Estádio da Várzea

Competition

The regional Premier Division matches are played in the afternoon and the early evening hours starting at 16:00 (2 PM). Four regional Second Division matches are played in the morning hours starting at 8:00 (8 AM), the other match are played at nearby Calabaceira further northwest.

Training ground

Southwest of the stadium is a small training ground. The clubs mainly train at that part of the stadium, some like Sporting Praia, Travadores, Académca da Praia, Desportivo Praia, ADESBA and Celtic Praia train there. The size is 69 x 43 meters. It was built on a former concrete basketball court in 2004.

Other landmarks

Other landmarks around the stadium includes the National Library in the north, the government building, home of the National Assembly in the south and recently since 2013, the stock market building. Further east is the headquarters of Cabo Verde Telecom, a building south is Cape Verde's tallest building built in around 2010, it is used for finances, banking and investments.

Other nearby sports complexes are its tennis complex and Gimnodesportivo Vava Duarte about two buildings south.

History

On February 5, 2004, the management of the stadium was done by the Santiago South Regional Football Association, newly separated then, while the ownership remains to be the city itself. Currently the ARFSS is the operator of the stadium, they also operate Calabaceira and a part of its training grounds in other parts of the city.

The stadium was reopened in 2006, Campo de Coco formerly occupied the site until the area would be renovated. Campo do Coco was one of the first football (soccer) fields opened in around 1930, around the 1990s, the stadium name became Várzea.

The stadium hosted the Amilcar Cabral Cup in 2000 where the team defeated Senegal 1-0 and won the only title. Praia's clubs between 2001 and 2006 were played at Sucupira, weeds were grown inside the stadium, the stadium was being renovated and the field sorted again at the time. The adjacent Sucupira field became disused, a building is now built on the former field. Music concerts also took place in the stadium especially in 2007. The first Cape Verdean Cup final took place in September 2007 which was won by Académica Praia. The 2010 Cape Verdean Football Championship finals took place where Boavista FC defeated Sporting Praia in two of its final matches and claimed their third and recent title for the club. Improvements along with artificial grass were made in late 2010.

The final matches between the winners of the islands of Santiago and São Vicente before independence in 1975 took place at Campo do Coco, the predecessor to Várzea, they were held each year with the exceptions of 1955, 1957 to 1959 and in 1970.

Cape Verdean Football Championships

Several final matches of the Cape Verdean Football Championships took place in the stadium, the first four was held at Sucupira while the stadium was being repaired, Sporting Praia won their fourth title at the stadium in 2002 with a record total of 19 points and scored 22 goals. The 2004 final took place in the stadium with the first match of two where Academica lost to Sport Sal Rei Club 0-2 on June 26, 2004. The first of two match of the 2005 finals was in the stadium with FC Derby and ended in a one goal draw, Derby later won their third and recent title for the club. In 2006, the second final match took place on July 2 and Sporting was tied with Académico do Aeroporto with two goals, Sporting won their fifth title, their first of four consecutive titles. In 2007, the second match was at the stadium on July 21 and had a one goal draw with Académica do Mindelo and Sporting claimed their sixth title under the away goals rule. Sporting faced Derby in the 2008 finals, the second rescheduled match featured Sporting who defeated Derby with 3 goals and claimed their seventh title. The 2009 finals was the first in the country that featured two clubs from the same city, the clubs were Sporting and Académica da Praia and Sporting won all four consecutive titles. Again, the 2009 finals would feature clubs from the same city, this time was Boavista and Boavista broke Sporting's four title record and won their third and recent title for the club. The 2011 edition of the finals had its first match held at the stadium and the first with artificial grass, Sporting played against CS Mindelense and lost the match by a goal, later Mindelense won their eighth title. The last national championship finals at the stadium took place in 2012, Sporting challenged against SC Atlético in the second match and ended scoreless, Sporting under the away goals rule claimed their ninth and recent title for the club, one of the notable finals of the decade.

Cape Verdean Cup

The knockout stage of the Cape Verdean Cup took place at the stadium in 2007, 2009, 2010 and in 2012. No new national cup competitions have been made after the cancellation in 2013.

Cape Verdean Super Cup

Two national Super Cup competitions took place at the stadium, the first was in 2013 where Sporting won and the last was in 2014 where CS Mindelense won.

Clubs at the continental level

African championship and cup league competitions took place at the stadium, seven championship editions took place with eleven matches and three cup competitions with three matches.

In the championship portion, Sporting held the most with seven matches the latter five being the CAF Champions League with ASC Port Autonome and Tunisia's Club Africain in the 1992 African Cup of Champions Clubs which was the first Cape Verdean club to appear, in the 2000 CAF Champions League with AS Tempête Mocaf of Bangui, Guinea's Fello Star in 2007, FAR Rabat and Inter Luanda in 2008 and again with FAR Rabat in 2009, the 2009 edition was the recent that the Cape Verdean champion competed at the continental level. The other two are Travadores with two matches held, first in the 1995 African Cup of Champions Clubs with Real de Banjul and the 1997 CAF Champions League with USM Alger and Boavista in 1996 African Cup of Champions Clubs.

In the cup portion each of the three clubs held it once, Travadores was the first Cape Verdean club to compete at the continental competition in 1993 where Boavista lost to ASC Air Mauritanie, then Boavista in 1994 with Diamond Stars from Sierra Leone and lastly Sporting held it once in 2001 with Gazelle FC from N'Djamena, Chad.

Panoramics

The stadium can be viewed from the hills in the outskirts including Achada Santo António and especially the Plateau of Praia.