The Associação de Futebol de Beja (Beja Football Association) is one of the 22 District Football Associations that are affiliated to the Portuguese Football Federation. The AF Beja administers lower tier football in the district of Beja.[1]
Associação de Futebol de Beja, commonly referred to as AF Beja, is the governing body for football in the district of Beja. The Football Association is based in Beja. The Association's President is José Mâncio Rosa Soeiro. The organisation was established on 30 March 1925.[2]
The leading club up until 1945/46 was Luso Sporting Clube (known as Luso Beja) who won the District Championship on 19 occasions.[3] The club was founded in 1916 and first won the championship in 1924/25 when it was run on an unofficial basis.[4]
Beja clubs compete in the third national level of the Portuguese football league system in Campeonato Nacional de Seniores, competition run by the Portuguese Football Federation.
Below the Campeonato Nacional de Seniores the competitions are organised at a district level (known in Portuguese as Distritais) with each District Association organising its competitions according to geographical and other factors. The AF Beja runs two league competitions with the Division One (1ª divisão) being at the fourth level of the league system and Division Two (2ª divisão) at the fifth level. At one time this second tier was divided into two groups (série A and série B) on a geographical basis.
In more general terms the AF Beja currently organises District Championships for football and Futsal for men and women for all age groups including Senior, Junior, Youth, Beginners, Infants and Schools.[5]
The AF Beja runs the following division covering the fifth and sixth tiers of the Portuguese football league system.
Other clubs that have competed in the Distritais since the 1992/93 season include:
[6]
Other clubs that are affiliated to AF Beja include:
[7]
[8]