From the junction of the plates to the European stage: The century-old football road in Santa Clara, Portugal

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Everyone has learned the Plate tectonics of geography when they were in middle school: the earth can be divided into seven major plates and several small plates. The interior of the plates is relatively stable, but the "slits" between them - that is, the junction of plates - are the areas with the most active geological activities, so that about 85% of earthquakes around the world occur here. The Azores Islands where the Portuguese Super League team Santa Clara is located is located in the more rare Triple junction, that is, the junction of the three major sectors of the Eurasian plate, North American plate and African plate. Compared with the common junction of the two plates, the interaction between the three plates makes the plates move more frequently. In 2023 alone, it experienced 124 earthquakes, an average of one in less than three days.

However, despite being in the Azores, Santa Clara still set a team's best record in the 2024-25 season - No. 5 in the Portuguese Premier League, and will start from the second round of the qualifiers of the 2025-26 season to participate in the European Cup again.

Azores are composed of 9 major islands, Korbu and Flores Island belong to the North American plate, Santa Maria belong to the African plate (Nubian plate), and San Miguel Island where Santa Clara is located belongs to the Eurasian plate. Therefore, even if the plate is subject to it, Santa Clara is still a European team and is the westernmost European professional football club.

If divided by the same criteria, then the Madeira Sailing, Madeira Nationals in the Madeira Islands in Portugal, and Las Palmas and Tenerife in the Canary Islands in Spain are all "African teams", because both the Madeira and the Canary Islands are completely located in the African plate. The island of Santa Miguel, where Santa Clara is located, is named after St. Michael the Archangel, because humans have settled since the festival of St. Michael the Archangel in 1444 (September 29).

San Miguel is the Portuguese name of St. Michael. When it is a non-divine name, its English translation is Michael, French translation is Michel, Russian translation is Mikhail, and Ukrainian translation is Mikhail, such as Chelsea striker Mykhailo Mudryk. The full name of Santa Clara is Santa Clara Sports Club. 104 years ago in 1921, they were founded in Ponta Delgada, the largest city in San Miguel and the entire Azores. The name of this city means "Narrow Cape" because it is located between mountains and oceans. The name of Santa Clara originates from the Parish of Santa Clara in Punta del Garda, which is intended to commemorate the 13th century Italian nun Clare (Clare of Assisi).

Clara is the Portuguese name of Clare. She founded the Poor Clares during her lifetime. After her death, she was not only canonized, but also became a source of many place names in the world, including Santa Clara County in Silicon Valley, California, and Santa Clara City, Cuba, where Che Guevara once fought.

Santa Clara's home stadium is the San Miguel Stadium with a capacity of about 12,500 people and is named after the island. It was built in 1930 and held an international friendly match on August 17, 2005. Portugal defeated Egypt 2-0. The logo of Santa Clara is written with the names of the club and the Azores and the year it was founded, and a goshawk (Açor).

Goshawk has a dual meaning. It not only symbolizes the power of the club, but also reveals the etymology of the "Azores": since this archipelago is the habitat of the goshawks, people named the entire archipelago (Ilhas dos Açores), so the flag of the Azores Autonomous Region also paints goshawks, and if the "Azores" is translated freely, it is "Goshawks".

The most famous player in Santa Clara's history is Pauleta, who is a local. His career started in his hometown team, flourished in Bordeaux and Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1. He is also the second scorer in the history of the Portuguese national team, second only to Ronaldo from the Madeira Islands. This also means that the two most important scorers in Portugal are not from the Iberian Peninsula in the continent, but are both born on islands on the Atlantic Ocean.

Santa Clara has never won the Portuguese Super League, the Portuguese Cup and the Portuguese League Cup, and has only participated in the Portuguese top league for 9 seasons so far. She has previously participated in the European game for the first time with the 6th place in the Portuguese Super League in 2020-21. She defeated Shkupi of North Macedonia and Olympia of Slovenia in the qualifiers of the 2021-22 season, but was eliminated by the Belgrade guerrillas in the play-offs and failed to enter the main game..

As the fifth place in the Portuguese Super League 2024-25 season, Santa Clara will enter the second round of the qualifiers for the 2025-26 season of the European Union. Teams with the same path and round include Astana, the runner-up of the 2024 Super League in Kazakhstan, located in Central Asia. If the two teams meet after the draw, they need to conduct a one-way super expedition of 8,100 kilometers and a round trip of 16,200 kilometers.