Santiago North Regional Football Association
| Founded | 1999 |
|---|---|
| Location |
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| Affiliations | Cape Verdean Football Federation |
| Website | Official website |
The Santiago North Regional Football Association (Portuguese: Associação Regional de Futebol de Santiago Norte, abbreviation: ARFSN) is a football (soccer) association covering the north of the island of Santiago. It is headquartered in the city of Assomada, in the middle of the island. The winner of the championship plays in the Cape Verdean football Championships of each season. The football association is the second largest behind Boa Vista and ahead of Santo Antão South. The association are one of three championship competitions that play in more than one stadium.
The area includes the northern part of the island and includes the municipalities of Santa Catarina, Santa Cruz, São Lourenço dos Órgãos, São Miguel, São Salvador do Mundo and Tarrafal
The association also organizes and functions the Santiago North Regional Championship competitions, the Cup and the Super Cup, there is no Opening Tournament competitions due to financial concerns. The association has 23 registered clubs, two are former, Beira-Mar is the only semi-pro club on the island. No pro clubs are in the region. The regional champion competes in the National Championships each season, once did in the cup (2007, 2009, 2010, 2012) competition who competed at the national level. The association has the third largest number of clubs after Santiago's two zones and ahead of São Vicente. The regional championships has two divisions, each with ten clubs.
The league was formed in 1999, the champion qualified into the single island championship which challenged the South Zone champion and the winner qualified into the National Championships, in 2003, the Santiago Island League was split into the north and south zones and was formally created, the two are the youngest island league in Cape Verde. Since 2003, the club has both Premier and Second Divisions, from 2006 they went into disuse and in the 2006/07 season, the league was split into the northcentral and southcentral groups and several teams from the Second Level from the north became a single group. Clubs from São Domingos would participate in the South Zone as a couple of more clubs were created in the North Zone, also being almost equal to half of the island's population. Also up to 2010, it had the largest land area of the football association in Cape Verde, the Boa Vista Regional Football Association took the position afterwards.. Unlike other island leagues, between 2012 and 2015, it had the first and second phases and a playoff system in which the first four clubs would participate. The 2015/16 season now features 14 clubs and the first regional league in Cape Verde to have up to 26 rounds. After nearly nine years, the Second Division was restored and features six clubs.
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