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Portuguese Liga
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The Portuguese Liga (pron. ), currently named Liga Sagres after its main sponsor, is the league competition for Portuguese professional football clubs located at the top of the Portuguese football league system (above the Liga de Honra), making it Portugal's primary football competition.
The Liga is presently contested by sixteen clubs each season, but only five of them have won the title. Currently in its 73rd edition (counting four provisional championships in the 30's) the competition is dominated by the so called "big three"; (Benfica, F.C.
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Encyclopedia
The Portuguese Liga (pron. ), currently named Liga Sagres after its main sponsor, is the league competition for Portuguese professional football clubs located at the top of the Portuguese football league system (above the Liga de Honra), making it Portugal's primary football competition.
The Liga is presently contested by sixteen clubs each season, but only five of them have won the title. Currently in its 73rd edition (counting four provisional championships in the 30's) the competition is dominated by the so called "big three"; (Benfica, F.C. Porto and Sporting), who have a total of 71 titles, with Belenenses and Boavista winning the other two.
History
Before the Portuguese football reform of 1938, an experimental competition on a round-basis was already being held — the Primeira Liga (Premier League) and the winners of that competition were named "League champions". Despite that, a Portuguese Championship in a knock-out cup format was the most popular and defined the "Portuguese champion".
Then, with the reform, a round-robin basis competition was implemented as the most important of the calendar and began defining the Portuguese champion. From 1938 to 2000 the name Campeonato Nacional da Primeira Divisão (National Championship of the First Division), or just Primeira Divisão (First Division) was used. When the Portuguese League for Professional Football took control of the two nationwide leagues in 1999 it was renamed Campeonato Nacional da Primeira Liga (Premier League National Championship), or simply Primeira Liga (Premier League).
Sponsored names
Galp acquired the naming rights to the league in 2002, titling the division SuperLiga Galp Energia. A four year deal with the Austrian sports betting web portal bwin was announced on 18 August 2005, amid questioning by the other gambling authorities in Portugal (the Santa Casa da Misericórdia and the Portuguese Casinos Association) who claimed to hold the exclusive rights to legal gambling games in Portuguese national territory. After holding the name Liga betandwin.com for the 2005-2006 season the name was changed to BWINLIGA in July 2006. . From the 2008-2009 season the league has been be named Liga Sagres, due to sponsorship from Sagres beer.
Competition
From the 2006-07 season on there are 16 clubs in the Portuguese Liga, down from 18 in the previous seasons. During the course of a season each club plays the others twice, once at their home stadium and once at their opponent's, for a total of 30 games. At the end of each season, the two lowest placed teams are relegated to the Liga de Honra, and the top two teams from Liga de Honra are promoted to the Portuguese Liga.
Currently, for the 2008-09 season, the top two teams in the Liga qualify for the UEFA Champions League. The Champion (first place finish) goes directly into the group phase of the competition, with the runner-up (second place finish) entering the competition at the third qualifying round, and must survive a two-legged knockout tie in order to enter the group phase. The teams classified in third, fourth and fifth enter the UEFA Cup together with the winner of the Cup of Portugal. If the winner of the Cup of Portugal is already qualified for the Champions League, or would be qualified for the UEFA Cup by its league position, the runner-up will occupy the spot in the UEFA Cup. If the runner-up is also qualified for European competition through its league position, the spot is given to the 6th-placed team in the Liga. The 6th-placed team is allowed to play in the UEFA Intertoto Cup, but when it plays in the UEFA Cup because of the situation above, then, the spot is taken by the 7th-placed team.
Current clubs in Portuguese Liga Sagres
Names in bold are the colloquial names of the clubs.
Television
Within Portugal, Sport TV holds rights to broadcast both first and second division matches, through their Premium Channels, SportTV 1 and SportTV 2. All clubs negotiate individually with the channel. One game a week is broadcast on free television, in a contract deal between SportTV and (from 2008-2009) RTP.
Internationally, Gol TV shows games throughout Latin America, Setanta Sports shows games in the UK, Ireland and Australia, Sportitalia shows one game a week in Italy for free, and in Brazil games are broadcast by Band Sports.
UEFA Ranking
Current National League Ranking
- F.A. Premier League
- La Liga
- Serie A
- Ligue 1
- Bundesliga
- Russian Premier League
- Liga I
- Liga Sagres
- Eredivisie
Continental honours by Liga players
- 1966 FIFA World Cup Golden Shoe Eusébio
FIFA World Cup All-Star Team Ricardo
Attendance
Since the beginning of the league, there are three clubs with an attendance much higher than the others: Benfica, Porto and Sporting CP. They have also the biggest stadiums in Portugal, with more than 50,000 seats. Other clubs, such as Vitória de Guimarães and Sporting de Braga have also good attendances. Académica, Boavista, Vitória de Setúbal, Belenenses and Marítimo are historical clubs, from the biggest Portuguese cities, and have also many supporters. However, they do not have big attendances nowadays. Their stadiums have between 10,000 and 30,000 seats. Paços de Ferreira and Leixões S.C. are from small towns, but have many supporters in their home towns. The other clubs have a little number of supporters. In the 2007-08 season the average attendance in the Portuguese league was 11,216.
