Full name | Sporting Clube Farense |
---|---|
Nickname(s) | Leões de Faro (Lions of Faro) |
Founded | 1 April 1910 |
Ground | Estádio de São Luís |
Capacity | 15,000 |
Chairman | António Barão |
Manager | Jorge Paixão |
League | Campeonato de Portugal |
2015–16 | LigaPro, 20th (relegated) |
Sporting Clube Farense, simply known as Farense, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Faro in the district of Faro, who play in the LigaPro after promotion. They were promoted from the Segunda Divisão at the end the 2012–13 season. The Leões de Faro played at the Estádio de São Luís for 94 years from 1910. The club moved stadium in 2004 to the newly constructed Estádio Algarve which was built for the purpose of hosting matches at UEFA Euro 2004. The Faro side moved back to the Estádio de São Luís in 2013 after it gained promotion to the Segunda Liga. As a result of their promotion, the Estádio de São Luís underwent major renovations to improve its facilities.
In its entire history, the club has won nine major trophies: the AF Algarve Championship five times, the Portuguese Second Division twice, and the Portuguese Third Division and AF Algarve First Division once. Aside from its major trophies, the club as of 2013, has played 23 seasons in the Primeira Liga of which their highest league table classification came in the 1994–95 season where they managed a fifth-place finish which granted European football in the following season. The club also reached the final of the Taça de Portugal in 1990 where they lost to Estrela da Amadora. The 2001–02 season saw the club relegated to the second tier of Portuguese football. Since then the club has struggled to reach the success that it had during the 1980s and 1990s, which have been primarily caused by financial problems. Despite living some of its darkest years in recent times, the 2012–13 season saw the Faro side promoted to the Segunda Liga.