The Santiago Island League was a regional football championship played in all of Santiago Island until 2002 when it was broken up into two present divisions, the North and the South zones, Cape Verde. It formed a part of the Santiago Regional Football Association (Associação Regional de Futebol de Santiago, ARFS) The winner of the championship had played in Cape Verdean football Championships of each season.
The island league was one of the two oldest in Cape Verde. Until the 1960s, the league included clubs from the entire southern portion of Cape Verde and functioned as a regional league.
From 2000 to 2002, it only contained a single match where as the champion of the South Zone competed with the North Zone and qualified into the National Championships. From 2002, it received separate qualification of the North and South Zones. Though, the island championship returned in 2009 for a season, it featured a single match with the winner of the North and South Zones competing for the single island championship (without qualification as the North and South Zones qualified separately), Académica da Praia won the championship.
Up to 2002, no association used the abbreviative form of ARFS other than the island of Santiago, Sal Regional Football Association's Portuguese language abbreviative form was read as ARFSL.
Winners Before independence 1953: Vitória 1954: CD Travadores 1955-1959 : unknown 1959/60 : CD Travadores 1960/61 : Sporting Clube da Praia 1961/62 : unknown 1962/63 : Boavista 1963/64 : Sporting Clube da Praia 1964/65 : Académica (Praia) 1965/66 : unknown 1966/67 : CD Travadores 1967/68 : Académica (Praia) 1968/69 : Sporting Clube da Praia 1969/70: CD Travadores? 1970/71 : unknown 1971/72 : CD Travadores 1972/73 : Vitória 1973/74 : Sporting Clube da Praia 1974/75 : unknown
Performance By Club
Club Winners Winning years CD Travadores 5 listed 1954, 1960, 1967, 1970?, 1972 Sporting Clube da Praia 4 listed 1961, 1964, 1969, 1974 Académica (Praia) 3 listed 1964, 1965, 1968 Vitória FC (Praia) 2 listed 1953, 1973 Boavista FC (Cape Verde) 1 listed 1963
After independence 1975/76 : Boavista FC 1976/77 : Sporting Clube da Praia 1977/78: Sporting Clube da Praia 1979-82 : unknown 1982/83: Boavista FC 1983/84: Sporting Clube da Praia 1984/85 : Sporting Clube da Praia 1985-86 : unknown 1986/87 : Boavista FC 1987/88 : Sporting Clube da Praia 1988/89 : Académica (Praia) 1989/90 : Desportivo da Praia 1990/91 : Sporting Clube da Praia 1991/92 : CD Travadores 1992/93 : Boavista FC 1993/94 : CD Travadores 1994/95 : Boavista FC 1995/96 : CD Travadores 1996/97 : Sporting Clube da Praia 1997/98 : Sporting Clube da Praia 1998/99 not held 1999/00 : CD Travadores 2000/01 not held 2002 : Sporting Clube da Praia defeated Desportivo de Santa Cruz 2009: Académica da Praia defeated Scorpion Vermelho of the North Zone
Performance By Club
Club Winners Winning years Sporting Clube da Praia 9 listed 1977, 1978, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1991, 1997, 1998, 2002 CD Travadores 4 listed 1992, 1994, 1996, 2000 Boavista FC (Cape Verde) 5 listed 1976, 1983, 1987, 1993, 1995 Académica (Praia) 2 listed 1989, 2007 Desportivo da Praia 1 listed 1990
After the first full break up to the single island competitions The next meeting between a club from the north and the South Zone would be the 2006 Cape Verdean Football Championships between Sporting Praia and Beira-Mar on June 3. As Sporting won a national title, two clubs from the South Zone competed, one of them challenged a North Zone club, in 2007, Académica Praia defeated Scorpion Vermelho on June 24 of Group B, in 2008, it was ADESBA and Scorpion Vermelho at Round 2 of Group B., in 2009, it was Sporting and Estrela dos Amadores at Round 5 of Group B, in 2010 it was Sporting Praia and Scorpion Vermelho at the last round of Group B, in 2011, it was Sporting Praia and Benfica Santa Cruz of the first round of Group A, in 2012, it was Sporting Praia and Estrela dos Amadores at the last round of Group A, in 2013, it was Sporting Praia and Scorpion Vermelho at the last round in Group B, in 2014, it was Sporting Praia and Grémio Nhagar at the fourth round in Group A, in 2015, it was Boavista Praia and Beira-Mar Tarrafal at the first round of Group A and in 2016, the last official meeting was Desportivo da Praia and Varandinha Tarrafal, at the first round of Group A in a rescheduled match which was played on June 1.
The 2017 featured three groups, unlike Santo Antão who played in the same group, Group B, the two participants from the island played in two different groups.
Their recent meeting was a friendly competition at the GAFT Cup with the last being Benfica de Santa Cruz and Desportivo da Praia.
References
See also Praia Cup, sometimes as the Santiago Cup, as there was another competition titled the Praia Cup, the common name was the Santiago Cup or the Santiago Island Cup Sports in Santiago, Cape Verde