Madeira enjoying its time in the sun

The beautiful Madeira archipelago is this season enjoying a rare feat of having three sides in the Portuguese Superliga. In fact this season is the first time since the 1990-91 season that the islands have three sides in the top flight together, and only the third time ever. We are of course talking about Marítimo, Nacional and União da Madeira. 

The rivalry:

Nacional v Marítimo
source: desporto.sapo.pt

Traditionally its has been Marítimo and Nacional who have been the big hitters from the islands as both sides have spent the most amount of time in the top division. As opposed to União da Madeira who have only spent five seasons in the top flight, the last of which was 1994-95. 

The rivalry between Marítimo and Nacional is socially based. Marítimo draw their following from the working class and Nacional from the middle/higher classes. 

Historically between these two its been Marítimo who have had the edge both domesitcally and in European competition. Marítimo haven't been outside the top division since promotion in 1984-85 while Nacional spent the 1990s floating between the Segundo de Honra and the Segundo Divisão before finally returning to the top flight with promotion in 2001-02. Nacional have spent every season since then in the top flight and the rivalry has grown with both sides looking for supremacy on the islands. 

Marítimo have been involved in European competition more times than Nacional. In fact while Nacional were yo-yoing between 2nd and 3rd tier throughout the 90s, Marítimo were welcoming the likes of Juventus and Leeds United in the UEFA Cup. However with Nacional's 2002 promotion it bought about a period of renaissance at the club. Within two seasons of promotion Nacional were making their debut in European competition which ended after one round against Sevilla. To get there they achieved their best ever league finish of 4th in 2003-04. That 2004-05 UEFA cup campaign remains the only time both Marítimo and Nacional have been involved in Europe together. Marítimo were eliminated at the same stage by Rangers and wouldn't be involved in Europe until a 5th place finish in 2007-08, their joint highest league placing. Nacional had to wait a season longer to return but did create history when becoming the first Maderian side to compete in a group stage of European competition when they overcame Zenit St Petersburg to reach the Europa League groups in 2009-10. Marítimo would reach the group stage themselves in 2012-13 and like Nacional in their group debut would end up 3rd. 

Relations between the clubs did turn sour in the 90s despite not being in the same division. This is because a controversial proposal by the Madeira regional president at the time Alberto João Jardim was to merge all three of the Madeira clubs to fight the dominance of the Os Tres Grandes (Porto, Benfica, Sporting CP) in the league. The proposal unsurprisingly was met with disdain and a demonstration by Marítimo fans put the proposal back in it's box. Prior to the proposal, Jardim was a fan of Marítimo but has since defected to Nacional and was the commemorative president for their centenary in 2010. 

What about União. Well for the majority of their history the club have been a lower league side. However that doesn't mean they don't share a rivalry with the other two. União like the other two hail from the island's capital of Funchal and historically drew their support from other areas on the islands, while Marítimo and Nacional drew their support from the city itself. União do play their games 20km outside of Funchal in the compact Centro desportivo da Madeira in the village of Ribeira Brava. However for the high profile games they move to Funchal. The club itself is a sports club and have teams competing in handball, rugby and volleyball as do Marítimo and Nacional. 

This season:

Following their promotion from the Segunda liga, União were favorites to head straight back down this season. However they remain outside the drop zone after this weekend's round of games. They lie in 15th just four points above the final relegation place currently taken by Boavista. The other two aren't setting the league alight. Nacional are right above União in the table by two points and Marítimo are sitting in 10th two more points better off. 

As for the derby games this season well we have one coming up in two weeks time as Marítimo face União for the 2nd time this season. The previous meeting being an opening day home victory for the newly promoted side. The following week União will then host Nacional. A derby double header. The previous meeting between them two was a 1-0 success for Nacional. 

As for the big Madeira derby well the next one isn't until April but they have faced each other once this season which ended in a 3-1 success for the hosts Marítimo, a game that saw Nacional reduced to nine men.