pitch in the 16th minute of a match against Joinville, and was later punished by STJD due to disbandment. Argel left Lusa in the following month, and after short-reign terms of Marcelo Veiga and Silas, the club announced the arrival of Vágner Benazzi in mid-September, highly known for his abilities to guide a team out of the relegation places. However, he was also dismissed in the following month, after failing to achieve a single win. During that time, the club also saw a host of players coming and going out, with the squad surpassing the 40 players mark. Portuguesa was relegated to Série C (for the first time in the club's history) on the 28th of October, after losing 0–3 to Oeste. 2015–2016: Série C and Série A2 Portuguesa started the 2015 Paulistão with a win, defeating Ponte Preta by 3–2. On 4 March 2015 the club reached the second stage of Copa do Brasil, after a 3–1 away win against Santos-AP. On 20 March, after being highly pressured, president Ilídio Lico resigned and was replaced by Jorge Manuel Marques Gonçalves. Two weeks later, the club was again relegated to Série A2, after a 0–3 away loss against São Paulo. During the year's Série C, Portuguesa qualified to the final rounds as second in its group, but missed out promotion after losing to eventual champions Vila Nova. The following year, the club narrowly avoided relegation in Série A2 after finishing 13th. Portuguesa suffered another relegation in the end of the 2016 season, after a 0–2 away loss against Tombense, being demoted to Série D ahead of the 2017 campaign. 2017–: Série D, non-division and Copa Paulista title Ahead of the 2017 season, Portuguesa announced Émerson Leão as their football consultant, with Tuca Guimarães being appointed as manager. With subsequent managers Estevam Soares and Mauro Fernandes, the club was knocked out in the first phase of the year's Série D, and also reached the semifinals of the Copa Paulista, meaning that the club was not included in any national division for the 2018 season. During the 2018 campaign, Lusa had Guilherme Alves and Allan Aal as their managers, finishing in both disappointing mid-table positions in the Série A2 and in the Copa Paulista. In the 2019 season, the first team was managed by Luís Carlos Martins, Vica and former youth graduate Zé Maria, again with little success. Moacir Júnior started the