Boavista FC (Cape Verde)

History

The club was founded on July 5, 1939, it is also Santiago Island's fourth oldest and Cape Verde's sixth oldest club. Its logo and uniform with minimal exceptions are identical to Portugal's Boavista FC. The name is not related nor located on Boa Vista Island to the northeast, it is named after a Lisbon club founded during colonial rule. Its nickname is even a club name. 36 years after its foundation, the date of foundation would be the same as Independence Day in Cape Verde, the only major club to have the same date of foundation with Independence Day in Cape Verde.

Boa Vista won the insular titles in 1987, 1993 and 1995, after it split into two zones, Boavista won two titles for the South Zone in 2012 and in 2014. Boavista also won cup titles, three consecutive cup titles was won between 2009 and 2011, their last was in 2015, Boavista did not qualify for the first time to the 2015 Cape Verdean Cup due to financial concerns. Boavista's last Super Cup win was in 2015.

Janito was manager in 2012, then Humberto Bettencourt in 2013 and Nelito Antunes in 2014, he left Boavista Praia for a year.

The club recently got a new manager from Spartak d'Aguadinha named Joel de Castro from Portugal and was for a year. In the 2015/16 season, first time with 22 matches, the club did poorly in the first week inside the relegation zone being eleventh then soared to fourth and reached the number one spot on the 11th week and then slipped to 5th in the 15th week and finished second with 46 points, 14 wins and scored 45 goals behind Desportivo and ahead of Sporting also with 46 points but with 13 goals.

Once again, Nelito Antunes returned to the club as manager in late 2016 but shortly left in January 2017, another return was made with Humberto Bettencourt again manager of the club in two years.

Playoff participation and upper appearances

Boa Vista claimed their first title ever in 1987 even since independence. They entered the finals in 1993 and challenged with Académica (Espargos) to claim its second title, The game was tied at two apiece, the second match lost 2 to one to Académica (Espargos), the second title was not to be claimed until 1995 and won through the triangular phase and contained no playoffs. It offered Boavista entry to their first and only appearance in the continental level, the African Cup of Champions Clubs 1996, the match with Mauritania's ASC Sonalec was abandoned, their first match was with Algeria's JS Kabylie in the first round and scored only a goal and the club did not advanced. In their next championship appearance as they qualified as second place as Sporting Praia, automatically qualified for the 2010 championships as the 2009 winner and won the 2010 regional title, Boavista Praia won their third and most recent in 2010 after defeating Sporting Clube of the same city for a total of two goals all scored in the first leg in the second finals that featured two clubs from the same island, even the same city, it did not gained entry into the 2010 CAF Champions League. Boa Vista once again returned to the playoffs in 2012 and 2015 without heading to the final.

Cape Verdean Cup

After winning the island cup title for 2009, Boavista qualified for the Cape Verdean Cup and won their first title, Boavista returned for the last time and won their second and recent cup title after being the only club in the final round.

Boavista Praia Champion's Cup

In 2014, the club celebrated the 75th anniversary and organized the Taça dos Campões (The Cup of Champions) as a friendly match. The first edition featured the greatest clubs from different islands and the club would win the competition. The second edition featured clubs from different nations, Boavista Praia lost. In late October, the third edition was held and featured Cape Verdean teams, two of them were of the island, the other being Sporting Praia, the other two were from the western portion including CS Mindelense and Académica do Fogo. Boavista won the second title of the competition.

Stadium

The club plays at Estádio da Várzea in which Sporting, Travadores and Académica also play, the club also practices at the stadium and Complexo Desportivo Adega at Achada Grande Tras.

Rivalries

Their biggest rivalry at the regional level are with Sporting, Travadores, Vitória and Académica Praia. All forming the Praia derbies, one of them is titled Praia derby. They are one of the biggest rivalries in Cape Verde with the exception of the one with Académica.

Uniform

Its uniform color is white with black socks but a black t-shirt with black sleeve rim is used for home games, all with a two-rowed checkered lining on the right. When there is a same uniform color in some parts of the other club, the other uniform color is red with a checkered sleeve and black socks.

Previous uniforms were colored black for home games with a black-white checkered portion t-shirt and white socks and white with black socks for away games.

National titles

Regional titles

Other titles

Statistics

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Squad as of November 21, 2015

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.