Académica

Académica, aka Associação Académica de Coimbra – Organismo Autónomo de Futebol (A.A.C. – O.A.F.) or also as Academica de Coimbra is a professional and an autonomous football organization which is based in Coimbra, Portugal. José Eduardo Simões is the chairman of this club and Pedro Emanuel is the manager of the club.

This team got created inside the Coimbra University students union, namely, the Associação Académica de Coimbra. Through the amalgamation of two clubs, Clube Atlético de Coimbra (founded in 1861) and Academia Dramática (founded in 1837), this club got founded in 1876. This was a changing period in the 1970s and 1980s, when football got professionalized in Portugal. Though as a student’s amateur sports association backs to 1876, the year of its foundation, it is effectively known to be one of the oldest sports institutions in Portugal.

This club is historically and emotionally related to the life of the university, so through generations, lots of students, those born in farther regions, became lifelong supporters of the team. The club uses the Estádio Cidade de Coimbra ground for its matches. In 1939, this club was the first winners of the Portuguese Football Cup. The kit used is black shirt, socks and shorts. In early days, the players of the club were mostly university students and talented players discovered in the pitch. This rule continued for many decades till the 1970s, when the club used to be a constant team in the main division of Portuguese prior to 1974. Lots of changes took place thereafter, especially between 1974-75 and 1983-84, when the club staff and team were professionalized to achieve stronger position in the modern times of fierce professional competition.