List of competing FAs in Portugal

As the history of Portuguese football reminds us so well, the district football associations have contributed greatly — and continue to contribute — to making Portugal the global footballing powerhouse it is today.

Responsible for district competitions at senior and youth level, it was within these associations that many of the greatest national clubs and players began their journey to the top of world football.

Examples are plentiful and we need not look far — we only have to think of Jota Silva, a Vitória Sport Clube player who came through the youth ranks at Sousense in the Porto district association competitions, and at Arouca, a club that spent many long years in the Aveiro district competitions before meteoring its way up to the Primeira Liga.

Portuguese Football Associations: A Brief History

Although history books tell us that the first football match in Portugal was very likely played in Camacha, Madeira, the first football association to be founded in Portugal is AF Lisboa, whose founding date takes us back to the monarchical era — specifically to 23 September 1910.

Shortly afterwards, AF Porto and AF Portalegre joined AF Lisboa, and on 31 March 1914 the three together formed the União Portuguesa de Futebol, the first incarnation of what would eventually become the current Federação Portuguesa de Futebol (FPF).

Between its formation and 1948 — the year of the restructuring of the national competitive framework — all clubs were required to compete in their respective district championship, which served as a qualifying competition for the first and second national divisions.

It is worth noting that qualification for each division, and the places allocated to each association, depended on a club's finishing position in their district championship and the size of the Football Association to which they belonged.

With the restructuring of the national football competitive framework in 1948, a third national division was created to ease the transition between district and national competitions. In addition, clubs that had competed in the national divisions the previous year were no longer obliged to take part in their respective district championship.

Excluded from this measure were clubs from the autonomous regions of the Azores and Madeira, which only reached the national divisions of Portuguese football in 1970.

List of Portuguese Football Associations

Although Portuguese football associations generally follow the logic of administrative district organisation, there are two exceptions to this rule.

These exceptions come from the Azores, where, alongside AF Ponta Delgada, there are also the football associations of Horta (AF Horta) and Angra do Heroísmo (AF Angra do Heroísmo). This division is due to the fact that, before the autonomy brought about by the 25th of April Revolution, there were three districts in the Azores (Angra do Heroísmo, Horta and Ponta Delgada), each giving rise to a distinct Football Association.

Since the Carnation Revolution did not bring about a merger between these three associations, the Azores has continued to have three separate associations.

Nevertheless, from the 2013/14 season onwards, the Azorean football associations agreed to create an intermediate competitive level between the district competitions and the Campeonato de Portugal, named the Campeonato dos Açores, which brings together the best teams from the archipelago.

In total, there are 22 Football Associations in Portugal: 18 on the mainland, 3 in the Azores and 1 in Madeira.

Below is the complete list of Football Associations in Portugal in alphabetical order:

- AF Algarve

- AF Angra do Heroísmo

- AF Aveiro

- AF Beja

- AF Braga

- AF Bragança

- AF Castelo Branco

- AF Coimbra

- AF Évora

- AF Guarda

- AF Horta

- AF Leiria

- AF Lisboa

- AF Madeira

- AF Ponta Delgada

- AF Portalegre

- AF Porto

- AF Santarém

- AF Setúbal

- AF Viana do Castelo

- AF Vila Real

- AF Viseu

Which is the largest Football Association in Portugal?

Despite Lisbon being the most populous district in Portugal, the largest football association in the country is AF Porto.

In total, AF Porto (founded on 10 August 1912 by FC Porto and Leixões) comprises around 450 clubs, more than 23,000 athletes and 850 referees, and organises 25 regular competitions and 11 cup competitions each year.

To get a sense of the scale of AF Porto's competitive structure, in the men's senior game alone the association currently runs four divisions (Pró-Nacional, Divisão de Honra, 1ª Divisão and 2ª Divisão), with a new division serving as an access tier to the Campeonato de Portugal already planned for the 2024/25 season — bringing the total to five divisions, far beyond the three divisions of AF Braga and AF Lisboa.

Speaking of competitions…

What competitions does a football association in Portugal organise?

As we saw earlier, associations such as AF Porto feature a competitive calendar that includes men's senior championships — but these are not the only competitions under the remit of a district association in Portugal.

Depending on the number of affiliated clubs and athletes, Portuguese football associations also organise women's senior competitions, cup competitions, and district youth championships for both men and women, across the Veterans, Under-23, Under-19, Under-17, Under-15, Under-13, Under-11, Under-9 and Under-7 age groups.

Beyond football, Portuguese football associations also organise futsal championships, futsal cups and even beach football leagues across all age groups and for both genders.

We close with two more competitions, but this time between football associations: the Torneio Interassociações Lopes da Silva and the Regions' Cup.

In practice, while both competitions bring together all football associations in Portugal, there are substantial differences between them.

The Torneio Interassociações Lopes da Silva — whose name pays tribute to a man who gave a great deal to both Portuguese and European football — features teams made up of Under-14 athletes and will contribute significantly to shaping the Under-15 national team the following year. The Regions' Cup, on the other hand, features senior athletes from the district championships who, should their association win the competition, go on to represent Portugal in the UEFA Regions' Cup.