Club Sport Marítimo,
commonly known as just Marítimo ( , locally ), is
a Portuguese
sports club, best known
for its football team that plays at
the Estádio dos
Barreiros
in Funchal
, Madeira Islands
. The club currently plays in the top-flight
Liga Sagres.
Marítimo
are now regarded as an important club in Portugal, and are widely
known throughout the Portuguese speaking world, in countries such
as Brazil
, Angola
, and
Mozambique
. The club's
reserve
team,
Marítimo B, compete
in the
Portuguese Second
Division.
Often seen in the
UEFA Cup, Marítimo's most
recent foray into European competition came in 2008-09, when they
lost 3-1 on aggregate to giants
Valencia
CF. Nevertheless, Marítimo still maintain a proud and
formidable home record against European opposition, beating
Rangers and
Leeds United, whilst said club were in
their prime.
History
Founded on 20 September 1910 as
Club Português de Sport
Marítimo by Cândido Fernandes de Gouveia, the club adopted the
red and green colours of the new Republican flag of Portugal, so as
to distinguish themselves from rivals
Club Sports da
Madeira, who used the blue and white colours of the old
monarchy flag, which had been replaced 15 days earlier.
The name
Marítimo, meaning Maritime in English, was used to reflect the fact that
many of the team's players were workers of the nearby Funchal docks, a
prominent employer at the time.
The first ever match for Marítimo was a 2-1 win against
Santa Clara, a select team composed of
workers of Western Telegraph Company, and soon after began playing
teams of sailors from visiting British ships. José Rodrigues
Barrinhas, an old-fashioned attacking centre-half, made a name for
himself in these games and in matches against rivals CS
Madeira.
Achievements
League and Cup history
As of the 2007-08 season, the club has 28 presences at the top
level of Portuguese football, where they has been continuously
since 1985-86. The clubs' best classification ever was four 5th
places finishes.
European competition history
As of December, 2008.
Rivalries
Marítimo's main local rivals are
Nacional, although there is also plenty of
ill-feeling towards minnows
Clube de
Futebol União, who are effectively the "third club of Madeira"
after the aforementioned. The Madeira derby between Marítimo and
Nacional is often associated with the clubs followers' differing
culture and way of life. The fans of Nacional, being of a higher
socio-economic status than those of Marítimo, are mainly lobbyists
for the commercial expansion of Madeira, while the followers of
Maritimo are usually of the working class. This only exacerbates
the ill-feeling between the clubs, which is made even more tense by
the fact that controversial regional governor
Alberto João Jardim is a
self-confessed fan of Marítimo.
The rivalry heightened in the mid-1990s when Jardim proposed a plan
to unite Madeira's three main clubs, who at the time were all
competing in the top division. Nacional and União both pledged
their support for the scheme, in a bid for Madeira to realistically
contend with the "
Big Three" for the
league title; however, Marítimo's fans rejected the idea in mass
numbers, stamping their superiority on Madeira's footballing
scene.
Fans
Marítimo
are known throughout the Portuguese speaking world and have
significant fan bases in the former Portuguese colonies of Brazil, Angola, and
Cape
Verde
, as well as areas of North East United States
, Canada
, the
United
Kingdom
(specifically Jersey
and London
) and
South Africa.
The club
also has a big fans base in Venezuela
with sister club Club Sport Marítimo de
Venezuela from Caracas
, Venezuela, becoming national champions on several
occasions. The club was founded in 1959 by Portuguese
immigrants living in Caracas, who based
their new club on their favourite team from back home in
Madeira. Even today, strong ties are kept between both clubs
and supporters from either side of the Atlantic ocean.
Closer to
home, the club has a proud reputation of being one of the most
supported clubs in Portugal after the Big three, and the most popular club on
their home island of Madeira
, outranking
local rivals Nacional and União. The club has over 9,000
registered members (
sócios) and two predominant groups of
Ultras, the
Esquadrão
Maritimista and the
Ultras
Templários, the bigger and more infamous of the two.
