An ownership saga left the club teetering in Lisbon’s regional league but the former champions are back in the second tier
Five seasons ago, Luis Palma attended a friendly match in a suburb of Lisbon with his wife, son and dog, Pipoca. “It translates as popcorn in Portuguese,” he says. “And it was the game where I decided I was going to support [and be a member of] Belenenses.”
Palma’s fandom coincided with a tumultuous time for Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses. In 1999, all clubs in Portugal’s top two professional divisions were required to operate through a Public Limited Sports Company, widely known as a Sociedade Anónima Deportiva (SAD), the idea being that it would lead to greater global investment into Portuguese football.
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