Lo Sport Lisboa e Benfica better known as Benfica are a multi-sports club from Lisbon.
They were founded in 1904 and their club colours are red and white, their symbol is the eagle while their motto is "E pluribus unum" (From many, one).
One of the main founders was Cosme Damiăo and he was also the first manager. In 1908 they merged with Grupo Sport Benfica whose main sport was cycling. Other sports were then gradually added over time.
Until 1927 Benfica played in regional tournaments as there was no national league. In 1927 a first national competition was organised and was more like today's Taça de Portugal cup competition. Benfica won it in 1930 and 1931.
In 1934 the league as we know it today was set up. Benfica won their first title in 1935 under Hungarian manager Lippo Hertzka. Several titles followed and their first double in 1942-43 under another Hungarian János Biri.
In 1949 Benfica were the last team the Grande Torino played as the Granata plane crashed on the Superga hill on the way back from a friendly in Lisbon (to celebrate the retirement of the great captain Francisco Ferreira).
In 1950 they won their first international trophy, winning the Latin Cup (beating Lazio in the semi-final). The manager was Ted Smith and the star players included Arsénio Duarte and Rogério Lantres de Carvalho.
In 1954-55 they played their first season in the new Estádio da Luz and won their second double, under Otto Glória. In the 1950's they won 3 league titles and 6 Portuguese Cups.
The 1960's were the glory years. The Encarnados (The Reds) won 8 league titles, 4 Portuguese Cups and 2 European Cups (1961, 1962). They went on a European record 48-match unbeaten run between December 1963 and February 1965 and only beaten recently by Bayer Leverkusen. Their success coincided with the emergence of their best player ever, "The Black Panther" Eusebio but also thanks to players such as Costa Perieira, Mário Joāo, Āngelo, Mario Coluna, Domiciano Cavém, José Águas. The managers were Hungarian Béla Guttmann (1959-62), Chilean Fernando Reira (1962-63), Romanian Elek Schwartz (1964-65), Guttmann again (1965-66), Riera again (1966- Nov 68), Brazilian Otto Gloria (1968- Feb 1970). In 1965 Eusebio won the prestigious Golden Ball award and the Golden Boot in 1968.
In the 1970's Benfica won another 6 league titles and 2 Portuguese Cups. In 1971-72 Benfica won their 6th double, under Englishman Jimmy Hagan. In 1973 Eusebio won his second Golden Boot but left in 1975 to play in the USA.
In the 1980's the Eagles won 5 league titles, 6 Portuguese Cups and 3 Supercups. They also reached 2 European Cup finals but lost both (PSV on penalties in 1988 and Milan 0-1 in 1990). The managers included Sven-Goran Eriksson (1982-84 and 1989-90.), Englishman John Mortimore (1985-87) and Toni (1988-89). In this period the da Luz stadium became the biggest in Europe with a capacity of 130,000.
In the 1990's Benfica only won 2 league titles and 2 Portuguese Cups. The managers included Eriksson (1990-92), Artur Jorge (1994- September 1996), Graeme Souness (Nov 1997- May 1999) and Jupp Heynckes (1999-Sept 2000).
The 2000's opened with their worst ever league finish, a 6th place. In this decade the "Glorioso" only won 2 league titles (2005 and 2010) under Giovanni Trapattoni and Jorge Jesus. Benfica also won 1 Portuguese Cup (2004) and a Supercup (2005). Other managers included: José Mourinho (for 3 months in 2000), José Antonio Camacho (Dec 2002-June 2004), Ronald Koeman (2005-06) and Fernando Santos (2006-Aug 2007).
The decade from 2010 brought 5 more league titles, 1 Portuguese Cup and 4 Supercups. The managers were Jorge Jesus (2009-15), Rui Vitória (2015-Jan 2019) and Bruno Lage (Jan 2019- June 2020).
More recently, in 2020 Jorge Jesus returned until December 2021, followed by Nélson Veríssimo briefly and then, from 2022 until present day, German Roger Schmidt. The Eagles last league triumph came in 2023 when they also won the Supercup. In 2024 they came behind city rivals Sporting Lisbon.
Their top 5 players with most appearances are Nené 578 (1968-86), Luisão 538 (2003-2018), Antonio Veloso 534 (1980-1995), Mario Coluna 528 (1954-1970) and Humberto Coelho 497 (1968-1975, 1977-1984). Other greats include Domiciano Cavém, Antonio Simões, Sheu Han, Espirito Santo, José Águas, Nené, Manuel Bento, Rui Costa, Angel Di Maria, Bernardo Silva and of course the greatest of all Eusebio (473 goals in 440 games…)
Benfica are most winning club in Portugal with 38 league titles, 26 Portuguese Cups, 8 Supercups, 7 League Cups (relatively recent competition) and 2 European Cups.
They make up "Os Trěs Grandes" of Portuguese football. They play the Lisbon derby against Sporting Lisbon and the Clássico against Porto.
In a Lazio connection it is Benfica who first had the idea to fly the Águia Vitoria inside the stadium before matches, just as Olympia does nowadays at Lazio
A curious fact to finish is that legend has it that on leaving in 1963 the manager Béla Guttmann left a curse declaring, "from now for 100 years no Portuguese team will win the European Cup twice and without me Benfica will never win one again". It is said that before the two finals of 1988 and 1990 Eusebio even went to pray on Guttmann's grave in an attempt to lift the curse, obviously to no avail...
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