Possible Mainz opponent
© Imago
When the 1st FSV Mainz 05 entered the international football stage again for the first time after nine years, spectacular away trips could wait for fans. This season teams from Iceland, Moldova, Kazakhstan or Cyprus were there in the Conference League, and the most exotic journey may go to Portugal in the coming year. The CD Santa Clara plays its home games in the Pontuguese city of Ponta Delgada on the Azores – almost 1,400 kilometers from the European mainland.
Santa Clara is the big surprise of Liga Portugal this season. As a promoted team, the team of coach Vasco Matos made the leap to fifth place on the last matchday, which entitles you to the Conference League qualification. The 2: 1 (1: 1) against the SC Farense was cheered like a title because Vitória Guimarães SC was defeated by 0: 2 (0: 0) against Meister Sporting and thus made the European dream come true.
“It is difficult to explain Santa Clara’s success this season,” says Goncalo Santos, Content Manager Portugal at the transfer market. “But it has to do with continuity. If you look at the players who were used most frequently this season, almost everyone was in the squad last year.” In fact, the past transfer windows were often rather unspectacular. Just 500,000 euros have been sold for the 16 new additions this season, more precisely for wing players Matheus Pereira (24). The other players came either free of charge or loan.
Santa Clara and the Seleção faction: more Brazilians than Portuguese
Santa Clara’s transfer tactic is primarily aimed at the Brazilian market. The 24-man squad belong to 15 legionnaires-all from Brazil. “This trend has been pronounced all over Portugal in recent years, but there are still some clubs that pursue this policy and Brazilian players from lower leagues or those who do not have many chances at the top clubs and dream of making it to Europe. These players are not expensive, they have talent and can bring quality,” says Santos.
Only 3 times over € 1 million
Santa Clara’s most expensive purchases
For statistics
The influence of Brazilian players runs through all parts of the team at Santa Clara this season. Captain Gabriel Batista (26) is set in the gate, who came in 2022 as a replacement goalkeeper from Flamengo. In the defense, MT (24), newcomer from Vasco da Gama, received most of the season and in midfield was clearer Adriano Firmino (25), 2022 from EC Cruzeiro, the most important man. In addition, both the best goal scorer with Vinícius Lopes (26, new addition of Botafogo) and the best scorer with Gabriel Silva (23, came from Palmeiras in 2022) were signed directly from the top Brazilian top clubs.
Is the big sale threatened after European qualifications? It is not uncommon for the best players from surprise team to be sought after. Heidenheim, for example, lost the triangle of Niklas Best (26), Tim Kleindienst (29) and Eren Dinkçi (23, was borrowed), at Mainz 05 Jonathan Burkardt (24) and Nadiem Amiri (28) are very popular this summer. With Santa Clara, however, it looks different, no professional in the squad has a market value of more than 3 million euros.
“Despite the excellent season in the league, I honestly don’t expect Santa Clara to make major sales this summer,” explains Santos. “It is difficult to find a single player in the squad who, for example, could play with a title candidate or even with a strong foreign association. But the team worked very well as a unit and has a trainer with Vasco Matos who knows how to use the players effectively.”
Fifth place in the 2025/26 season was the best final placement in the club history of Santa Claras. For the third time, the journey through Europe will be going on the coming season. 2002/03 failed in the 2nd round of the UI Cup on FK Teplice, 2021/22 ended in the Conference League qualification against Partizan Belgrade. A duel against FC Astana from Kazakhstan would be possible next year – with a distance of over 7,200 kilometers, this would mean by far the longest journey of two teams in the European Cup.