According to our last 5 year plan, it’s time to add another club. We’re going for a club in Portugal, due to the lax home-grown rules, quality of the league and the generous (albeit hard to topple the “big” clubs) amount of European spots. So which club do we go for? Our job is made easier by the B teams that occupy the 2nd division, obviously we don’t want to take control of one of those which leaves us with the following teams:
Portimonense: Based in the city of Portimao. Portimao has a population of 55,000 and an area of 70 square miles. Portimao is based in the Algarve region (1,929 square miles), which has a population of roughly 450k. Portimonese have a stadium that can hold 6000 seated fans.
Leiria: Leiria are based in the city of Leiria. Their stadium has a capacity of 23,888. Leiria resides over a distance of 218 square miles and has a population of just under 127,000. Leiria is based in the Pinhal Litoral subregion (population: 261,000) in the Centro region.
Chaves: The team of Chaves is based unsurprisingly in the town of Chaves, the stadium has a capacity of 22,600 (8000 seated). Chaves has a population of 41,000 in a 228 square mile radius. Chaves is based in the Alto Trás-os-Montes subregion (population of over 214,000) of the “Norte” region which has a population of over 3.5 million people.
Varzim: The team of Varzim is based in Póvoa de Varzim, their stadium has a capacity of 7280. Póvoa de Varzim has a population of 63,000 over a distance of 31 square miles. Póvoa de Varzim is based in the Grande Porte subregion (population of over 2.1m) also based in the Norte region.
Famalicao: Famalicao are based in Vila Nova de Famalicão, their stadium has a capacity of 10,000. Vila Nova de Famalicão has a population of 133,832 over a distance of 77 square miles. Vila Nova de Famalicão is based in the Ave subregion (population of over 425,000) of the Norte region.
Santa Clara: Santa Clara are based in Ponta Delgada. Their stadium has a capacity of 12,800. Ponta Delgada resides over a distance of 90 square miles and has a population of 68,000. Ponta Delgada is in the subregion of the Azores (population 245,000).
Tondela: Tondela are based in the city, unsurprisingly of Tondela. Their stadium has a capacity of 11,000. Tondela resides over a distance of 143 square miles and has a population of just under 30,000. Tondela is based in the Dão-Lafões subregion (population 286,000) in the Centro region (population: 2.3m).
Vizela: Vizela are based in the city of Vizela. Their stadium has a capacity of 6,565. Vizela resides over a distance of 9 square miles and has a population of just under 24,000. Vizela is based in the subregion of Ave (population of over 425,000) in the Norte region.
Mafra: Mafra are based in the city of Mafra. Their stadium has a capacity of 2,400. Mafra resides over a distance of 112 square miles and has a population of just under 77,000. Mafra is based in the subregion Grande Lisboa (population: 2.8m) in the region of Lisbon (population: 2.8m).
Aves: Aves are based in the city of Vila Das Aves. Their stadium has a capacity of 5,441. Vila Das Aves resides over a distance of 2 square miles and has a population of just under 9000. Vila Das Aves is based in the subregion Aves (population of over 425,000) in the Norte region.
Freamunde: Freamunde are based in the city of Freamunde. Their stadium has a capacity of 3,919. Freamunde resides over a distance of 2 square miles and has a population of just under 8000. Freamunde is based in the subregion Tâmega (population: 558,000) in the Norte region.
Sp Covilha: Covilha are based in the city of Covilhã. Their stadium has a capacity of 6,125. Covilhã resides over a distance of 214 square miles and has a population of just under 52,000. Covilhã is based in the subregion Cova da Beira (population 93,000) in the Centro region.
Maritimo: Maritimo are based in the city of Funchal. Their stadium has a capacity of 7,200. Funchal resides over a distance of 29 square miles and has a population of just under 112,000. Funchal is based in Madeira (population of 289,000) .
Estoril: Estoril are based in the city of Estoril. Their stadium has a capacity of 8,000. Estoril resides over a distance of 4 square miles and has a population of just under 27,000. Estoril is based in the subregion Greater Lisbon (population: 2.8m) in the Lisbon region.
We’ll use the criteria that have served our model well so far: Stadium size, population size, facilities and competition from other clubs in the area. The best candidates look to be:
Leiria: The biggest stadium in the league. Great facilities (“impressive” training facilities and “great” youth facilities and “great” youth coaching). Little competition in the area for potential youth talent.
Maritimo: Not the biggest stadium in the world, but the lack of competition in the area makes it an appealing prospect.
Santa Clara: Average size stadium, similar to Maritimo in that there’s no much competition in the immediate area. Facilties are average.
Chaves: A large stadium, average facilities. Not much competition but the large area is a downside.
It screams out to me that Leiria is the no brainer choice here due to the fantastic facilities and the huge stadium which we’ll hopefully be packing out in a few seasons time. So welcome to Coca Cola Leiria (CCL)
Squad
A lot of players left over the summer, leaving us with a senior squad consisting of just 11 senior players. I’m not overly fussed though as we’re going to be bringing in our own squad anyway.
The players we have at our disposal are:
Tiago Maia – GK
Joel – DC:
Rodrigo Santos – DC:
Mamadou Sall – DC:
Jose Silva – DR:
Kaka – DL:
Joao Coimbra – CM:
Pepo – CM:
Mica Borges – LW:
Serge Kevyn – ST:
Jorginho – ST:
Whilst in the U19s we have (potential star rating in brackets)
Joao Lopes – ST (4):
Luis Sola – DC (4):
Rui Gaspar – DM (4):
Yaroslav Moroz – ST (4):
Pedro Faustino – AM (4):
Lamine le – RW (3.5):
Sergio Hilario – CM (3.5):
Joaquim Matos – DC (2.5)
Carlos Tavares – DL (2.5)
Bruno Costa – GK (2)
Gilmey – ST (2.5)
Jose Borges – AM (2)
Joao Oliveira – GK (1.5)
Jose Esteves – DL (1.5)
Fabio Teixeira – DR (1)
Francisco Cunha – LW (1)
Marco Ferreira – LW (1)
Nelson Pires – DC (1)
Andre Pinto – ST (1)
So whilst the first team is pretty average, we have a lot of potential talent in the U19s, some of which will be getting first team action under the Coca Cola stars scheme (more on this in the next episode), so alongside the players we’ll be bringing in from CCS and CCA, the future looks bright for CCL!
Here’s a reminder of our 5 year plan with the yearly time-scale on the end.
5 year plan:
- Make Championship Group with Antwerp/Reach mid-table with Silkeborg – 19/20 – ACHIEVED
- Win the league with Antwerp/Make Europe with Silkeborg/Add a Portuguese team 20/21
- Maintain status with Antwerp/Win league with Silkeborg/Get Portuguese team promoted 21/22
- Maintain status with Antwerp + Silkeborg/Mid-table finish with Portuguese team 22/23
- Maintain status with Antwerp + Silkeborg/Push for Europe with Portuguese team/Add a team in England 23/24
Join us in Episode 15 as we move into the 20/21 season as we aim to conquer Portugal and establish a foothold in the leagues we’re already in. I love receiving your feedback and any suggestions you may have in improving the series, so head over to my Twitter and give me a tweet!
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