Futebol Clube de Arouca () is a professional

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 the

Porto metropolitan area The Porto Metropolitan Area (; abbreviated as AMP) is a metropolitan area in northern Portugal centered on the City of Porto, Portugal's second largest city.Fernanda Paula Oliveira (2009), The metropolitan area, covering 17 municipalities, is th ...

. Founded in 1951, the club plays in the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

, holding home games at

Estádio Municipal de Arouca The Estádio Municipal de Arouca is an association football stadium located in Arouca, Portugal, which is used by F.C. Arouca as their home ground. Owned by the local municipality, it was built in 2006 while Arouca were still playing in the Ave ...

, with a 5,600-seat capacity.

History

Founded on 25 December 1951, as a

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 ...

subsidiary, Arouca spent the first five decades of its existence in the Aveiro regional leagues. In only two years (2006–08) it managed to reach the third division, being managed by

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

( RTP)

presenter Presenter may refer to: People * News presenter, person who presents news during a news program * Sports commentator, an announcer who presents analysis of a sporting event * Radio personality, presenter or announcer on a radio show * Television ...

Jorge Gabriel for a few months during that timeframe. Arouca managed its fourth promotion in only seven years at the end of

2012–13 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 ...

, reaching the

for the first time in its history. Subsequently, the

Arouca Municipality Arouca () is a town and a concelho, municipality in the Metropolitan Area of Porto, in the Norte Region, Portugal, Norte Region of Portugal and in the Aveiro District. The population in 2011 was 22,359, in an area of . It had 20,383 electors in 200 ...

awarded the club the Medal of Gold Merit for its achievement, with the organization also being granted extra financial means to renovate and expand its stadium. In 2015–16 under

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 ...

, Arouca finished a best-ever fifth place, qualifying for the first time to the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

. After beating

Heracles Almelo Heracles Almelo is a Dutch professional football club based in Almelo, founded in 1903. The club has won the Dutch national title twice, in 1927 and 1941. Heracles won the Eerste Divisie title during the 2004–05 season, gaining promotion to t ...

of the Netherlands on the

away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...

, they lost the play-off 3–1 after extra time to

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. A year after their peak finish, Arouca were relegated, ending their four years at the top. A two-year spell in the second division for Arouca ended in May 2019 when on the last day of the season, they lost to

U.D. Oliveirense União Desportiva Oliveirense (UDO), commonly known as Oliveirense, is a Portugal, Portuguese sports club from the city of Oliveira de Azeméis, in Aveiro District. The club was founded on 25 October 1922. The main football (soccer), football te ...

and

Varzim S.C. Varzim Sport Club () is a Portuguese football club based in Póvoa de Varzim. The club was founded on 25 December 1915, and has played at the Estádio do Varzim Sport Club since its foundation. The club plays in Liga 3, following relegation in ...

defeated

Académica de Coimbra The Associação Académica de Coimbra (AAC) is the students' union of the University of Coimbra (UC). Founded in Coimbra on November 3, 1887, it is the oldest students' union in Portugal. It is also the biggest Portuguese students' union belongin ...

; this ended nine years in the professional leagues. The 2019–20 season was truncated due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and Arouca and

Vizela Vizela () is a municipality in the Braga District in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 23,736, in an area of 24.70 km². The present mayor is Vitor Hugo Salgado, elected as an independent. The municipal holiday is March 19. History In Au ...

were due to be promoted because of their final position; competitors

Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense (), commonly known as Olhanense, is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Algarve Football Association First Division, the fifth tier of ...

successfully appealed at the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; , TAS) is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its courts are located in New York City, Sy ...

for these promotions to be suspended.

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Statistics

Most appearances

Top goalscorers

Managerial history

* Acácio Figueiredo (2000–2001) * Francisco Batista (2001–2002) * Artur Quaresma (2003 – June 2004) * Vasco Coelho (1 July 2004 – 1 November 2004) * Rui Correia (1 July 2006 – 30 June 2007) * Jorge Gabriel (1 July 2007 – 4 February 2008) * José Pedro (4 February 2008 – 30 June 2009) *

Carlos Secretário Carlos Alberto de Oliveira Secretário (born 12 May 1970) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played mainly as a right-back, currently a manager. In a 17-year career, in which he appeared in 341 Primeira Liga games and scored 12 ...

(1 July 2009 – 7 December 2009) * Henrique Nunes (9 December 2009 – 20 September 2011) * Vítor Oliveira (21 September 2011 – 30 June 2013) *

Pedro Emanuel Pedro Emanuel dos Santos Martins Silva (born 11 February 1975), known as Pedro Emanuel, is a Portuguese retired Association football, footballer who played mainly as a Defender (association football)#Centre-back, central defender, currently Manag ...

(1 July 2013 – 25 May 2015) *

(1 July 2015 – 11 February 2017) * Manuel Machado (11 February 2017 – 21 March 2017) *

Jorge Leitão Jorge Manuel Vasconcelos Leitão (born 14 January 1974) is a Portuguese retired professional footballer who played as a striker. He was known for his six-year spell with Walsall in England, but he also scored 28 goals in 169 games in the Portu ...

(22 March 2017 – 30 June 2017) *

Jorge Costa Jorge Paulo Costa Almeida (born 14 October 1971) is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a central defender, currently a manager. Nicknamed ''Bicho'' (animal) and ''Tanque'' (tank) by his colleagues and fans for his aggressive and phys ...

(1 July 2017 – 14 September 2017) *

Miguel Leal António Miguel Nunes Ferraz Leal de Araújo (born 22 April 1965), known as Leal, is a Portuguese football manager, currently in charge of Kuwaiti Division One club Al-Tadamon. He had several spells in charge of Penafiel, and four other second ...

(15 September 2017 – 26 September 2018) *

Quim Machado Joaquim Machado Gonçalves (born 10 October 1966), known as Quim Machado, is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a right-back, currently a manager. In his playing days, he achieved Primeira Liga totals of 255 games in the 1990s, in re ...

(27 September 2018 – 30 June 2019) * Henrique Nunes (1 July 2019 – 30 June 2020) *

Armando Evangelista Armando Evangelista Macedo Freitas (born 3 November 1973) is a Portuguese football manager and former player who played as a defensive midfielder. Career Vitória Guimarães In the summer of 2010, three seasons after finishing his professional ...

(1 July 2020 – 11 June 2023) * Daniel Ramos (1 July 2023 – 15 November 2023) * Daniel Sousa (15 November 2023 – 19 May 2024) * Gonzalo García (21 May 2024 – present)

Honours

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 ...

**2009–10 *

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 ...

**2007–08 *Aveiro Regional League **2006–07, 2002–03

Seasons

''Last updated: 10 November 2023''

European record

UEFA club competition record

;Notes * 3Q: Third qualifying round * PO: Play-off

UEFA coefficient

''Correct as of 21 May 2025.''

References

External links

*
Zerozero team profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arouca 1951 establishments in Portugal Association football clubs established in 1951 Football clubs in Portugal Primeira Liga clubs Liga Portugal 2 clubs