Académica: Encyclopedia - Académica

Académica

- Organismo Autónomo
de Futebol

Académica de Coimbra (pron. IPA /ɐ.kɐ.'ðɛ.mi.kɐ dɨ ku.'ĩ.bɾɐ/) or simply Académica, is formally known as the Associação Académica de Coimbra - Organismo Autónomo de Futebol (AAC-OAF). It is an autonomous and professional football organization created inside of the students' union of the University of Coimbra - the Associação Académica de Coimbra, when football was professionalized in Portugal. It is one of the oldest sports institutions in Portugal, and is claimed by its fans to be the fourth in number of supporters (after Benfica, Sporting and Porto) although this is arguable since many other Portuguese clubs claim this as well. It is a sports club emotionally and historically related to the university life, so through generations, many students, even those born in farther regions, became lifelong supporters of the team. In general, the city's population identifies itself as Académicas's fan or simpathizer. The main football team uses the Estádio Cidade de Coimbra (specially rebuilt and modernized for the Euro 2004) with 30.000 seats.

The Associação Académica de Coimbra, the mother institution of the professionalized AAC-OAF autonomous football department, has several sports branches performing under the same AAC logo and using the same black colors, being effectively one of the largest sports clubs of Portugal.

Académica - History and tradition

Being today the most important sports club of Coimbra, Académica was founded by students of the University of Coimbra in 1876, when Clube Atlético de Coimbra (founded in 1861) and Academia Dramática (founded in 1837) merged together. The equipment used is black shirt, shorts and socks, due to the relation to and origin in the local and famous University of Coimbra where students wear a typical all-black suit. In the beginning, Académica's footballers were all mostly university students, and very talented players were discovered in the pitch. This was the rule during many decades until the 1970s. Académica used to be a constant team in the Portuguese main division before 1974. After the "25 de Abril" revolution (1974) in Portugal, many changes took place in Portuguese society, and after a period of uncertainty and several relegations to the Second Division, the Académica's football team and staff, were gradually professionalized aiming to achieve a stronger position in the modern times of fierce professional competition (although some of its modern players continue being higher education students, and among them, many at the University of Coimbra).

Académica - Honours

• Portuguese Football Championship runners-up: 1966/67
• Portuguese Football Cup winner: 1938/39 (SL Benfica 4-3)
• Portuguese Football Cup runners-up: 1950/51 (SL Benfica, 1-5); 1966/67 (Vitória de Setúbal, 2-3); 1968/69 (SL Benfica, 1-2)
• Qualified for the UEFA European Football Competitions: 1968/69; 1969/70; 1971/72
• Winner of the II Divisão Nacional: 1948/49; 1972/73

Académica - Highlights

• The original sports section of the Associação Académica de Coimbra which gave birth to AAC-OAF still exists. This Associação Académica de Coimbra - Secção de Futebol plays in the lower divisions and is a 100% amateur team where the large majority of its players are students of the University of Coimbra or then ex-students, as in the past. Many people claims that this is the "real" Académica de Coimbra football team, successor of the original team and owner of all the Académica's grass roots and heritage before the 1980s. After 25 de Abril democratic revolution of 1974, between 1974/75 and 1983/84 seasons, Académica was present in national competitions as C.A.C. - Clube Académico de Coimbra, being this period the turning point which lead to the creation of the current day professionalized autonomous team.
• Some modern professional players coming to AAC-OAF are still university students at Coimbra University. Examples were Académica's famous goalkeeper Pedro Roma (Sport Sciences), striker Marcelo (Civil Engineering), defender Tó Sá (Mathematics) or midfielder Nuno Piloto (Biochemistry), during the 1990s and 2000s.
• Académica's football team was the first winner in the history of the Portuguese Football Cup, in 1939.
• The team has the nickname of "Briosa" (Full of «Brio») - «Brio» is a portuguese word derived from the celtic «Brivos», which has a cross meaning between Pride and Excellence. They are also known as Equipa dos Estudantes (The Students Team).
• The AAC-OAF has also a professional Futsal team.

Académica - Noted players

• Artur Jorge
• Mário Campos
• Victor Campos
• Sérgio Conceição
• Fernando Couto
• Dário
• Dimas Teixeira
• Gervásio
• Jorge Humberto
• Gonçalves Isabelinha
• Maló
• Vítor Paneira
• Nuno Piloto
• Pedro Roma
• João Tomás
• Toni
• Mário Wilson

• Carlos Xavier
• Pedro Xavier
• Nana
• Teófilo Esquível
• Augusto da Fonseca
• Tibério
• José Maria Antunes
• Bentes
• Augusto Rocha
• Alberto Gomes
• Capela
• Faustino
• Armando Sampaio
• Rui Cunha
• Albano Paulo
• Filipe dos Santos
• Crispim

• Ernesto
• Torres
• Rui Rodrigues
• Costa
• Hilário

Académica - Coaches

Former Académica's head coaches include:

• Mário Wilson
• Artur Jorge

Académica - Presidents/Chairman since 1961

• 1961-62 Hortênsio Lopes
• 1963-64 Chorão de Aguiar
• 1965-66 Geraldo Ubach
• 1967-68 António Almeida Costa
• 1968-69 Adolfo Mesquita
• 1969-70 Aristides Mota
• 1971-72 João Moreno
• 1973-74 João Cortez Vaz
• 1974 José Couceiro
• 1975 Aurélio Dias Pereira
• 1976-77 João Cortez Vaz
• 1978-79 João Moreno
• 1980-82 Ezequiel Correia Umbelino
• 1983-90 Jorge Anjinho
• 1990-92 Mendes Silva
• 1992-95 Paulo Cardoso
• 1995 Fausto Correia
• 1995-2002 Campos Coroa
• 2003-2004 João Moreno
• 2004-... José Eduardo Simões

See also

• Associação Académica de Coimbra
• University of Coimbra
• Coimbra

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Académica", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki