U.D. Leiria

History

In 1979–80, the club first competed in the top division, finishing in 13th position and being relegated.

On 16 April 2001, the club appointed former Benfica manager José Mourinho on a two-year contract. In January 2002, having taken the team as high as third, he departed for Porto. His successor Mário Reis resigned after five games, having lost four, and the team concluded the season in seventh under Vítor Pontes.

The club lost the 2003 Taça de Portugal final to Mourinho's Porto, with the only goal coming from ex-União de Leiria striker Derlei. As the northern club had won the double of league and cup, União de Leiria were their opponents in the 2003 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira on 10 August, with the same scoreline.

União de Leiria reached the 2004 UEFA Intertoto Cup final with Lille. After goalless draws in France and at home, the team lost 0–2 in extra time on 24 August. Three years later, the club won the same event with a 4–1 second-leg win over Serbia's Hajduk Kula reversing a 1–0 away loss. After defeating Israel's Maccabi Netanya by a single goal in the qualifying round, the club took on Bayer Leverkusen in the first round of the UEFA Cup, losing 5–4 on aggregate with a 3–2 home win in the second leg.

In 2007–08, the club was relegated to the second level, after finishing last; it was additionally involved in the Apito Dourado scandal.

The 2011–12 season was lived amongst serious financial difficulties, with the squad not being paid their wages for several months, as three coaching moves also happened during the campaign and president João Bartolomeu resigned amongst accusations of ingratitude towards the players. On 29 April 2012, after most of the squad rescinded their contracts, only eight players took the pitch for the league match at home against Feirense in an eventual 0–4 home loss. The side played the last two matches, against Benfica and Nacional, with a complete team, but three players came from the juniors. After failing to meet the deadline to register the team in Division Two, Leiria were automatically relegated to the third level. Overwhelmed with the task of rebuilding a squad from scratch, the organization hired several players in an attempt to return to the professionals, as a second senior team also begun competing in the Leiria regional leagues, coached by former club player Luís Bilro. On 28 June 2013, the UD Leiria SAD was declared bankrupt in a meeting of creditors, which demanded the payment of a debt amounting to €13.5 million, with the Portuguese state abstaining for demanding a debt of over €3.6 million. The second senior team that competed in the regional league took the place of the SAD by buying their sports rights for €1,000, with the club returning to the Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa after playing their home matches at other grounds for two seasons.

In February 2015, at an extraordinary general assembly, UD Leiria would vote for the creation of another SAD, opening doors to the arrival of Alexander Tolstikov, who after João Bartolomeu would become the new "Lord" of Leiria. The club would have already had a SAD between 1999 and 2013, having been extinguished in the face of its high debt value. The SAD's initial share capital is 40% owned by UD Leiria and 60% owned by DS Investment LLP, of which Alexander Tolstikov is one of those responsible. Thus, DS Investment started to control the main football team and also the junior team.

In October 2020, after a vote at a general meeting, the members approved the entry of a new investor into the club's SAD: Armando Marques, a former director of Vitória de Guimarães. Furthermore, they waived their right of first refusal in the sale of 60% of DS Investment LLP, a company owned by Alexander Tolstikov, leading to their departure from the SAD structure.

In 2022–23, the club won Liga 3 and promotion to Liga Portugal 2. The team defeated Belenenses 1–0 at the Estádio Nacional to return to professional leagues for the first time since 2012.

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

League and cup history

Honours

• Segunda Divisão/Liga Portugal 2: 1980–81, 1997–98
• Liga 3: 2022–23
• UEFA Intertoto Cup co-winners: 2007
• Taça de Portugal runners-up: 2002–03
• Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira runners-up: 2003

Stadium

The Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa was built for UEFA Euro 2004 in 2003, hosting during the competition Croatia's matches against Switzerland (0–0) and France (2–2). It also hosted the 2006 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira final between FC Porto and Vitória de Setúbal, as well as the following (Sporting CP 1–0 Porto).

The architect who designed the stadium was Tomás Taveira, who also designed stadiums for Euro 2004, including Beira-Mar's Estádio Municipal de Aveiro and Sporting CP's Estádio José Alvalade. The grounds belong to the municipality of Leiria.

Due to an excessive rent, Leiria relocated to the Estádio Municipal in the nearby town of Marinha Grande, for 2011–12. For the following season, the club moved to Campo da Portela in Santa Catarina da Serra, home of U.D. Serra.