The 2007-08 season saw an average attendance by club:
| Club | Average | Highest | Stadiumcapacity | Stadium |
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| 1 | Porto | 38,632 | 50,201 | 52,202 | Estádio do Dragão | | 2 | Benfica | 37,557 | 60,116 | 65,647 | Estádio da Luz (Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica) | | 3 | Sporting | 29,380 | 40,659 | 50,466 | Estádio José Alvalade - Século XXI | | 4 | Vitória Guimarães | 19,578 | 30,000 | 30,146 | Estádio D. Afonso Henriques | | 5 | Braga | 15,614 | 25,745 | 30,286 | Estádio AXA (Estádio Municipal de Braga) | | 6 | Académica | 6,872 | 19,068 | 30,075 | Estádio Cidade de Coimbra | | 7 | Marítimo | 5,791 | 8,440 | 8,922 | Estádio dos Barreiros | | 8 | Boavista | 5,385 | 17,875 | 28,263 | Estádio do Bessa - Século XXI | | 9 | Leixões | 5,038 | 12,710 | 9,821 | Estádio do Mar | | 10 | Vitória de Setúbal | 3,256 | 4,850 | 18,694 | Estádio do Bonfim | | 11 | Belenenses | 2,810 | 7,889 | 19,980 | Estádio do Restelo | | 12 | União de Leiria | 2,252 | 8,960 | 23,850 | Estádio Municipal de Leiria Dr. Magalhães Pessoa | | 13 | Naval 1º de Maio | 2,202 | 4,981 | 9,116 | Estádio Municipal José Bento Pessoa | | 14 | Paços de Ferreira | 2,035 | 3,390 | 5,172 | Estádio da Mata Real | | 15 | Nacional | 1,568 | 4,711 | 5,132 | Estádio da Madeira | | 16 | Estrela da Amadora | 1,407 | 4,503 | 9,288 | Estádio José Gomes |
List of champions and top scorers
Performance by club
| Club | Winners | Runners-up | Winning Years and Runner-Up Years | | Benfica | 31 | 24 | 1936, 1937, 1938, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2005 | | F.C. Porto | 23 | 24 | 1935, 1936, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1951, 1954, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1969, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 | | Sporting CP | 18 | 18 | 1935, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1966, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1974, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008 | | C.F. Os Belenenses | 1 | 3 | 1937, 1946, 1955, 1973 | | Boavista F.C. | 1 | 3 | 1976, 1999, 2001, 2002 | | Académica de Coimbra | - | 1 | 1967 | | Vitória F.C. (Setúbal) | - | 1 | 1972 |
Records
Top Ten Highest Goalscorers |
|---|
| Player | Period | Club | Goals | | 1 | Fernando Peyroteo | 1937-1949 | Sporting | 330 (Ø 1,68) | | 2 | Eusébio | 1960-1977 | Benfica, SC Beira-Mar | 319 (Ø 1,02) | | 3 | Fernando Gomes | 1974-1991 | FC Porto, Sporting | 318 (Ø 0,79) | | 4 | José Águas | 1950-1963 | Benfica | 290 (Ø 1,03) | | 5 | Néné | 1968-1986 | Benfica | 262 (Ø 0,62) | |
| 6 | Manuel Fernandes | 1970-1988 | GD CUF, Sporting, Vitória FC | 243 (Ø 0,50) | | 7 | Matateu | 1951-1967 | Os Belenenses | 218 (Ø 0,75) | | 8 | José Augusto Torres | 1959-1980 | Benfica, Vitória FC, Estoril-Praia | 217 (Ø 0,57) | | 9 | Rui Jordão | 1971-1989 | Benfica, Sporting, Vitória FC | 215 (Ø 0,60) | | 10 | Arsénio Duarte | 1943-1959 | Benfica, GD CUF | 211 (Ø 0,67) |
Other records
- In 1972/73, Benfica won the Portuguese Liga without any defeat (28 wins and 2 ties).
- In 2002/03, Porto won the Portuguese Liga with 86 points the most ever obtained.
Participating Clubs
Includes Campeonato da Liga. Years below refer to the season that ended that year.
See also
- Sports league attendances
External links
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