Grupo Desportivo de Chaves (), commonly known as Chaves, is a Portuguese professional football club from Chaves, who are playing in the Liga Portugal 2. They were founded in 1949 and currently play at Estádio Municipal Eng. Manuel Branco Teixeira. Their home kit is red-and-blue striped shirt with blue shorts and socks, and the away kit is all white. Their current president is Bruno Carvalho and their manager is Moreno. Chaves have competed in the Portuguese First Division 18 times and had their best finish of fifth-place in the 1989–90 season. They went to Europe in the 1987–88 season, where they played in the UEFA Cup, beating Romanian side Universitatea Craiova in the first round and losing to Hungarian team Budapest Honvéd in the next round.
History Grupo Desportivo de Chaves was founded on 27 September 1949 and is one of the most experienced teams in the Portuguese Second Division, not just because of its old culture, but also many years in the top-flight Primeira Liga, doing quite well and playing in European tournaments, such as the UEFA Cup. Their best ever finish was in the Primeira Liga when they finished fifth in both 1986–87 and 1989–90. In the 1986–87 season, meanwhile, they had fantastic results, beating Sporting Clube de Portugal 2–1 at home in the Estádio Municipal de Chaves. After those seasons, they finished sixth, seventh and ninth before getting relegated in the 1992–93 season to the Liga de Honra. They returned for another few seasons but then again suffered relegation to the Liga de Honra until 2007, where they eventually got relegated to the Portuguese Second Division: Série A. In the previous season of 2007–08, they finished in fourth place, just missing out on promotion.
After a series of great results in 2008–09 that granted the team the lead of Série A, Chaves finally achieved promotion to the second-flight Liga de Honra with an aggregate 1–0 win over Penafiel, the winner of the Portuguese Second Division: Série B in a semi-final playoff. In the playoff final, it was between Chaves and Fátima, in which both were guaranteed promotion to the Liga de Honra, with the final set to determine the champions. Fátima won the match 2–1. Chaves spent the following three years in the third division before being crowned Segunda Divisão champions in 2012–13, thus gaining promotion back to the Segunda Liga. After missing out on promotion to the first division during a thrilling final day of the 2014–15 season, Chaves were promoted the following season back to the top-flight Primeira Liga for the first time in 17 years.
In September 2025, G.D. Chaves was purchased by the Mexican company GLS Promotoría del Deporte, owned by tequila entrepreneur Arturo Lomelí. This company also owns Atlético La Paz, club of the Liga de Expansión MX, the second tier of Mexican football. After the purchase, Francisco José Carvalho stepped down as club president, which was then taken over by Mexican lawyer Dante Elizalde, who had previously presided over Santos Laguna in Liga MX.
Stadium Estádio Municipal Eng. Manuel Branco Teixeira is a multi-use stadium in Chaves. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of G.D. Chaves. The stadium is able to hold 8,400 people. The stadium normally holds the Portugal national team youth games and also some under-21 games, and also very rarely the senior team. This stadium is famous because it is where Cristiano Ronaldo made his senior international debut with Portugal.
Honours Portuguese Second Division Champions (2): 2008–09, 2012–13 Taça de Portugal Runners-up (1): 2009–10
Players Current squad
Out on loan
Notable players Paulo Torres Vozinha
Managerial history NameNationalityYearsRaul Águas 1984–1988João Fonseca 1988–1989José Romão 1989–1990Manuel Barbosa 1990–1991José Romão 1991–1992Henrique Calisto 1992–1993Carlos Garcia 1993António Jesus 1993–1994Vítor Urbano 1994–1995José Romão 1995–1996Joaquim Teixeira 1996José Romão 1996–1997Manuel Correia 1997–1998Porfírio Amorim 1998Álvaro Magalhães 1998Horácio Gonçalves 1998–1999Augusto Inácio 1999Diamantino Bráz 1999Francisco Vital 1999–2000Dito 2000António Jesus 2000–2001António Borges 2001–2002Rogério Gonçalves 2002–2003José Alberto Costa 2003Manuel Correia 2003–2004Daniel Ramos 2004António Amaral 2004–2005 NameNationalityYearsVítor Maçãs 2005António Caldas 2005–2006Ricardo Formosinho 2006António Borges 2006–2008Leonardo Jardim 2009Emerson Carvalho 2009Ricardo Formosinho 2009Nuno Pinto 2009–2010Tulipa 2010Jorge Regadas 2010Luís Miguel 2010–2011João Eusébio 2011Filipe Casanova 2011Jorge Regadas 2011–2012Eduardo Oliveira 2012Hélder Fontes 2012Pedro Monteiro 2012–2013João Pinto 2013João Eusébio 2013Quim Machado 2013–2014Norton de Matos 2014Carlos Pinto 2014–2015Vítor Oliveira 2015–2016Jorge Simão 2016Ricardo Soares 2016–2017Luís Castro 2017–2018Daniel Ramos 2018 NameNationalityYearsTiago Fernandes 2018–2019José Mota 2019César Peixoto 2019–2020Carlos Pinto 2020–2021Vítor Campelos 2021–2023José Gomes 2023Moreno 2023–2024Filipe Martins 2025–2026Vítor Martins 2026–
Europe SeasonCupRoundOpponentResult(1st leg)Result(2nd leg)AggregateNotes1987–88UEFA Cup1st round Universitatea Craiova2 – 3Away (16/09)2 – 1Home (30/09)4 – 4 (a)2nd round Budapest Honvéd1 – 2Home (24/10)1 – 3Away (04/11)2 – 5
League and cup history The football section has 13 presences at the top level of Portuguese football. Its best position was two fifth-place finished, in the 1986–87 and 1989–90 seasons, the first earning Chaves its only presence in the European cups.
Domestic results 868788899091929394959697989900010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324 Primeira Liga* Liga Portugal 2 Liga 3/Campeonato de Portugal ↓ relegation ↑ promotion
Season Portuguese Cup Portuguese League Cup Europe Notes1985–86 I63011712283829Quarter-Finals1986–87 I53013710393833Quarter-Finals1987–88I738131411513140Third RoundRound 21988–89I1338121016374134Quarter-Finals1989–90I53412148383838Fifth Round1990–91I838101414495234Third Round1991–92I934101014364530Sixth Round1992–93I18344822346116Fifth RoundRelegated1993–94II3341978442545Sixth RoundPromoted1994–95I143410717334927Fourth Round1995–96I1534978385634Fourth Round1996–97I1034121012394546Fifth Round1997–98I163410519315535Fifth Round1998–99I173451019397025Fourth RoundRelegated1999–00II1234111112464544Third Round2000–01II123491411484441Third Round2001–02II53416414524452Third Round2002–03II734121111444147Sixth Round2003–04II1034111112374544Third Round2004–05II173491015243837Fourth Round2005–06II834131110403650Third Round2006–07II16303720164316Third RoundRelegated2007–08III4261286441744Fourth Round2008–09III1321985532287Third RoundPromoted2009–10II153061014283728Runners-upFirst RoundRelegated2010–11III33013125342151First Round2011–12III3301596412654Third Round2012–13III13217114462362Second RoundPromoted2013–14II842191013585667Fourth RoundFirst Round2014–15II34620206684580Fifth RoundSecond Round2015–16II24621187603981Fourth RoundFirst RoundPromoted2016–17I113481412354238Semi-finalsSecond Round2017–18I63413813475547Fourth RoundSecond Round
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