Rio Ave Women

Rio Ave Feminino play in the Campeonato Nacional Feminino, Portugal's top division for women's football, after winning promotion through play-offs against opponents that included Gil Vicente and Famalicão. Staying up has proven the harder task; in cup football the team has found more room to breathe, reaching the quarter-finals of the Taça de Portugal Feminina in February 2025 and going a round further in the following edition.

The men's side dates back to 18 January 1939, but the women's section is a recent addition to Rio Ave, built up from the second division rather than carried over from any older tradition. It shares the Estádio do Rio Ave FC, in Vila do Conde, and wears the same green and white. A Sub-19 and Sub-15 structure feeds the senior squad.

Local rivalry with Varzim, from neighbouring Póvoa de Varzim, is known as the Derby do Mar. The 2020–2021 season left a darker mark: sexual harassment allegations against then-coach Miguel Afonso became part of the club's recent history.

No major title sits in the women's team's record yet. What supporters point to instead is Ana Pais, the Portuguese captain, alongside Norwegian defender Marthe Enlid.