# 2021–22 Rio Ave F.C. season

The 2021–22 season was Rio Ave F.C.'s first season back in second division of the Portuguese football league, the Liga Portugal 2, and the 83rd as a football club.

## Players
### First-team squad

    As of 1 February 2022
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | BRA | Magrão |
| 2 | DF | BRA | Júnio |
| 3 | DF | POR | Ângelo Meneses |
| 5 | DF | BRA | Hugo Gomes |
| 6 | MF | POR | Guga |
| 7 | FW | CMR | Fabrice Olinga |
| 8 | MF | POR | Vítor Gomes (captain) |
| 9 | FW | BRA | Ronan |
| 10 | MF | FRA | Amine Oudrhiri |
| 13 | DF | SEN | Alhassane Sylla |
| 14 | MF | POR | Joca |
| 17 | FW | POR | Ukra |
| 18 | GK | BRA | Jhonatan (on loan from Vitória Guimarães) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 19 | FW | POR | Pedro Mendes (on loan from Sporting) |
| 20 | DF | POR | Costinha |
| 21 | MF | POR | João Graça |
| 22 | GK | BRA | Léo |
| 24 | DF | POR | Pedro Amaral |
| 25 | FW | POR | Zé Manuel |
| 33 | DF | BRA | Aderlan Santos |
| 36 | DF | BRA | Sávio |
| 42 | DF | CRO | Renato Pantalon |
| 70 | FW | BRA | Gabrielzinho |
| 80 | MF | CPV | Zimbabwé |
| 81 | FW | GHA | Abdul-Aziz Yakubu (on loan from Vitória Guimarães) |
| 95 | FW | POR | André Pereira |

### Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | DF | NZL | Nando Pijnaker (at Sligo Rovers) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | FW | ANG | Gelson Dala (at Al-Wakrah) |

## Competitions

Win  Draw  Loss

### Overall record

| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| Liga Portugal 2 | 8 August 2021 | 15 May 2022 | Matchday 1 | Winners | 34 | 21 | 7 | 6 | 52 | 31 | +21 | 061.76 |
| Taça de Portugal | 26 September 2021 | 12 January 2022 | Second round | Quarter-finals | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 4 | +6 | 060.00 |
| Taça da Liga | 25 July 2021 | 15 December 2021 | First round | Third round | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | +0 | 025.00 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 43 | 25 | 10 | 8 | 66 | 39 | +27 | 058.14 |
Source: Soccerway

### Serie A
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Rio Ave (C, P) | 34 | 21 | 7 | 6 | 52 | 31 | +21 | 70 | Promotion to Primeira Liga |
| 2 | Casa Pia (P) | 34 | 21 | 5 | 8 | 50 | 22 | +28 | 68 | Promotion to Primeira Liga |
| 3 | Chaves (O, P) | 34 | 18 | 10 | 6 | 54 | 35 | +19 | 64 | Qualification to Promotion play-offs |
| 4 | Feirense | 34 | 17 | 7 | 10 | 50 | 37 | +13 | 58 | |
| 5 | Benfica B (I) | 34 | 17 | 6 | 11 | 61 | 44 | +17 | 57 | |

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Source: Liga Portugal 2

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 |
| Ground | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A |
| Result | W | D | W | W | W | L | D | W | D | L | W | W | L | L | W | W | L | W | W | D | D | W | D | W | W | W | W |
| Position | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | |

#### Matches

The league fixtures were announced on 8 July 2021.

### Taça da Liga
#### Third round

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | STA | POR | RAV |
| 1 | Santa Clara | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 4 | Advance to knockout phase | — | 3–1 | — |
| 2 | Porto | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 3 | | — | — | 1–0 |
| 3 | Rio Ave | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 1 | | 2–2 | — | — |