Sport Lisboa e Benfica - last updated on 12 May 2008
(Courtesy of Johnny Beaufays)
Club name: Sport Lisboa e Benfica
Foundation: February 28th 1904
City: Lisboa
Colours: Red and white
Website: www.slbenfica.pt
Honours:
UEFA Champions League - 2 (1960-61, 1961-62)
Portuguese Liga - 31 (1935-36, 1936-37, 1937-38, 1941-42, 1942-43, 1944-45, 1949-50, 1954-55, 1956-57, 1959-60, 1960-61, 1962-63, 1963-64, 1964-65, 1966-67, 1967-68, 1968-69, 1970-71, 1971-72, 1972-73, 1974-75, 1975-76, 1976-77, 1980-81, 1982-83, 1983-84, 1986-87, 1988-89, 1990-91, 1993-94, 2004-05)
Portuguese Cup - 27 (1929-30, 1930-31, 1934-35, 1939-40, 1942-43, 1943-44, 1948-49, 1950-51, 1951-52, 1952-53, 1954-55, 1956-57, 1958-59, 1961-62, 1963-64, 1968-69, 1969-70, 1971-72, 1979-80, 1980-81, 1982-83, 1984-85, 1985-86, 1986-87, 1992-93, 1995-96, 2003-04)
Portuguese Super Cup - 4 (1980, 1985, 1989, 2005)
A bit of history:
On February 28, 1904, a reunion took place in Rua de Belém, in the southside parish of Lisbon, with the goal to form a new football club, that would be called Grupo Sport Lisboa. There were 24 people in that reunion including the co-founder and the future soul of the club, Cosme Damião. José Rosa Rodrigues was also appointed the first president.
The first game was played in January 1905. Despite important football victories in the first years, the club suffered from poor conditions. In 1907, several players from the first team joined the wealthy Sporting CP.
In 1908, the Grupo Sport Lisboa (GSL) acquired by mutual agreement the Sport Clube de Benfica (SCB). None of the clubs were destroyed: the first maintained the football team, the red and white shirt colours, the eagle as a symbol, the E Pluribus Unum as the motto, and the logo. The latter the football field, the main directors, and the club's house; the foundation date was chosen the one of the Grupo Sport Lisboa, as it was the most important club of the reunion, being also already quite popular around Lisbon because of is football merits. Sport Lisboa e Benfica is the only club of the “Big Three” that never changed it’s foundation date. A bycicle wheel was then chosen to join the GSL's logo, as it was the most important sport of SCB (a club founded in 1906 as Grupo Sport Benfica, would change later the name) and Benfica was added to the Sport Lisboa name. The club moved from the Belém area to the Benfica area, a suburb located north of the city. Both clubs had simultaneous associates, something that increased the success of this decision.
In October 1908, a month after the agreement, the club won the first game ever against Sporting. In the 1909-10 season, Carcavelos Club' reign in the last three years as the Lisbon Champions was over; this season was considered a "golden one", as the club won all the three regional championships in dispute, establishing a first record.
Between 1910 and 1922, the club won eleven regional titles in the football first category Lisbon championships, failing only two titles.
Meanwhile, the club’s popularity increased outside of Lisbon borders. Several affiliate clubs were created, mainly in the Algarve.
The 1913-14 season was very successful, as the club was the first to win the regional Lisbon championships' in all the four categories.
The first international matches were played with some relevant results: in 1913, the club won their first international football trophy, named "Torneio 3 cidades" (Three cities' Tournament).
The Rink Hockey department was created in 1917. In 1919, the club organized the first ever football game played at night in Portugal.
It was not until the 1920s decade that the club became more known as Benfica. A falling out within the club regarding some football players led to several members leaving the club and founding Belenenses, which is now Lisbon's third largest football club. This is regarded as the second major crisis within the club.
The national football competitions only began in the 1920s. The impact of the defection of players to Belenenses' was made worse by further losses due to the creation of the Casa Pia Atletico Clube club in Lisbon. This exodus of players left Sport Lisboa e Benfica struggling in the following years and the club would only win two regional titles until 1930.
Fortunately for Benfica, cycling took up the slack and became an important source of victories. Spearheading the team was Alfredo Luís Piedade, considered to be one of the greatest names in Portuguese cycling.
In 1925, the club inaugurated the Amoreiras Stadium. The departments of Field Hockey, Rugby and Basketball were created in this decade; only the first mentioned doesn’t have official activities today.
The 1930s were a much kinder decade to Benfica. The club's football team started the decade by winning two national championships (for the first time) in 1930 and 1931 and one regional championship.
After losing the first national championship to FCPorto in the 1934-35 season, Benfica won the next three championships in a row (1935-36, 1936-37 and 1937-38), and the first Portuguese cup, in 1939-40.
Cycling continued to be the key sport within the club. The duels between Benfica's José Maria Nicolau and Sporting Lisbon's Alfredo Trinidade on the road throughout the country entralled many fans and were a critical factor for the ascendance of popularity of not only Benfica but also Sporting Lisbon. José Maria Nicolau is regarded as one of Benfica's greatest ever cyclist and won two Volta a Portugal's titles in 1931 and 1934.
The 1940s saw the domination by Benfica and Sporting in the country's football championship to an extent never seen before. Between 1941 and 1950, the two clubs finished first and second in every championship save the 1945-6 season. During this period, Benfica and Sporting each won four titles. By now, football was clearly the club's most important sport.