After the SAD bankruptcy, the club returned to play its home matches at the Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa.

Managers

• Portugal Vieira Nunes (1989–90)
• Portugal Luís Campos (1992–93)
• Portugal Manuel Cajuda (1993–94)
• Portugal Vitor Manuel (1994–96)
• Portugal Eurico Gomes (1996)
• Portugal Quinito (1996–97)
• Portugal Vitor Manuel (1997)
• Portugal Vítor Oliveira (1997–98)
• Portugal Mário Reis (1998–99)
• Portugal Manuel José (1999–01)
• Portugal José Mourinho (2001–02)
• Portugal Mário Reis (2002)
• Portugal Vítor Pontes (2002)
• Portugal Manuel Cajuda (2002–03)
• Portugal Vítor Pontes (2003–05)
• Portugal José Manuel Gomes (2005)
• Portugal Jorge Jesus (2005–06)
• Portugal Domingos (2006–07)
• Portugal Paulo Duarte (2007)
• Portugal Vítor Oliveira (2007–08)
• Portugal Paulo Alves (2008)
• Portugal Manuel Fernandes (2008–09)
• Angola Lito Vidigal (2009–10)
• Portugal Pedro Caixinha (2010–11)
• Portugal Vítor Pontes (2011)
• Portugal Manuel Cajuda (2011–12)
• Portugal José Dominguez (2012)
• Portugal Ricardo Moura (2012–2013)
• Portugal Luis Bilro (2012–2013)
• Portugal Rui Rodrigues (2013–2014)
• Portugal Jorge Casquilha (2014–2016)
• Belarus Siarhei Kabelski (2016)
• Portugal Kata (2016–2017)
• Moldova Serghei Cleșcenco (2017)
• Portugal Rui Amorim (2017–2018)
• Portugal Luís Pinto (2018)
• Portugal Tiago Vicente (2018)
• Portugal Filipe Cândido (2018–2020)
• Portugal Carlos Delgado (2020)
• Portugal Hélder Pereira (2020–2021)
• Portugal Filipe Cândido (2021)
• Portugal Bino (2021–2022)
• Portugal Vasco Botelho da Costa (2022–2024)
• Portugal Filipe Cândido (2024–present)

Fans

União's fans are called Leirienses or Unionistas, and their main group of supporters is Armata Ultra ("Armata Ultra").

Leiria's biggest rivals are Beira-Mar, Associação Naval 1º de Maio and Académica de Coimbra, which belong to the same geographical region.

