Academica

The Associação Académica de Coimbra - Organismo Autónomo de Futebol, hereinafter AAC-OAF, which dates back to November 3, 1887, the date of creation of the Associação Académica de Coimbra (AAC) which is the student association of the University of Coimbra, is the legal and legitimate successor of the extinct Section of Football of the Association Académica de Coimbra (Associação Académica de Coimbra - Secção de Futebol (AAC-SF)) that, by resolution of June 10, 1974 of the General Assembly of Members of AAC after the events of the Carnation Revolution, was transformed into Clube Académico de Coimbra (CAC). The current name, AAC-OAF, was adopted on the joint initiative of the General Board of Academica de Coimbra (Direcção-Geral da Associação Académica de Coimbra (DG-AAC)) and the Board of the Academic Club of Coimbra (Clube Académico de Coimbra (CAC)), and it was approved by the General Board of Associação Académica de Coimbra (DG-AAC) and by the General Assembly of CAC in 1984. By these statutes, a legally-binding link to the student association AAC and its university, the University of Coimbra (UC), was preserved in favour of AAC-OAF. The Associação Académica de Coimbra - Secção de Futebol (AAC-SF) amateur football team, which also belongs to the Associação Académica de Coimbra students association (students union) of the University of Coimbra, was reinstated in 1977 operating as a sports section of AAC and has been in operation as a student-only football team, usually playing in the lower, regional non-professional football leagues. The AAC-SF section, the non-professional football team made of students, and the AAC-OAF, the professional and autonomous football club, share the same crest and colors displayed on the clothes or uniforms of their sports players, as well as the same parent organization (which is the students' union or association Associação Académica de Coimbra that houses several sections for a multitude of other sports operating under the same name and crest as well).

Académica de Coimbra won the 1938–39 Taça de Portugal, the inaugural staging of the competition; they defeated S.L. Benfica 4–3 in the final. In 1966–67, the club finished as Primeira Liga runners-up to Benfica (best-ever finish), and lost the cup final 3–2 after extra time to Vitória de Setúbal. Two years later, a cup-final defeat to Benfica meant that the team competed in Europe for the first time, entering the 1969–70 Cup Winners' Cup and losing in the quarter-finals to eventual champions Manchester City via a single extra-time goal.

Académica de Coimbra moved frequently between the top two divisions in the years that followed. Under João Alves, they ended a three-year exile by winning promotion in 2001–02 as runners-up to Moreirense FC. Following a decade of almost exclusively bottom-half finishes, the team won its first silverware in 73 years when they took the cup in 2012, Marinho scoring the only goal after four minutes against Sporting CP. This allowed them entry into the group stage of the UEFA Europa League – a first European campaign in 30 years. Eliminated in third place in the group, they managed one win, 2–0 at home to holders Atlético Madrid with a brace from Wilson Eduardo.

A 14-year spell in the top division ended for Académica de Coimbra in 2015–16, when they finished in last place.

On 4 November 2017, in honour of their 130th birthday, they joined the Club of Pioneers, a worldwide network of the oldest continuing football clubs from each country in the world, originally founded by Sheffield FC.

After the 2021-22 Liga Portugal 2 season, the club was relegated for the first time to the third tier of the Portuguese football pyramid.

The Associação Académica de Coimbra - Organismo Autónomo de Futebol filed for insolvency in September 2022. The club had overdue debts of more than 5.6 million euros, of which 1.9 million euros to the state, and had 3.1 million euros in defaults with suppliers and service providers. By June 2023, an intricate creative accounting process had been initiated by Académica de Coimbra O.A.F.'s administration board in order to allow its emergence from bankruptcy avoiding the extinction of the football club.