEFA Intertoto Cup co-winners: 2007The UEFA Intertoto Cup: Past Winners
Listed are all 11 teams that won the Intertoto Cup, qualifying for the UEFA Cup. *

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 sea ...

runners-up: 2002–03 *

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese football match played since 1979 between the winners of the Portuguese League (Primeira Liga) and Portuguese ...

runners-up: 2003

Stadium

The Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa was built for

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

in 2003, hosting during the competition

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

's matches against Switzerland (0–0) and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

(2–2). It also hosted the

2006 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The 2006 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira was the 28th edition of the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, the annual Portuguese football season-opening match contested by the winners of the previous season's top league and cup competitions (or cup run ...

final between FC Porto and

Vitória de Setúbal Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória ...

, as well as the following (

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

1–0 Porto). The architect who designed the stadium was Tomás Taveira, who also designed stadiums for Euro 2004, including Beira-Mar's

Estádio Municipal de Aveiro The Estádio Municipal de Aveiro is a football stadium in Aveiro, Portugal. It was designed for the UEFA Euro 2004 tournament by Portuguese architect Tomás Taveira. It has a capacity of 32,830 spectators, making it the fifth largest football sta ...

and Sporting CP's

Estádio José Alvalade Estádio José Alvalade is a football stadium in Lisbon, Portugal, home of Sporting Clube de Portugal. It was built adjacent to the site of the older stadium. The stadium is named after José Alvalade (1885–1918), the founder and first club ...

. The grounds belong to the municipality of Leiria. Due to an excessive rent, Leiria relocated to the Estádio Municipal in the nearby town of

Marinha Grande Marinha Grande () is a municipality in the Leiria District, Portugal. The population in 2021 was 39,032, in an area of 187.25 km². The city itself has a population of 32,330. It is located right in the middle of the 700-year-old Leiria pine ...

, for 2011–12. For the following season, the club moved to Campo da Portela in Santa Catarina da Serra, home of U.D. Serra.U. Leiria SAD jogará no Campo da Portela (U. Leiria SAD will play in Campo da Portela)
O Derbie, 1 August 2012 After the SAD bankruptcy, the club returned to play its home matches at the Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa.

Managers

* Vieira Nunes (1989–90) * Luís Campos (1992–93) *

Manuel Cajuda Manuel Ventura Cajuda de Sousa (born 27 June 1951) is a Portuguese retired footballer who played as a midfielder, and the manager of Leixões SC. In a career which spanned three decades, he managed nearly 20 teams in his own country, and also ...

(1993–94) * Vitor Manuel (1994–96) *

Eurico Gomes Eurico Monteiro Gomes (born 29 September 1955), known simply as Eurico in his playing days, is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a central defender, and is a manager. He started out at Benfica and later played for Sp ...

(1996) * Quinito (1996–97) * Vitor Manuel (1997) *

Vítor Oliveira Vítor Oliveira may refer to: * Vítor Oliveira (footballer, born 1953) Vítor Manuel Oliveira (17 November 195328 November 2020) was a Portuguese Association football, football midfielder and Manager (association football), manager. In a man ...

(1997–98) * Mário Reis (1998–99) * Manuel José (1999–01) * José Mourinho (2001–02) * Mário Reis (2002) *

Vítor Pontes Vítor Manuel Pereira Pontes (born 16 August 1958) is a Portuguese retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper, and is a manager. Playing career Born in Leiria, Pontes started his professional career with local União Desportiva. However, duri ...

(2002) *

(2002–03) *

(2003–05) *

José Manuel Gomes José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...

(2005) *

Jorge Jesus Jorge Fernando Pinheiro de Jesus (; born 24 July 1954) is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Süper Lig club Fenerbahçe. He started his career with Sporting CP, going on to play for 1 ...

(2005–06) * Domingos (2006–07) * Paulo Duarte (2007) *

(2007–08) * Paulo Alves (2008) * Manuel Fernandes (2008–09) *

Lito Vidigal José Carlos Fernandes Vidigal (born 11 July 1969), commonly known as Lito, is an Angolan professional football manager and former player who played as a defender. He spent his entire playing career in Portugal, mainly with Belenenses in the P ...

(2009–10) *

Pedro Caixinha Pedro Miguel Faria Caixinha (; born 15 November 1970) is a Portuguese professional football manager, currently in charge of Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Red Bull Bragantino. He started coaching in his late twenties, acting an assistant ...

(2010–11) *

(2011) *

(2011–12) *

José Dominguez José Manuel Martins Dominguez (born 16 February 1974) is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a winger, and later became a manager. A diminutive player with above-average technical skills and speed, he started playing professional ...

(2012) * Ricardo Moura (2012–2013) * Luis Bilro (2012–2013) * Rui Rodrigues (2013–2014) *

Jorge Casquilha Jorge António Rosa Casquilha (born 13 January 1969) is a Portuguese former footballer who played as an attacking midfielder, currently a manager. After playing in the Primeira Liga for Gil Vicente for six years, he embarked on a managerial care ...

(2014–2016) * Siarhei Kabelski (2016) * Kata (2016–2017) * Serghei Cleșcenco (2017) * Rui Amorim (2017–2018) * Luís Pinto (2018) * Tiago Vicente (2018) * Filipe Cândido (2019–2020) * Carlão (2020) * Orlando (2020) Jose Mourinho - Inter Mailand (7)

Fans

União's fans are called ''Leirienses'', and their main group of supporters is ''Frente Leiria'' ("Leiria Front").

References

External links

*
Zerozero team profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leiria Football clubs in Portugal Association football clubs established in 1966 1966 establishments in Portugal

UD Leiria União Desportiva de Leiria, commonly known as União de Leiria (), is a Portuguese Association football, football club based in Leiria, central Portugal. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal (league), Campeonat ...

Primeira Liga clubs Liga Portugal 2 clubs