Os Arcebispos (The Archbishops) Os Arsenalistas (The Arsenalists) Arsenal do Minho (Minho's Arsenal) Minhotos (Those from Minho) Os Guerreiros do Minho (The Minho Warriors) Braguistas
Sporting Clube de Braga (Portuguese pronunciation:[ˈspɔɾtĩˈkluβɨðɨˈβɾaɣɐ]) (Euronext Lisbon: SCB
), commonly known as Sporting de Braga or just Braga, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Braga. Best known for the men's professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football at the Estádio Municipal de Braga, it also has departments for athletics, badminton, basketball, beach soccer, billiards, boccia, boxing, esports, futsal, karate, kickboxing, muay thai, swimming, taekwondo and volleyball.[1][2]
Founded on 19 January 1921, Braga are nicknamed, Braguistas, and Os Arsenalistas (The Arsenalists) for the shirt colour that resembles English club Arsenal. Since 2003, Braga have played their home matches at the Estádio Municipal de Braga, which replaced the Estádio 1º de Maio, now used for the club's reserve team. Unlike most European sporting entities, Braga's members (sócios) owned and operated the club throughout its history.
The club qualified for the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League, reaching the competition for the first time in their history, by eliminating Celtic and Sevilla following a 2nd place finish in the 2009–10 Primeira Liga season. This represented the highest finish in the league in the club's history. Moreover, in the 2010s, Braga have cultivated a reputation for spotting and developing young talent, and have remained focused on developing a youth system.
History
Braga changed their kits from green and white to their current red and white during the 1945–46 season (for the reserve squad) and the 1946–47 season (for the first team). The change, according to one version of the story, was at the behest of their president, José Antunes Guimarães, who had business connections in London and was an Arsenal fan; according to an alternate version, it was József Szabó, Braga's Hungarian coach, who asked the president to change the green and white uniform to an Arsenal-style red and white. In 1947, Braga won the Second division title in the new kit, reaching the First division for the first time. Braga even renamed their youth team Arsenal de Braga.
One of the first matches played in Arsenal-style kits against R C Celta Vigo
Braga's emblem is the city of Braga's shield with Mother Mary and baby Jesus with the blue from the city's shield changed to red. On the top of the emblem is the golden Mural Crown of Braga, with the name "Sporting Clube de Braga" on it. Many Braga fans have said that Mother Mary gives them luck. The fans of Braga are known as Arsenalistas due to their team home kit that resembles that of English club Arsenal.[4] They are also known as Bracarenses because of being from the city of Bracari, later named Bracara Augusta, city of Portugal that is now known as Braga.
Aside from the loyalty of its supporters, the Minho derby against Vitória de Guimarães is a match that both sets of fans eagerly await. This match is more than football – it is a way people from the north view each city. The derby is one of Portugal's most intense matches, and children under 13 are restricted from entering unless an adult is with them. The rivalry goes back to when the City of Braga was the ancient capital of Gallaecia and the largest Portuguese city by the time the Kingdom of Portugal was formed by Afonso I of Portugal. At that time, Guimarães became the seat of the King and nobility, whereas the city of Braga remained the centre of trade and religious power (the largest city and seat of the Archbishop).
In the 1960s and 1970s, Braga began to climb up the league ladder and eventually participated in the UEFA competitions. Braga's recent run of successive European participations began in the 2004–05 UEFA Cup after finishing fifth in the league under Jesualdo Ferreira's first full season in the club. In the 2006–07 UEFA Cup, the side reached the last 16 before a 6–4 aggregate loss to Tottenham Hotspur.[5] That summer, the club signed a three-year sponsorship deal with French insurance company Axa, who took over the naming rights for the stadium for €4.5 million;[6] this was renewed for a further three years in 2010.[7]
Braga was runners-up in the league for the only time in its history in the 2009-10 season under Domingos Paciência. Entering the UEFA Champions League for the first time, in the fourth qualifying round Braga beat Sevilla 1–0 at home and 4–3 away, thus making the group stage.[9] On 15 September 2010, Braga were heavily defeated 6–0 by Arsenal in its first group stage match.[10] Eliminated in third place, they dropped into the Europa League and reached the final in Dublin, where they lost to a goal by FC Porto's Radamel Falcao.[11]
In 2019–20, Braga went through four managers over the course of the season.[15] The second of these, Rúben Amorim, led them to a league cup victory over Porto, with Ricardo Horta scoring in added time to secure the trophy on home soil.[16]
On 28 July 2020, Carlos Carvalhal was announced as the new head coach, after 14 years away from the club.[17] He led the club to the league cup final again, where they lost to Amorim's new team Sporting,[18] but won the 2021 Taça de Portugal Final 2–0 against Benfica.[19] He would leave the club and be replaced by Artur Jorge after the 2021–22 season ended.[20]
On 10 October 2022, 21.67% of the club shares were bought for €80 million by Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), a subsidiary of Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the state-run sovereign-wealth fund in Qatar owned by Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, who is also the owner of Ligue 1 side Paris Saint-Germain through the QSI.[21] The season ended with third place and a return to the Champions League after 11 years, as well as club records for points (78), wins (25) and goals (75).[22]
SC Braga's considerable success in the first quarter of the 21st century, including participations in the UEFA Champions League, winning the Taça de Portugal (Portuguese Cup) for the second time in 2016 and the third in 2021, reaching the UEFA Europa League final in 2011, which they lost to fellow Portuguese side FC Porto and the inauguration of the Cidade Desportiva, newly-built SC Braga's state-of-the-art facilities,[23] improved it on the UEFA club rankings and Portugal's professional football landscape to such an extent that SC Braga started to be dubbed the fourth greatest football club in Portugal and regarded as a big club together with the well-established classic Big Three.[24][25][26][27][28][29]
In 2023, Sporting Clube de Braga - Futebol, SAD's net profit was 20.377 million euros and the EBITDA was 29.779 million euros.[34]
Ownership
Sporting Clube de Braga - Futebol, SAD is listed on Euronext Lisbon.[35] By 2023, Sporting Clube de Braga, the sports club as a whole, retained 36.99% of the football SAD (Sporting Clube de Braga - Futebol, SAD) stock, followed by Qatar Sports Investments with 29.60%, and then Sundown Investments Limited with 17.04%. Other investors held the remaining 16.37%.[36][37]
^Upon the formation of the Liga de Honra (League of Honor), a new second level national league in 1990, the Portuguese Second Division became the third tier of Portuguese football.