References

References

1. (16 April 2001). "José Mourinho apresentado no União de Leiria". [[CNN Portugal]].
2. (27 April 2020). "Os primeiros tempos de Mourinho na U. Leiria: «Acha que está no Benfica? Não pode jogar tanto ao ataque»". [[Record (Portuguese newspaper).
3. (26 February 2002). "All change in Portugal". [[UEFA]].
4. (15 October 2020). "“Jogo da final da Taça de Portugal foi muito duro porque era a minha equipa, a minha gente”". Região de Leiria.
5. (10 August 2003). "FC Porto vence Supertaça". [[Público (Portugal).
6. (24 August 2004). "Lille leave it late". [[UEFA]].
7. (29 July 2007). "União de Leiria apura-se para pré-eliminatória". [[TSF (radio station).
8. (5 October 2007). "Leirienses despedem-se com vitória". [[Correio da Manhã (Portugal).
9. (24 May 2009). "União de Leiria regressa à Liga, Boavista cai para a II Divisão". [[Expresso (newspaper).
10. [https://relvado.sapo.pt/1-liga/joao-bartolomeu-se-nao-conseguirmos-pagar-aos-jogadores-paciencia-302231 João Bartolomeu: "Se não conseguirmos pagar aos jogadores, paciência" (João Bartolomeu: "If we can't pay the players, tough luck")] {{Webarchive. link. (2015-04-27 ; Relvado, 9 December 2011 {{in lang). pt
11. [https://archive.today/20120707162714/http://desporto.sapo.pt/futebol/primeira_liga/artigo/2011/12/09/_presidente_da_sad_confirma_orde.html Presidente da SAD confirma ordenados em atraso e saída do diretor geral (Chairman confirms due wages and departure of general manager)]; SAPO Desporto, 9 December 2011 {{in lang. pt
12. [http://www.portugoal.net/index.php/more-uniao-de-leiria-news/27678-leiria-pontes-out-cajuda-in Uniao de Leiria swap coaches... again] {{webarchive. link. (November 23, 2011 ; PortuGOAL, 26 September 2011)
13. [http://www.portugoal.net/index.php/more-uniao-de-leiria-news/32049-cajuda-out-dominguez-in-at-leiria Cajuda out, Dominguez in at Leiria] {{Webarchive. link. (2012-08-10 ; PortuGOAL, 14 March 2012)
14. [https://www.dn.pt/desporto/futebol-nacional/interior/joao-bartolomeu-demitiu-se-sao-25-anos-a-aturar-isto-2419511.html João Bartolomeu demitiu-se: "São 25 anos a aturar isto" (João Bartolomeu resigned: "It's 25 years putting up with this")] {{Webarchive. link. (2018-07-23 ; [[Diário de Notícias]], 13 April 2012 {{in lang). pt
15. Vieira, Dominic. "União de Leiria, the first club to play a 4–3–0". About a Football Report.
16. link. (2012-05-02 ; [[Record (Portuguese newspaper)). Record]], 30 April 2012 {{in lang. pt
17. [http://www.maisfutebol.iol.pt/benfica/benfica-u-leiria-benfica-u-leiria-bruno-cesar/1346096-1456.html Benfica-U. Leiria, 1–0 (crónica) (Benfica-U. Leiria, 1–0 (report))] {{Webarchive. link. (2013-10-22 ; Mais Futebol, 5 May 2012 {{in lang). pt
18. [http://www.maisfutebol.iol.pt/u-leiria/u-leiria-nacional-destaques-mateus-maisfutebol/1347941-1459.html U. Leiria-Nacional, 2–3 (destaques) (U. Leiria-Nacional, 2–3 (highlights))] {{Webarchive. link. (2013-10-22 ; Mais Futebol, 12 May 2012 {{in lang). pt
19. link. (2012-09-03 ; Record, 25 May 2012 {{in lang). pt
20. [http://www.oderbie.com/2012/08/07/cinco-reforcos-para-a-u-leiria-sad/ Reforços para Leiria SAD (Reinforcements for Leiria SAD)]; O Derbie, 7 August 2012 {{in lang. pt
21. [http://www.oderbie.com/2012/08/25/duo-reforca-u-leiria-sad/ Duo no Leiria (Duo joins Leiria)]; O Derbie, 25 August 2012 {{in lang. pt
22. [https://archive.today/20130416160758/http://desporto.sapo.pt/futebol/primeira_liga/artigo/2012/07/24/clube_chegou_a_acordo_com_o_trei.html Clube chegou a acordo com o treinador Ricardo Moura (Club reaches agreement with coach Ricardo Moura)]; SAPO Desporto, 24 July 2012 {{in lang. pt
23. [https://desporto.sapo.pt/futebol/primeira_liga/artigo/2012/06/19/clube_inscreve_equipa_nos_distri.html Clube inscreve equipa nas distritais (Club signs team in regional divisions)] {{Webarchive. link. (2012-06-22 ; SAPO Desporto, 19 June 2012 {{in lang). pt
24. (28 June 2013). "Abstenção do Estado decisiva para liquidação da SAD da União de Leiria". desporto.sapo.pt.
25. (18 July 2013). "SAD declara insolvência e clube sobe ao Nacional de Séniores". rr.sapo.pt.
26. (17 July 2013). "União de Leiria garante direitos desportivos da SAD por mil euros". agentedesportivo.com.
27. (20 May 2003). "União de Leiria vence Belenenses e é campeã da Liga 3". Mais Futebol.
28. "Plantel". UD Leiria.
29. {{usurped
30. [http://www.oderbie.com/2012/08/01/u-leiria-sad-jogara-no-campo-da-portela/ U. Leiria SAD jogará no Campo da Portela (U. Leiria SAD will play in Campo da Portela)]; O Derbie, 1 August 2012 {{in lang. pt
31. (10 September 2011). "Beira Mar-U. Leiria (antevisão): duelo de opostos". Mais Futebol.
32. (12 March 2010). "AO VIVO: Naval-U. Leiria, um «derby» tranquilo". Mais Futebol.
33. (26 August 2007). "Académica procura limpar imagem no dérbi da zona centro". [[Jornal de Notícias]].