Leça won the Campeonato de Portugal after penalties: title decided in Jamor after 120 minutes of an evenly matched game
Leça won the Campeonato de Portugal championship title for the 2025/2026 season after a dramatic final against Vitória Sernache, played on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, at the Estádio Nacional do Jamor in Oeiras. The match ended 1:1 after 90 minutes and extra time, and Leça then proved more successful in the penalty shootout, winning 5:4. According to the report by Agência Lusa published by DNOTICIAS.PT, the decisive penalty for Leça was converted by Martim Fortes, while Henrique Cavalcante missed his attempt for Vitória Sernache, thereby handing the title to the team from Leça da Palmeira.
The final had all the elements of a trophy match: a cautious start, a goal at the end of the first half, the opponent’s response in the second half, exhausting extra time and, finally, a shootout from the penalty spot. Leça took the lead in the 45+4th minute through a goal by David Nzanza, while Vitória Sernache equalized in the 70th minute through Ekange Ondoa, the same report states. Since the score did not change even in extra time, the champion was decided by a penalty shootout. The final match score in official records and score services is shown as an overall 6:5 for Leça after better penalty execution, but the football result of the final remains 1:1 with a 5:4 victory in the shootout.
A title in the competition that leads toward Liga 3
The Campeonato de Portugal has special significance in the Portuguese football pyramid because it connects the regional and national competitive environment with the higher tiers. DNOTICIAS.PT, in Lusa’s report, states that it is the fourth tier of Portuguese football, while documents from the Portuguese Football Federation confirm that clubs compete through this competition for promotion to Liga 3. According to the competition format published by the Federação Portuguesa de Futebol, the 2025/2026 season includes 56 clubs divided into four groups of 14 teams in the first phase. The two best clubs from each group advance to the second phase, namely the Fase de Subida, in which promotion and the finalists are decided.
The competition system explains why the final in Jamor carried more than merely symbolic meaning. According to the FPF format, the first two clubs from each of the two groups in the second phase secure a place in Liga 3 for the following season, while the winners of those groups advance to the final match for the title. In practice, this means that the finalists had already achieved the season’s basic sporting objective before the final, but in Oeiras they were deciding prestige and the official championship title of the competition. The FPF format also states that the third phase, or Apuramento de Campeão, is played as a single match on neutral ground and that the winner of that phase is considered the champion of the competition.
How Leça reached the final
Leça entered the final stage after a season in which it first had to secure a place among the best in its group and then confirm its quality in the promotion phase. According to the FPF results center, Leça FC SAD finished the first phase in Série B with 51 points, behind Rebordosa, which won 58 points. Such a ranking was enough to continue in the competition, because the first two clubs from each of the four groups advanced to the second phase. The team scored 50 goals and conceded 23 in the first phase, showing that it reached the final stage with a pronounced attacking output, but also with enough stability for the long competition format.
In the second phase, Leça played in one of the two promotion groups and made the crucial step forward there. According to the available results from the final part of the season, the team recorded four wins, one draw and one defeat in six Fase de Subida matches and finished the group with 13 points. This secured first place, direct entry into the final and promotion to Liga 3. In the matches of that phase, Leça showed the ability to win tight contests, but also resilience away from home, which again proved important in the final because the duel against Vitória Sernache remained open until the last kick from the penalty spot.
The title is given additional weight by the fact that, after a demanding season, Leça returned to the focus of national football through the final stage organized by the FPF. The club from Leça da Palmeira, a place in the municipality of Matosinhos, has historical weight in Portuguese football, but this title is tied above all to the current generation and to the concrete sporting performance in the 2025/2026 season. According to Lusa’s report, the final moment belonged to Martim Fortes, whose penalty for 5:4 in the shootout concluded Leça’s season in the best possible way. Such matches are often remembered precisely for performances in moments of the highest pressure, and Leça showed enough composure in Jamor for the trophy.
Vitória Sernache remained one step from the trophy, but secured promotion
Vitória Sernache entered the final as a team that had shown continuity and solidity throughout the season. According to the FPF results center, the club finished first in Série C in the first phase with 55 points, with 16 wins, seven draws and three defeats. Its defensive record was particularly impressive: only 12 goals were conceded in 26 matches, which points to team discipline and a stable system of play. Such performance enabled the club from Cernache do Bonjardim to enter the promotion phase with a clear competitive identity.
In the second phase, Vitória Sernache continued in the same direction. According to the available score data, it finished its promotion group in first place with 12 points, with three wins and three draws, without a defeat. This secured the final and promotion to Liga 3, thereby achieving one of the most important sporting results of the season. The shootout defeat therefore does not erase the broader context of success, although the team remained at the smallest possible distance from the trophy in the title fight itself. Ekange Ondoa’s equalizing goal in the 70th minute showed that Vitória Sernache did not lose stability even after Leça’s goal deep in first-half stoppage time.
