Full name | Sporting Clube da Praia Cruz |
---|---|
Nickname(s) | Os Leões (the Lions) |
Ground |
Estádio Nacional 12 de Julho, São Tomé Island, São Tomé and Príncipe |
Capacity | 6,500 |
League | São Tomé and Príncipe Championship |
2016 | 1st, Champions |
Sporting Clube da Praia Cruz is a football club that plays in the São Tomé and Príncipe Championship. The team is based in the island of São Tomé. The team has won eight national and six island titles and is the third team in history to claim its first title in 1982. The team currently plays in the island premier division. Its logo has a shield and is colored green and features a lion with a soccer ball on the left, the abbreviated name is bubbled on the top and the unabbreviated form is at the bottom. The logo was identical to Sporting Clube de Portugal old logo (also known as Sporting Portugal), the logo is different to other Sporting's logos, examples included Praia, Cape Verde, Bissau, Guinea-Bissau and Luanda, Angola, its logo is that of the town's crest. Sporting Portugal are the fathering club of Sporting Praia Cruz and its 82nd affiliate.
Sporting Won their first insular and national titles along with their first cup in 1982, their second were an island and then a national title won in 1984, their third were an island and national title along with a cup title in 1994, the club lost their fourth cup title in 1989, Sporting won their fourth nine years later in 1998, the fifth cup title in 2000 and won their sixth insular title in 2012 after finishing with 48 points, the club challenged the winner of the neighboring island of Príncipe, Sporting and started the first Santomean Sporting derby, the club lost the national championships. Their seventh was won in 2013 after finishing with 46 points, two less than last season, the club would later win the nation's sixth in 2013 and the following year participated in the 2014 CAF Champions League against Stade Malien of Mali in the preliminaries, they've won their first match and never scored in the second match and lost. They've scored only a total of three goals. Sporting Praia Cruz won the 2015 title for São Tomé Island later they won their seventh national championshp title. In the cup competitions hen they won their only regional title and then their sixth and recent national title on 30 November after defeating Porto Real 6-2 in the island capital. Praia Cruz remains one of the clubs that won the most national cup titles. Sporting Praia Cruz qualified to the 2016 CAF Champions League, due to financial concerns, the club withdrew and did not challenge Nigeria's Warri Wolves in the preliminaries. Praia Cruz also played in the 2015 Super Cup held in May 2016, they challenged the national cup runner up Porto Real and won a Super cup title. Praia Cruz won a second straight island title totalling 9 in 2016, in mid-December, they challenged against the winner of Príncipe which would be the second Santomean Sporting derby featuring Sporting Príncipe, this time, Praia Cruz would be winners, the club won the first match 1-2 on December 14 and the second match was a two-goal draw on the 20th and with a total of four goals won their second straight national title totaling eight and also claims the most number of titles won in the country. Praia Cruz will have their third appearance at the CAF Champions League for 2017. Praia Cruz headed on to the 2016 Super Cup held in April, they defeated the cup winner UDRA and claimed their second straight Super Cup title.