Football Season Guide

Nacional is back to top flight after a good season in Second Division, where they finished 2nd, just 2 points away from the title. Nacional is perhaps the best representation of what an "elevator-team" looks like. Nacional had more relegations and promotions in the last 15 years than most any other team in the country. The Islanders will be driven by the young Tiago Margarido, again. Margarido is a fan of attacking football, but he will surely need to curb his ideas to adapt to the new reality, as Nacional won't be dominant as they were used to in last season. The biggest lost for the new season is the striker Jesus Ramirez, who scored 20 goals last year. Ramirez will remain in the country but with a different jersey. His partner in attack, Gustavo da Silva (15 goals) is also gone. To make up for these two losses, Nacional brought Adrian Butzke (an established player in Primeira Liga) and Tiago Reis (a former promising striker from Vasco, in Brazil) for the striker position, and Isaac, Gabriel Santos and Nigel Thomas for the wings. Lucas França will remain the main goalkeeper and in front of him the full-back Garcia is one of the most important additions for the new season, coming from Palmeiras. In midfield, there's Luís Esteves, who was the best playmaker of Second division, last season. For the new year, he will have very strong competition (or partners) in Bruno Costa, Daniel Penha and Miguel Baeza.