chronic-unionist

[chronic-unionist]

Three confirmed departures, two players arriving?

Bura and Kaká, both with contracts expiring, announced they will leave União. Mbina's loan won't be renewed and he will return to his previous team.

Reports from Brazil state that Ryan Guilherme is set to return to Fortaleza, but there is still a possibility that he will stay another season at Leiria.

Both A Bola and Record are confirming Penafiel's right back Miguel Maga is going to sign with União, still awaiting the official confirmation by the club.

According to Record, João Bravim, who was Alverca's starting goalkeeper last season, is set to sign with União.

The SAD's debt with the municipality of Leiria increased to 230 thousand euros, with the council approving a new payment plan where the SAD must pay in a 60-month term.

[chronic-unionist]

Fábio Pereira announced as new manager

The previous rumors had proven true, as Pereira was announced officially by the club.

[chronic-unionist]

59th Birthday Special

As this is the 59th birthday of the club, this post will tell all that happened with União de Leiria in the month of May.

União played their two last matches of the season, winning 2-0 at Chaves (Juan Muñoz, Jair) and losing 2-0 to Tondela at home, result which gave the visitors the second division title.

End of the season report

União ended the Liga Portugal 2 season in sixth place, with 52 points (15 wins, 7 draws, 12 defeats), 49 goals scored and 37 allowed.

Juan Muñoz was awarded the Liga Portugal 2 Top Scorer award, with 15 goals in 30 matches (Alverca's Anthony Carter also had 15 goals, but played 32 matches), leading all União players in goals scored. Muñoz also led the league in match winning goals, with 4, tied with Feirense's Leandro Antunes.

The other top 5 scorers of the season were Daniel dos Anjos (9), Alisson (6), Sarpreet Singh (4) and Crystopher (3).

Crystopher was Liga Portugal 2's second place in total assists (7). União's top 5 in assists were completed with Marc Baró (4), Jair, Jordan van der Gaag and Ryan (3 assists each).

No União player took part in all 34 league matches. Habib Sylla and Pawel Kieszek played 32 matches. Overall, Sylla led all players with 35 matches played this season.

Dje D'avilla and Marc Baró led União's players with 9 yellow cards.

União had a sharp fall in attendance, losing over 2500 spectators in average compared to the 2023/24 season.

Transfers

Despite all money obtained in Dje D'avilla's transfer, União is back in the FIFA registration ban list.

Defender Tiago Ferreira announced on Instagram he will leave União.

Midfielder Crystopher is set to leave Leiria, as sources in Brazil say he is approaching a deal with CRB.

Manager Silas has officially left União. According to Diário de Transferências (@dtransferencias) on Twitter, Fábio Pereira already agreed to be the new manager. Pereira managed Vizela in the 2024-25 season, finishing third, losing the promotion playoffs. His most known stint was at Oliveirense, where he achieved promotion to the second division in 2021-22, finishing first in a group where União finished second and lost the repechage playoff to Alverca.

[chronic-unionist]

Hope and Cope

Second to last home match of the season, and União defeated Oliveirense by a 5-0 result, with Crystopher delivering assists as if there is no tomorrow, the prophecy of João Resende being the GOAT continues with two more goals, Jair finally scoring again, Lucho Vega starting a hot streak as he scored again too and the usual Juan Muñoz goal. This result meant União could still get third place and the promotion playoffs, but this possibility ended less than 24 hours later, as Alverca defeated Paços de Ferreira (1-0) and therefore reached 57 points, while Leiria can reach at most 55.

The ladies squad went to Caldas da Rainha and tied 1-1 against A-dos-Francos, possibly guaranteeing their place in the next season's Third Division.

[chronic-unionist]

A Reality shock

Last Friday, the men's squad ended their losing streak by winning 3-2 against Paços de Ferreira, keeping a very slim chance of qualifying to the promotion playoff.

