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Académica
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Full Name:	Associação Académica de Coimbra
Nicknames:
	A Briosa (The Proud) Os Estudantes (The Students)
Founded:	November 3, 1887
Location:	Coimbra
Stadium:
	Estádio Cidade de Coimbra (30,075) Inauguration: September 27, 2003 » view more photos
Honors:
	1 - Taça de Portugal 1938/39 2 - Campeonatos da II Divisão nacional 1948/49, 1972/73
Roster:
	Goalkeepers 1 Ricardo 24 Pedro Roma 33 Rui Nereu Defenders 4 Kaká 5 Markus Berger 6 Irineu 15 Orlando 18 Vítor Vinha 19 Pedrinho 21 Litos 22 Sarmento 30 Pedro Costa 31 Pablo Castro 82 Cléber Midfielders 3 Fofana 7 Hélder Barbosa 8 Paulo Sérgio 10 Miguel Pedro 11 Lito 16 Licá 17 Cris 23 Milos Pavlovic 28 Nuno Piloto 33 William Tiero 66 Horácio Peralta 78 NDoye 85 Luis Aguiar Forwards 2 Joeano 14 Pedro Ribeiro 25 Ivanildo 26 Edgar 27 Vouho 29 Gyano
Personnel:
	President José Eduardo da Cruz Simões Coach Domingos Paciência
Contact:
	Address Pavilhão Jorge Anjinho Rua Infanta D. Maria, n.º 15 a 23 3030-330 Coimbra Telephone +351 239 793890 Fax +351 239 793892
Website:	http://www.academica-oaf.pt/

Additional Information
The Associação Académica de Coimbra - Organismo Autónomo de Futebol (A.A.C. - O.A.F.), also referred to as Académica de Coimbra or simply Académica, is an autonomous and professional football organization based in Coimbra, Portugal. The team was created inside of the students' union of the University of Coimbra - the Associação Académica de Coimbra, during a period of changing in the 1970s and 1980s, when football was professionalized in Portugal. But its foundation as a students amateur sports association backs to 1876, so it is effectively one of the oldest sports institutions in Portugal. The club is claimed by its fans to be the fourth in number of supporters (after Benfica, Sporting Clube de Portugal and FC Porto) although this is arguable since many other Portuguese clubs claim this as well. It is a sports club emotionally and historically related to the university life, so through generations, many students, even those born in farther regions, became lifelong supporters of the team. In general, the city's population identifies itself as Académicas's fan or sympathizer. The main football team uses the Estádio Cidade de Coimbra (specially rebuilt and modernized for the Euro 2004) with 30.000 seats. The Associação Académica de Coimbra - O.A.F. has also a futsal department (Associação Académica de Coimbra - O.A.F. (futsal). The Associação Académica de Coimbra, the mother institution of the professionalized A.A.C. - O.A.F. autonomous football organisation, has several sports branches performing under the same AAC logo and using the same black colors, being effectively one of the largest sports clubs of Portugal. History and tradition Being today the most important sports club of Coimbra, Académica was founded by students of the University of Coimbra in 1876, when Clube Atlético de Coimbra (founded in 1861) and Academia Dramática (founded in 1837) merged together. The equipment used is black shirt, shorts and socks, due to the relation to and origin in the local and famous University of Coimbra where students wear a typical all-black suit. In the beginning, Académica's footballers were all mostly university students, and very talented players were discovered in the pitch. This was the rule during many decades until the 1970s. Académica used to be a constant team in the Portuguese main division before 1974. After the "25 de Abril" revolution (1974) in Portugal, many changes took place in Portuguese society and the team experienced many changes. Between 1974/75 and 1983/84 football seasons, Académica was present in national competitions as C.A.C. - Clube Académico de Coimbra and after a period of uncertainty and several relegations to the Second Division, the Académica's football team and staff, were gradually professionalized aiming to achieve a stronger position in the modern times of fierce professional competition (although some of its modern players continue being higher education students, and among them, many at the University of Coimbra). Coimbra Stadium The Estádio Cidade de Coimbra (Coimbra City Stadium) is the home ground of Académica de Coimbra football team, and belongs to Coimbra's municipality. The stadium has 30,210 seats, two-thirds of which are covered and offers several amenities and services. Until 2003 it used to be called Estádio Municipal de Coimbra (Coimbra's Municipality Stadium) or Estádio do Calhabé (Stadium of Calhabé), after the name of its location in Coimbra. It had a capacity of 15,000 seats, all seated, but just one small covered area. Then it was rebuilt, expanded and modernized to host some Euro 2004 matches. The Estádio Cidade de Coimbra was inaugurated with a Rolling Stones concert on 27 September 2003, attended by over 50,000 people. On 29 October 2003, Académica de Coimbra played at home to SL Benfica, in the first official match in the remodelled stadium.