Grupo Desportivo Varanda

Last updated
Varanda
Full name Grupo Desportivo Varanda
Founded 1985
Ground Achadinha de Baixo
Estádio da Várzea and Ponta da Água,
Praia, Cape Verde
Ground Capacity 8,000
League Santiago Island League (South)
Premier Division
2016–17 2nd, runner-up, later withdrew

Grupo Desportivo Varanda (Capeverdean Crioulo, ALUPEC or ALUPEK as well as Badiu: Varanda or Baranda) is a football club that plays in the Santiago Island South Zone League in Cape Verde. It is based in the Achadinha de Baixo neighborhood of Praia. The club currently plays in the regional Second Division for the 2016–17 season.

The Alfabeto Unificado para a Escrita do Caboverdiano, commonly known as ALUPEC, is the alphabet that was officially recognized by the Cape Verdean government to write Cape Verdean Creole.

Association football Team field sport

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played with a spherical ball between two teams of eleven players. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies, making it the world's most popular sport. The game is played on a rectangular field called a pitch with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by moving the ball beyond the goal line into the opposing goal.

Cape Verde Country comprising ten islands off the Northwest coast of Africa

Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country spanning an archipelago of 10 volcanic islands in the central Atlantic Ocean. It forms part of the Macaronesia ecoregion, along with the Azores, Canary Islands, Madeira, and the Savage Isles. In ancient times these islands were referred to as "the Islands of the Blessed" or the "Fortunate Isles". Located 570 kilometres (350 mi) west of the Cape Verde Peninsula off the coast of Northwest Africa, the islands cover a combined area of slightly over 4,000 square kilometres (1,500 sq mi).

The club had played at Estádio da Várzea. As they are in the Second Division, they play at other wide football (soccer) fields in Ponta d'Água and Calabaceira.

Estádio da Várzea stadium

Estádio da Várzea is a multi-purpose stadium in Praia, Cape Verde just west of the city center's plateau in the subdivision of Várzea and on Avenida Cidade de Lisboa on its east side. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium holds 8,000 people. The stadium is owned by the city of Praia and is operated by the Santiago South Regional Football Association and serves its headquarters of the association. The other stadium operated by the association in the south of the island is Calabaceira. The entrance is on the west side of the stadium where most of the seat is. The stadium has seat rows in the left and right sides, 200 meters east is the Plateau of Praia. Its size is 108 by 69 m, the longest part of the field goes north to south with a 15 degree angle facing east at the top. Its elevation is about 4 meters above sea level. A smaller practice field lies due south. The stadium is home to the four best football clubs in Cape Verde, Sporting, CD Travadores, Académica and Boavista FC the Santiago Island first division alongside Vitória FC, one of the region's best, it also home of Desportivo da Praia which is a military club and the lesser club Benfica Praia. Other teams that base in another part include ADESBA located in the nearby neighborhood of Craveiro Lopes some hundreds of meters north but play in the stadium.

History

The club played in the Second Division when the club became registered around the 1990s. In 1999, alongside Tchadense, the club withdrew from competitions where the Second Division did not took part until 2004 when they competed again. The club celebrated its 25th year of foundation in 2010. The club was in the First Division in the early 2010s. On November 23, 2011, Varanda played a match with Celtic in honor of Djack. [1] In the 2011-12 season, the week 3 match was suffering as they lost 7-0 to Desportivo da Praia.

In the 2013-14 season, Varanda finished 9th place with 15 points, 5 wins, 13 losses and scored 22 goals. The club went to the division decisional match and faced 2nd place Ribeira Grande in late July, [2] the club won all two matches, 2-1 on July 26 and 2-3 on July 30 and stayed in the Premier Division for another two years; this was the last match of its kind in Southern Santiago. [3]

In the 2014-15 season, the club stayed in the division. The club again finished 9th with 15 points and had fewer wins numbering three, six draws, nine losses and scored 11 goals, more than half less than the previous season. The club were not relegated as two more clubs were added in the following season.