The women's squad, however, traveled to Massamá, where the group leaders Real SC defeated them 3-0, basically guaranteeing the direct promotion to the second division, while União still have chances to qualify to the promotion playoff, and need a single point to guarantee a place in the next season third division.

[chronic-unionist]

The worst ten minutes in the history of the world

Also known as stop, our dreams are already dead!

Needing a victory, Leiria hosted Benfica's second squad and had a goalless draw at half time, only for the visitors to score three goals in ten minutes and bury the team deep into the "won't be promoted" territory. União even managed to score with Lucho Vega's first goal after months injured, but it was too late to spark something and the match ended 1-3 to Benfica B.

The women's squad received EFF Setúbal and conquered a point in a 4-4 tie which kept them in the fight for promotion, but not in the direct spot.

Gotta tell my family this is the Portuguese Heartstopper cast.

And big props for the juniors squad which gained access to the national first division again. Huge congratulations for UDL legend and juniors coach Luis Bilro

Both images were created by União Desportiva de Leiria

[chronic-unionist]

Yes, they answered a question about this at the Aces Never Sleep live stream interview!

Does @chronicintrovert know their books are officially recommended by the Portuguese Ministry of Education on the National Reading Plan? Solitaire, I Was Born For This and Loveless were added in the 2024 list, among Heartstopper volumes 1 and 2 which were added years ago.

And now Alice can say they are mentioned in the same list as World Cup champion Lilian Thuram

[chronic-unionist]

Done and gone

Sunday, Last match in Leiria for a while. And União started badly, but managed to draw at halftime against Torreense, then disaster struck in the second goal, Jair's stupid red card, and the third goal by Torreense which destroyed at least 95% of the probabilities.

This friday, União went to Santa Maria da Feira play against Feirense and a match which started great, with a disallowed goal, and a valid goal by Habib Sylla. Then, Zé Vítor happened and took two yellow cards in ten seconds, União had to play the rest of the match with 10 men, allowed the tying goal, and then allowed Feirense's winning goal in the stoppage time, which was very long on both halves due to injuries (Leiria's Jordan van der Gaag and the assistant referee were injured). Now after no points in the last two matches, "all" União needs to gain promotion is winning all remaining matches and pray for a sequence of miracles.

[chronic-unionist]

Heartstopper Sunday

União vs Leixões away last Sunday? Ended with a stoppage time goal by Mbina, a clutch win and União status on the fight for promotion to the first division.

And how about the ladies? União vs Sintrense away, left the pitch in halftime losing 3-2, managed to get a 5-4 win and stay in the fight for the direct promotion spots for the new second division.

[chronic-unionist]

BREAKING NEWS: Dje D'avilla leaving União

According to A Bola, Chicago Fire signed Ivorian midfielder Dje D'avilla from União de Leiria. According to the same newspaper, D'avilla's buyout clause is around 15 million € and he signed a four or five year contract with the MLS club.

[chronic-unionist]

International break: two different outcomes for Rofino and Singh

In the World Cup qualifiers for Africa, defender Victor Rofino played all 90 minutes of both matches, however Guinea-Bissau lost both matches to Sierra Leone (1-3 away) and Burkina Faso (1-2 home).

In the final stage of Oceania qualifiers, midfielder Sarpreet Singh started both matches for New Zealand, playing 71 minutes and scoring the second goal of the 7-0 victory against Fiji in the semifinal, and playing 69 minutes in the final match, won by New Zealand 3-0. If Singh stays in the club for the next season, he can be the first União player to play in a World Cup match (Andjelko Djuricić was part of the Serbia squad in the 2010 World Cup, but as a backup goalkeeper. Tahar El Khalej was part of the 1994 Morocco squad, but joined União after the World Cup, and was already playing for Benfica at the time of the 1998 World Cup)

[chronic-unionist]

Alissover

The Alisson novel is finally over, with the player joining Sporting B for now. According to sources on Twitter, Sporting paid 1,5M€ for 90% of his transfer rights and apparently Leiria got a grand total of... NOTHING.

