Fogo Premier Division
| Region | Fogo, Cape Verde |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1975 |
| Number of teams | 10 (Premier Division) 8 (Second Division) |
| Promotion to | Cape Verdean Football Championship |
| Relegation to | Fogo Second Division |
| Domestic cup(s) |
Fogo Island Cup Fogo Island Super Cup |
| Current champions |
Vulcânicos FC (9th time) (2016–17) |
| Most championships | Botafogo FC (17 times) |
| Website | Official website |
The Fogo Premier Division is a tier-2 regional championship played in Fogo Island, Cape Verde. The competition are organized by the Fogo Regional Football Association (Associação Regional de Futebol do Fogo, ARFF). The winner of the championship plays in the Cape Verdean football Championships of each season while the last placed club relegates and participates in the Second Division in the following season.
The island league was formed in 1975 when Cape Verde became independent, unofficial competitions took place in years before the founding.
In the mid-1990s, it would become the next island league to also have a second division after Santiago (now divided into two zones). The last place club were relegated, from around 2009, the ninth placed club plays with a runner up of the Second Division in a division decisional match. At that time, Fogo had the third most number of clubs in the nation. In 2017, two last placed clubs will be relegated and participate in the Second Division in the following season.
One of the largest scoring matches in league history is Spartak d'Aguadinha. Spartak has one of the most number of goals scored in a single season with 73 in the 2014-15 season.
Several times that the regional championships were interrupted due to volcanic eruptions and clouds covering as much as much of the island, in April 1995, the late part of the season and from November to December 2014 as the Premier Division.
The first club that would win the most number of titles was Botafogo during the 1970s, their first nine title was won from 1976 to 1983, later two consecutive between 1984 and 1985 and their last in 2010. Académica for some times won titles, their first was in 1984, they won two consecutive in 1987 and 1988, then every two years between 1991 and 1997 and 2002 and 2004, Vulcânicos won three consecutive titles from 1998 up to 2000, they were the next club to win titles every two years between 2007 and 2011, Académica was the next club to win three consecutive titles from 2012 up to 2014. The 2014 volcanic eruption in mid-November delayed the season by about a month and matches were rescheduled, later in the season saw a couple of high scoring matches, the highest Spartak would finish with 12 points over Parque Real on April 12. In 23 years, a new first-timer in titles Spartak was the island champion for 2015. Cutelinho scored the most number of goals in the first weeks of the 2015-16 season, later taken by Académica in the mid season, nevertheless Vulcânicos won their next title in five years, later the club won another one in the 2016-17 season and is the recent victor of Fogo.
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