1º de Maio

The 1985 championship came alongside the Supertaça de Angola, the only one the club has won. Three Taça de Angola triumphs followed a similar rhythm, bookended in 1982 and 1983 before a long gap closed in 2007.

The club has produced players who carried Benguela's name into the national team for years at a stretch — João Osvaldo Yamba Asha won 76 caps and featured at the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, while Paulo Alves, known as Paulão, earned 42 caps and went on to play for Benfica. Sarmento Seke was part of the 1983 championship squad.

Relegation cost the club its place in the top flight before promotion brought it back to the Girabola in 2010.

None of it would exist without the merger that created the club on 1 April 1980, when Estrela Vermelha de Benguela joined with Grupo Desportivo 1º de Maio — itself once known as África Têxtil 1º de Maio de Benguela — under the guidance of co-founder Rui Eduardo de Araújo.