Clube de Futebol Andorinha de Santo António (abbreviated as CF Andorinha) is a Portuguese
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
club based in
Santo António, Funchal, on the island of Madeira.
They compete in the
AF Madeira's Divisão de Honra, the fifth tier of
Portugal football. The name ''andorinha'' (
swallow
The swallows, martins, and saw-wings, or Hirundinidae are a family of passerine songbirds found around the world on all continents, including occasionally in Antarctica. Highly adapted to aerial feeding, they have a distinctive appearance. The ...
in English) came about following a shot by a team player that followed the trajectory of one of these birds.
Background
CF Andorinha currently plays in the
AF Madeira's Divisão de Honra which is the sixth tier of Portuguese Football. The club was founded on 6 May 1925, and they play their home matches at the Estádio Do Andorinha in Santo António, Funchal. The stadium is able to accommodate 500 spectators.
It is a small stadium with a synthetic playing surface and seating for 400 people. The ground is located in the northern area of Funchal's Santo António ''
freguesia
(), usually translated as "parish" or "civil parish", is the third-level administrative subdivision of Portugal, as defined by the 1976 Constitution. It is also the designation for local government jurisdictions in the former Portuguese over ...
'', on the outskirts of the city. It is in very close proximity to
C.S. Marítimo
Club Sport Marítimo MH M (), commonly known as Marítimo or Marítimo da Madeira, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in the city of Funchal, on the island of Madeira. Established in 1910, Marítimo is best known for its football team ...
's training complex and Andorinha's ground is in fact often used to stage matches for Marítimo's youth teams.
Up until the end of the 2008–09 season CF Andorinha only played
Distritais (Tier 5) football on Madeira but following league restructuring the 1ª Divisão clubs of the
AF Madeira became part of the
Terceira Divisão :
The Terceira Divisão Portuguesa (in English: ''Portuguese Third Division'') was a football league in Portugal, situated at the fourth level of the Portuguese football league system. The Third Division was initially the third level of the Por ...
(Third Division) in
2009–10. After finishing second at the end of the First Phase, Andorinha won the Promotion Group and gained promotion to
Segunda Divisão
:
:
The Segunda Divisão Portuguesa ( English: ''Portuguese Second Division'') was a football league situated at the third level of the Portuguese football league system. The division had previously been the second level of the Portuguese pyrami ...
Série Norte for
2010–11
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...
with the manager/coach Nelson Calaça e Duarte Santos. While their first season in the Second Division proved short with relegation at the end of the season, it was a tremendous achievement for the club to be competing against mainland clubs for the first time at the Portuguese third tier level.
The club is considered youth training and has had many young promising players play for them, including
Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...
. They had a partnership with
FC Porto
Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...
Dragon Force schools from 2012 to 2014 with the manager Nelson Rosado's leadership. The club is also affiliated to
Associação de Futebol da Madeira and has competed in the AF Madeira Taça. The club has also entered the national cup competition known as
Taça de Portugal
The Taça de 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 Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...
on a few occasions.
Season to season
Players
Current squad
Honours
*
Terceira Divisão – Serie Madeira: 1
**
2009–10
*
AF Madeira Championship: 1
**2007–08
*
AF Madeira Cup: 1
**1985–86
References
External links
Zerozero team profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Andorinha, C.F.
Football clubs in Portugal
Association football clubs established in 1925
Sport in Madeira
1925 establishments in Portugal