There are several famous fans of Marítimo who have publicly
declared their support for the team on various occasion, such as
the multimillionaire businessman
Joe
Berardo and Madeira's Regional Governor, the controversial
politician João Jardim.
The club was used a political vehicle in the 1970s during Madeira's
fight for freedom and autonomy from mainland Portugal. Governor
Jardim proclaimed his support of the club in order to gain votes
and the backing from the people of Madeira, while the people in
turn supported Marítimo as a symbol of their pride and allegiance
to Madeira.
Stadium
Previously
playing at the Campo do
Almirante Reis until they moved out in 1927, Marítimo currently
play their home games at the Estádio dos Barreiros, the municipality stadium of Funchal.
However, that statium (Estádio dos Barreiros) was build by rivals
Nacional and donated to Madeira Government. Although uniquely
picturesque, the stadium is rapidly aging, despite numerous face
lifts over the years and, for the best part of a decade, the club
has sought after an alternative site for a new stadium.
The club also own the
Campo da Imaculada
Conceição, a small stadium in the north of Funchal. The land it
stands on was purchased by supporters and donated to the club who
thus constructed the stadium, which was officially inaugurated on 3
October 1965. The ground is used for
B team-matches and for training.
In October 2006, it was announced that the club would construct a
new state-of-the-art stadium in the
Praia
Formosa area of West Funchal, named
Estádio do Marítimo. However,
after several delays and a political war over funding and planning,
the stadium plans were put on hold indefinitely, adding to a list
of set-backs that stretch well over a decade. The fact that
archrivals Nacional were allowed to construct a new stand and
training facility at their Estádio da Madeira (with government
backing) angered Marítimo's fans even more.
A year later, on 14 September 2007, an agreement between the club's
directors and the Madeira government (of whom own a 40% share of
the club) was reached to use the site of the current Estádio dos
Barreiros as the location of a brand new, reconstructed commercial
stadium, rumoured to be named Arena do Marítimo-Madeira.
Work began on the new stadium on
July 20,
2009, with the realigning of the pitch and
demolition of the Bancada Nascente, reducing the current capacity
to 5,000 seats. Initial plans proclaim that the new venue will be
operational by 2010, Marítimo's centenary year.
Attendances
The attendances of Marítimo's home games have been on a steady
decline since the late 1990s, with the average attendance filling
just half of the stadium's capacity in recent seasons.
- 1999-2000: 7,412
- 2000-2001: 5,353
- 2001-2002: 4,559
- 2002-2003: 5,147
- 2003-2004: 4,735
- 2004-2005: 3,882
- 2005-2006: 4,324
- 2006-2007: 4,167
- 2007-2008: 5,825
- 2008-2009: 4,941
Current Squad
(On loan from Porto)
(On loan from Celta de Vigo)
(On loan from Itaúna)
Transfers 2009-10
In
Out
For more information, see List of
transfers of Portuguese Liga 2009-10 season.
Out on Loan
B Team Squad
For B-team players, see C.S. Marítimo B.
Notable Former Players
Managers and head coaches
Current management team
| Position |
Name |
| Head Coach |
Mitchell van der
Gaag |
| Assistant Coach |
Rifa |
| First Team Coach |
João Luís Gouveia Martins |
| First Team Coach |
João Abel Silva |
| Goalkeeping Coach Coach |
Joaquim Soares Loureiro |
Former managers
See also:
:Category:Marítimo
managers
Other sports
Like many other Portuguese clubs, Marítimo operates several sports
teams outside of the football team. Although they are most
recognisably successful in professional
volleyball (See
Marítimo volleyball), the
club also field a prominent
handball
team (See
Marítimo
handball) and a National Championship-winning women's
basketball. Other sports groups within the
organisation include
athletics,
figure skating,
fishing,
futsal,
karate,
kart racing,
rallying,
rhythmic gymnastics,
roller hockey,
rugby
union and
swimming.
See also
Notes and references
- [1] Average attendances from
European-Football-Statistics.co.uk
External links
- Official websites
- News sites
- Official supporters groups websites
- Fan websites
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