Operário dos Açores – Season 3 (2025/26)
Liga 3 The 3rd division in Portugal is rather strange: you play the other 9 teams in your division twice over the course of 7 months, then almost all of those points are wiped off and you enter a winner- or loser- takes all promotion or relegation playoff. We started off ok but a long losing streak meant we finished 8th/10, and went into the relegation playoff against 2 other teams. Luckily one of these teams was really bad and our form picked up, so we won most of our playoff games and stayed up.
I think my results were very morale-driven this season, basically when one of my CBs started complaining about moving to a bigger club, we lost 5 in a row, then for some reason in the play-off his unhappiness disappeared and we started playing well again.
Players: Most of our original starters are edging towards mid-30s, so we were really short on bodies this year, but thanks to the play-off we managed to scrape by. That being said, one of the youngsters from "intake 0", Diogo Martins, has improved very well, and still has his professional personality - although his ups and downs in morale seemed to have a bit too much of an effect on our results this season :o
Youth intake: Finally, a good one! Most importantly, I got some centre mids - an area where I’m desperately short, with Coventry-born Portuguese Dannie Simcox 03c the best of the lot (he basically went straight into the first team).
Facilities: Training facilities got downgraded, and somehow we’re now in a higher-capacity stadium and paying rent (also, the stadium was built in 2025; not sure if I missed a message or it's some kind of bug).
No transfers, and our finances are getting into a bit of a downward spiral since we turned pro.
Season | League | Pos. | Europe | Best player | Notes
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2023/24 | Campeonato Gr. D | 5 | n/a | Paulo Bessa (ST) |
2024/25 | Campeonato Gr. D | 2 | n/a | Pedro Tavares (DC) | Promoted through playoffs
2025/26 | Liga 3 South | 8 | n/a | Pedro Tavares (DC) | 1st in relegation playoff
Facilities
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Season | Coaching | Recruitment | Training Fac. | Youth Fac. | Stadium
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2023/24 | Average | Above average | Average | Basic | 800
2024/25 | Average | Excellent | Average | Basic | 800
2025/26 | Average | Excellent | Below average | Basic | 1500