Penalty shootouts in finals often bring a sharp cut between celebration and disappointment, and Vitória Sernache felt that cut in the hardest way. According to Lusa’s report, Henrique Cavalcante failed to convert the attempt that opened Leça’s path toward the title, while Martim Fortes took the final opportunity. Nevertheless, the sporting outcome of the season for Vitória Sernache remains significant because the club gained promotion to a higher tier. According to the same report, alongside Leça and Vitória Sernache, Louletano and Vianense also enter Liga 3, confirming that the final stage of the Campeonato de Portugal was simultaneously a battle for the title and the final confirmation of promotion.
Jamor as the stage for the championship match
The final was played at the Estádio Nacional do Jamor in Oeiras, a stadium that has strong symbolic status in Portuguese football. In the official FPF format, the final match of the Campeonato de Portugal is scheduled on neutral ground, and Jamor as host gave the final the recognizable frame of a national match. The location itself further emphasizes the importance of a competition that may not have the media visibility of the top leagues, but has great competitive value in the Portuguese football system. For clubs that come from local communities and fight for a return or entry into a higher tier, an appearance at Jamor represents both sporting recognition and an opportunity for greater public visibility.
The match showed how tense and rich in content the final stages in lower national tiers can be. Leça used a moment of concentration at the end of the first half and took the lead through Nzanza, which could have changed the course of the duel psychologically. Vitória Sernache, however, stayed in the match and reached the equalizer in the 70th minute through Ekange Ondoa. After that, the score did not change, and extra time did not produce a winner. The shootout thus became the logical ending to a match in which neither side managed to create a definitive advantage through open play.
The broader significance of the final for the Portuguese football system
According to the FPF format, the Campeonato de Portugal has a clear function in the structure of Portuguese football: it brings together 56 clubs, filters them through the first phase, then through the promotion phase and finally determines the champion in one match. Such a format gives additional weight to every phase of the competition, because mistakes from the first phase can be carried over into the later path toward promotion, while the second phase brings direct duels between clubs that have already proved their quality in their groups. The final, although played after the finalists have already secured promotion, remains the competitive peak of the season. The winner receives the title, and a title in a competition with such a broad base has value that exceeds a single result.
This season that value belonged to Leça, but the final standings show that Vitória Sernache also achieved a season worthy of attention. Leça won the title thanks to composure in penalties, but it did not reach Jamor by chance: the path included stable performance in the first phase, first place in the promotion group and victory in a high-pressure match. Vitória Sernache, on the other hand, confirmed defensive solidity throughout the season, an unbeaten run in the second phase and the ability to react in the final. That is precisely why the final was not only a story about penalties, but also the final summary of a long season in which both teams showed why they deserve a higher tier.
For Leça, the title means the end of the season with a trophy and promotion, a combination that provides a strong foundation for planning the next competitive cycle. Liga 3 brings a more demanding rhythm, a higher level of organization and greater pressure for results, but also an opportunity to further confirm the sporting project. Vitória Sernache enters the same tier without a trophy, but with proof that it can compete on equal terms with the best clubs of the Campeonato de Portugal. Louletano and Vianense, which Lusa’s report also lists among the clubs promoted to Liga 3, complete the group of four teams that earned a higher level of Portuguese football through the second phase of the competition.
The trophy decided by details
When a final is reduced to penalties after 120 minutes, the differences between the teams often become minimal. Leça was more precise in Jamor at the key moment, while Vitória Sernache remained without the title although it responded to falling behind during the match and held out until the end of extra time. According to the published data, Leça won the shootout 5:4, and the overall course of the encounter shows that it was a final without a one-sided development of events. For the neutral observer, it was confirmation that the final stage of the Campeonato de Portugal can offer the competitive uncertainty that often marks the most important matches of the season.
In sporting terms, Leça’s title has three layers: victory in the final, confirmation of passage through a complex competition system and entry into a higher tier. Vitória Sernache, although defeated, leaves Jamor with promotion and a season that will have long-term significance for the club. The final match thus combined two kinds of success, one marked by a cup and the other marked by promotion to a higher division. In the official history of the competition it will remain recorded that Leça won the 2025/2026 Campeonato de Portugal after 1:1 against Vitória Sernache and a 5:4 victory after penalties at the Estádio Nacional do Jamor.
Sources:
- DNOTICIAS.PT / Agência Lusa – report on the final, scorers, penalty shootout and promotion of clubs to Liga 3 (link)
- Federação Portuguesa de Futebol – Campeonato de Portugal format for the 2025/2026 season, including the number of clubs, competition phases, promotion and the final match on neutral ground (link)
- FPF Results Center – official results center of the competition with standings and data by phases of the 2025/2026 Campeonato de Portugal (link)
- SportyTrader.pt – score summary of the Leça FC - GD Vitória de Sernache match and overview of the teams’ form in the final stage of the season (link)