The 2015-16 season was the first that featured twelve clubs. Varanda won the first match 1–0 over Delta on November 27, their first draw was with Celtic on January 9. Varanda did not won with two goals until February 7 when they defeated Eugênio Lima; this was the club's highest scoring match. Most of the matches were lost without scoring, the worst was on March 25 when they lost 4–0 to Sporting Praia. On April 22, Os Garridos got 18 points and put Varanda in the relegation zone. Their last hopes remaining in the Premier Division were vanished by a 1–0 loss to Desportivo on May 6 and Varanda was relegated together with winless Delta. Varanda finished 9th with 16 points, a point higher than the previous season and 4 wins and draws, 14 losses, the club scored 12 goals which was the season's least and conceded 34 goals, 80 percent more than the previous season.

Varanda participated for a season at the Second Division for the 2015–16 season. At the season's end, Varanda finished second behind Ribeira Grande de Santiago with 33 points shared with Tira Chapéu, Varanda had 10 wins and three draws, the same with the other club, Varanda scored 29 goals, three more than the other club, thus prevented the newly formed club from competing for the first time in the Premier Division and kept that club third place. While Tira Chapéu won the match and scored its 25th ever goal there and totalled 26, Varanda's final match with another newcomer Relâmpago ended with a two-goal draw. Varanda will appear in the Premier Division for the 2017-18 season. In the 2016–17 Santiago South Zone Cup, Varanda made it up to the 1/8 finals after losing to Sporting Praia on December 30.

Varanda unexpectedly withdrew and again out of the competition, Varanda remains to be a Second Division club, it was replaced by Tira Chapéu.

Stadium

Estadio da Varzea, second home field of Varanda Varzea-2014.JPG
Estádio da Várzea, second home field of Varanda

Varanda has its home field in Calabaceira, a perfect size field. The stadium holds about 1,000. Its Premier Division matches are not played there, so Varanda plays its matches at Estádio da Várzea, a multi-use stadium in Praia, Cape Verde. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium holds 8,000. The stadium has seat rows in the left and right sides and a small hill and a plateau lies to the west.

It is played along with Praia's five famous teams including Sporting, Boavista, Vitória Praia, Académica and CD Travadores in the same stadium. The club also practices at the stadium and probably practices at Sucupira and Calabaceira, the main field of Celtic and Varanda.

Varanda also plays some matches at Estádio de Calabaceira, located north of the center in the mid north just north of the bank of Ribeira da Trindade Other clubs, Second Division participants plays some matches at the stadium.

League and cup history

Island/Regional Championship

SeasonDiv.Pos.Pl.WDLGSGAGDP Cup Notes
2008–09 25185582834-620
2010–11 25187561714+326
2011–12 291843112234-1214Remains in the Premier Division
2012–13 26186571924-523
2013–14 391850132237-1515Remains in the Premier Division
2014–15 29183691119-815
2015–16 2112244141234-4516Relegated into the Second Division
2016–17 321810352920+933 1/8 finals Originally qualified into the Premier Division
Later withdrawn

Statistics

Current squad

As of 9 May 2016

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

No.PositionPlayer
1 Flag of Cape Verde.svg Avelino Modesto Tavares Furtado
Flag placeholder.svgHenry Ijama

References

  1. "Equipas de Achadinha jogam torneio em homenagem ao Djack" [Achadinha's Teams Played a Tournament in Honor of Djack]. A Semana (in Portuguese). 25 November 2011. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
  2. "Varanda e Ribeira Grande defrontam se sabado para a liguilha" [Varanda and Ribeira Grande Challenged for the Promotion Match of the League]. Criolosports (in Portuguese). July 2014.
  3. "Varanda vence liguilha e garante manutencao" [Varanda won the Promotion Match and Remains in the Premier Division]. Criolosports (in Portuguese). 31 July 2014.