FC Serpa

In the spring of 1957, a Beja district club that had barely existed for twelve years won the Campeonato Nacional da 3ª Divisão — the only national title any side from the district has taken at that level. The squad that did it is still named individually in Serpa: Manolo Vidal, Garcia, Eduardo, Sardinha, Diamantino, Fidalgo, Picareta, Coureles, Teixeira da Silva, Célio, and a defender called Manuel Baião, whose name the club's ground has carried ever since. Vidal went on to sit on the board at Sporting; the others stayed local names.

Founded on 30 June 1945, FC Serpa built its identity not on that single national run but on repeated control of its own district. The 1ª Divisão Distrital of the Associação de Futebol de Beja has gone to Serpa seven times, the first in 1947–48 and the seventh in 2005–06, a stretch of results no neighbouring club has matched. A district cup followed in three different decades — 1997, 2001 and 2012 — and the women's section added its own distrital title in 2011.

Two players carried the green and white shirt further than the district ever could. Xavier, born in Serpa, was part of the Portugal side that won the FIFA World Youth Championship in Riyadh in 1989. Manuel Maria, a goalkeeper who came through the same academy, was capped for Portugal at junior level against Hungary, played in Évora.

Locally, none of that outweighs a single Sunday against CD Almodôvar. The Clássico Serpa–Almodôvar is the fixture that empties the town, played out in front of whatever share of the Complexo Desportivo Manuel Baião's 3,500 seats the day draws in.