[chronic-unionist]

Finally, I went to a women's team match (Vs. JuveForce)

After one hour walking in the rain I finally managed to get to the Academy, where the match was already on its 20th minute or so. I arrived some minutes before JuveForce scored first, a curled shot inside the box by #16 Gabi, which was extremely dangerous during the entire first half, where União had few opportunities while the opponents came close many times.

In the second half, the story changed: União had the initiative most of the time, forcing the goalkeeper to make three saves, one of them in a shot that looked to have rebounded off the post. In that play, JuveForce's goalkeeper injured herself, and since they didn't bring a backup goalkeeper (!!!), they had to play with ten women on the field. Without a proper goalkeeper, the pressure increased and Juliana drew a foul which almost resulted in a penalty kick. Following the foul, another União player was taken down in the box, resulting in a penalty kick which was converted by Leiria captain Carol.

Less than five minutes later, an incident with JuveForce's player Gabi, who appeared to have collided head-on with the side wall, stopped the match for good. Both JuveForce players left the premises by ambulance.

União's place in the standings are still to be determined as there is still no information about the other results of the group.

[chronic-unionist]

Finally Leiria won a match against those sobs, thanks to a hat trick from Juan Muñoz, while the visitors opened the score with Bryan Róchez (the same one which was slow like a bus while playing for Leiria). More Heartstopper Moments® happened, one where Kieszek saved somehow what would be a comic own goal, and another where Mbina managed to hit BOTH posts in the same shot. A bad mark goes for Daniel dos Anjos, which squandered a fair share of opportunities and just felt out of shape.

The men's squad did not play this week as international matches are being played. Victor Rofino played 90 minutes for Guinea-Bissau.

In the women's side, a visit to Ponte de Frielas, last placed in the group, resulted in an easy 5-0 away win. Next match is this Sunday, against JuveForce.

[chronic-unionist]

União de Leiria cannot into maths or losing, another chapter on the Alisson novel

from the official UDL website: whoever is the person responsible for the table calculations of the women's squad: where you took that +37 goal difference from?! We scored 22 times and allowed 10 goals!

The ladies did not play this weekend, so the men's squad went to Felgueiras and blew two leads in a 2-2 tie. Goals by Juan Muñoz (spot kick) and Daniel dos Anjos.

In another chapter of the Alisson novel, manager Silas threw some shade on the Brazilian saying "anyone who isn't 100% physically, mentally, technically and tactically" is not on his plans. The player went to contact the players association and the novel seems to have no end in sight.

[chronic-unionist]

OMG we are so fucking back (except for Alisson)

Second win in a row in a period I was busy planning my trip back home. To start all, the Alisson failed affair with Sporting still continues with the player left out of the squad (and threatening taking action, which might end being legal action, against the club) in the victories against Marítimo (2-1 away) and Penafiel (1-0 home), all goals scored by Juan Muñoz.

Meanwhile, the ladies squad had a difficult away fixture against Feirense, leaders of the promotion group, and surprisingly won 4-0. Depending on the other results, Leiria can be much closer to the second place in the group, and already took three points off the current leader with a huge advantage in head-to-head

[chronic-unionist]

Liga Portugal 2 Match day 21 - home Vs Porto B: HEARTSTOPPER MOMENTS

Two shots to the posts by Leiria, one by Porto B, a bizarre play by Sylla and Kieszek that somehow didn't ended in a goal and another man of the match award for Alisson, questionable refereeing, the ultras chasing the referee after the end, and more happened in a match where the only thing that didn't happen was a goal by any of the teams.

The women's squad also experienced mixed results this week: a 4-0 home win against A-dos-Francos in another match scheduled at the same time as the men's team gave the squad a three point cushion from the relegation spots in the second stage of the third division. However, this Saturday they travelled to Guimarães, where they played Vitória SC in the Portuguese Ladies' Cup, losing 6-0.

União's next match is this Monday, 6:30 PM, at home versus Académico de Viseu.