Campeonato Nacional de Cabo Verde
| Country | Cape Verde |
|---|---|
| Confederation | CAF |
| Founded | 1976 |
| Number of teams | 18 |
| Level on pyramid | 1 |
| Domestic cup(s) |
Cape Verdean Cup Independence Cup |
| International cup(s) |
CAF Champions League CAF Confederation Cup |
| Current champions |
CS Mindelense (2016) |
| Most championships | CS Mindelense (12) |
The Cape Verdean Football Championship or the Campeonato Caboverdiano de Futebol is a football competition that was created in 1976 in Cape Verde. A local championship was founded in 1953 before independence, when the islands were still part of the Portuguese Empire.
The first football championship that was not official took place in 1938 and were colonial and later provincial, only clubs from Sâo Vicente participated, they were actual insular championships. The first official championships began in 1953 and featured clubs from only the islands of Sâo Vicente (along with its surroundings) and Santiago took part. For the next 21 years they occurred and Académica do Mindelo won the first title, Mindelense was the second club to win a title and from 1956 the leader in the number of titles for the remainder of Portuguese rule, Académica Mindelo was second with three titles and Sporting Praia and Travadores with two, Castilho, Académica Praia and Boavista had a single title.
No competition occurred during the end of Portuguese rule and the independence of Cape Verde. Clubs from other islands started to competed in the finals. Mindelense won the first title for an independent Cape Verde, the club lead in the most number of titles, in the first national championships, Mindelense faced Botafogo from Fogo, the first to feature a club outside Santiago or Sâo Vicente. The 1978 national championships was cancelled as the winner of Sotavento was undecided to challenge Mindelense, the winner of the Barlavento Islands, the finals system was introduced in 1979. Mindelense challenged Botafogo in the final match for the next two years, Botafogo won in 1980 and became the first championship outside Sâo Vicente and Santiago, Mindelense won again in 1981. Clubs from Boa Vista competed in 1980. In 1984, FC Derby faced Académica do Sal in the first finals with two clubs from the same island chain. SC Morabeza was the first club from Brava to compete in the national championships in 1985, the next champion from Brava to compete would not be until 1993. The group system was introuduced in around the 1990s and had two to three matches each. Clubs from the island of Maio would compete in 1990 and Santo Antão would compete in 1993. The triangular system was introduced and was used in 1994 and 1995, the finals was restored again, for one season in 1997, the final phase was introduced and the winner was decided on the highest number of points and Mindelense won, the finals restored again in 1998 and 1999, for the next three seasons, the winner was decided on a total number of points and sometimes goals, Sporting and Batuque shared a record total of 19 points won at the national championships, no other club surpassed it since. Since 2003, the winner would be decided to go to the playoffs on the number of points or goals from each of the two groups. One champion from each island participated in the championships, that time the Santiago and Santo Antâo championships split into two zones. The champion would play for the following season, sometimes a champion who wins a regional league in the follow season, a second placed club participates. In the 2005 season, Sporting Praia defeated Desportivo Estância Baixo 13-0 and made it the highest scoring match that still stands to date, also Sporting Praia scored the most number of goals in the championship numbering 35 and still stands today, Derby was second who scored 32, Derby would claim their third and last title for the club. Sporting Praia won their second consecutive title after defeating Académica do Mindelo under the away goals rule as both clubs were tied with a goal in the second final match. In 2015, the FCF chose to keep the group system instead of alterations probably including only the introduction of the first and second tier levels. Mindelense has now a record twelve national titles since 2016, Sporting Praia is second since 2014. The island of Sâo Vicente has now 17 titles won by different clubs, three more than Santiago., two titles won by clubs from Boa Vista and one each from Fogo, Maio and Sal. For some seasons, some of the clubs from a regional league did not participated, its recent one was Brava in 2011.
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