The Magnificent Fall of União Leiria

We all marvel at teams that seem to perform beyond their potential, the little guys that come out of nowhere, emerging from relative obscurity to make miracle runs in their league, cup, or sometimes even in Europe. Unless they happen to beat our beloved clubs along the way, we tend to adopt these teams, rooting for them and, as I did with Getafe, jumping on their bandwagon. But for every Getafe or Villareal, there’s another sort of team that does the opposite, falling from the heights of success and finding out just how quickly things can all fall apart. This year, in Portugal, that team was União de Leiria.

União isn’t one of the biggest teams in Portugal, a league where everyone stands in the shadows of the “Big Three”: Benfica, Porto and Sporting CP. In 73 seasons, the top-flight league has been won by one of these three 71 times. But this team from the small city of Leiria on Portugal’s central coast (population 50,000) has had its share of successes. In 2001, they reached their highest-ever finish in the league, 5th place, a result that might have had something to do with their coach. You may have heard of him … Jose … something. He’s a puppet now, and, apparently, fantastic. Here he is, pretending to shoot Shevchenko:

Anyway, even after the departure of Mr. Special One, there were some great years at União. In 2003, the year of Mourinho’s treble with Porto (league, cup, and UEFA Cup), União had a great season too, finishing 5th again and reaching the finals of both domestic cups. In 2004, they played their first European match, a home win over FK Molde of Norway in the UEFA Cup.

As recently as last season, things were still in pretty good shape for União. They finished a respectable 7th last season, and qualified for their second-ever UEFA Cup appearance, through the Intertoto Cup. But this season, everything changed, and no one at the club could have predicted how low they would fall. Their manager, Domingos Paciência, left after a single season and went over to Académica de Coimbra, a local rival. They would get some measure of revenge, beating Académica in January, 3-1, but amazingly, it would be their only league win so far this season. Last year, they managed 41 points in 30 matches. So far this season, 9 points from 25 games. They’ve scored just seven goals on the road, and eighteen goals total all season. Eight of these came from one scorer, João Paulo, before he jumped ship to Rapid Bucharest in the January transfer window. Since Domingos left the team, they’ve gone through another manager as well.

União has been relegated before, most recently in 1997, but they did so with a somewhat respectable 30 point total for the season, and eight wins. Those sort of numbers are only dreamt of by União fans these days. That year, they were able to bounce right back up, winning the second division in their first attempt and setting up their current 10-year stay in the top flight. But with attendances falling below 1,000 per game, and with the team releasing players to manage their debt, it would take another Mourinho to bounce back so quickly this time. If they do, we’ll be talking about their magnificent comeback next year, instead of their fall.

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Category: BWIN Liga