Benfica's first major international football success happened in 1950 when they won the Cortinhas Cup by defeating Girondins de Bordeaux in the final. The Latin Cup was then seen as one of Europe's most prestigious European Cups in a time when UEFA had yet to launch its unified European Cups.
Another highlight came in 1954 when Benfica moved into its first own stadium, the famous Estádio da Luz. It initially had capacity for 40,000 spectators, but this was gradually expanded due to club's growing success and fan base.
Benfica won three championships during the 1950s and were runner-ups three times. They also gathered six Portuguese Cups, and their accomplishments included a series of four consecutive victories between 1948 and 1953. The Portuguese cup was not held in 1950 due to the Latin Cup being organised in Portugal.
In addition to all these successes, Benfica was able to end the decade with the foundations in place enabling the club to enter the 1960s with one of the best teams in Europe.
Benfica was the first team to break Real Madrid's dominance in the early European Champions' Cup. Having won two European Cups in a row against FC Barcelona (1961) and Real Madrid (1962).
During this decade Benfica would reach another 3 European Champions' Cup finals, but the Lisbon club never managed to win a European trophy again. Having lost against A.C. Milan (1963), Internazionale (1965) and Manchester United (1968).
In 1968, Benfica was considered the best European team by France Football despite its defeat in the Champions Cup. Many of its successes in the 1960s were achieved with all-time football great Eusébio playing for the Lisbon side. In fact, the 60's were the best period of Benfica history, in which the club won an astonishing 8 Championships (1960, 61, 63, 64, 65, 67, 68 and 69), 3 Portuguese Cups (1961, 64 and 69) and 2 European Champions Cup (1961 and 62).
During the 1970s, the team faded slightly from the European scene, but remained the main force inside Portuguese football, winning 6 championships (1971, 72, 73, 75, 76 and 77) and 2 Portuguese cups (1970 and 72). Jimmy Hagan led the club to three successive Portuguese championships, and once to the national cup between 1970 and 1973. Benfica also attracted Europe-wide attention when the team reached the semi-finals of the European Cup of Champions, where the team was only narrowly defeated 0-1 on aggregate by the legendary Ajax of that era.
In 1972-73 Benfica became the only ever club in Portugal to last a whole season without defeat and won 28 matches - 23 consecutively - out of 30, and drew two. In that year Eusébio also became Europe's top scorer with 40 goals, in what was his penultimate season as a Benfica player. The team scored 101 goals, breaking 100 only for the second time in their history.
The club had some problems in the late 70s, early 80s, but managed to stand up to its standards again, this time under the guidance of Sven-Göran Eriksson. In 2 years (1983 and 1984) the club won 2 championships, 1 Portuguese cup and reached the final of the UEFA Cup in 1983 against Anderlecht.
In 1985 the board decided to close the third level in the Estádio da Luz, which transformed the stadium into one of the biggest in Europe, with a standing room capacity of 120.000 and in 1987 Benfica won another double (championship+Portuguese cup), an achievement done for the ninth time in their history.
During the period from 1988-94 Benfica made a huge financial investment in an effort to win another European cup, but the club failed to meet its expectations. While they did reach the European cup final in 1988 & 1990, Benfica lost in the final against PSV Eindhoven and AC Milan respectively. Domestically, Benfica won 3 more championships (1989, 1991 and 1994) and 1 Portuguese cup (1993).
Financial trouble began to undermine the club due to rampant spending and a questionable signing policy which allowed for squads composed of well over 30 players. Consequently the period from 1994 through 2003 was arguably the darkest in the history of Benfica. During this time Benfica won only one Portuguese cup ('96) and finished in embarrassing positions such as 6th in '00-'01 and 4th in '01-'02. The debts were accumulating, and nearly every year saw the hire of a new Benfica coach and the addition of high-priced but under-performing players.
In 2004 the club regained some of its sporting prowess, with a new president and the manager Jose Antonio Camacho, winning the first title in eight years (the Portuguese cup, won against Mourinho's FC Porto in the final), and in 2004–2005 the first national championship in eleven years, this time with Giovanni Trapattoni as coach. In 2005-2006 Benfica won the Portuguese supercup for the 4th time.
In the 2005-06 Champions League, Benfica managed to reach the quarter-finals, defeating Manchester United 2-1 in the decisive group stage encounter, and then overcoming the 2005 European champions Liverpool F.C. 3-0 on aggregate. However Benfica lost in the Quarter Finals to the eventual winner F.C. Barcelona by an aggregate of 2-0, both goals coming during the second leg in Camp Nou. In the 2006 -07 season Benfica found themselves again facing Manchester United in a decisive Champions League group match in which the winner would advance. However, this time it was Manchester United who prevailed, gaining revenge in a 3 - 1 win. On 20th August 2007 Jose Antonio Camacho returned to SL Benfica on a 2-year contract, a more or less desperate move as Benfica was facing a vital Champions League qualifying game against F.C. Copenhagen, ending with an away win by 1-0 that granted Benfica a place in 2007-08 Champions League where they exited the competition at the group stage. They then parachuted to the UEFA Cup where they were defeated by Spanish debutants, Getafe CF.
Club crests: (roll on the crest to get more informations)
Sport Lisboa e Benfica - Founded on February 28th 1904
