Sporting Clube de Braga B, commonly known as Sporting de Braga B or just Braga B, is a Portuguese football team. It is the reserve team of S.C. Braga. Reserve teams in Portugal play in the same league system as the senior team, rather than in a reserve team league. However, they cannot play in the same division as their senior team, therefore Braga B is ineligible for promotion to the Primeira Liga and also cannot play in the Taça de Portugal and Taça da Liga.
SC Braga had a B team until the 2005–06 season where it played in the Portuguese Second Division.[2] Prior to the end of the 2005–06 season, it was announced that Braga B would fold from the Portuguese league system along with the B teams of Benfica, Porto and Sporting.[3][4] The club refounded itself in the 2012–13 season, when a new set of rules regarding B teams was introduced in Portuguese football system. For 2012–13 season, another five B Teams, alongside Braga B, where refounded and established themselves in Segunda Liga.
Braga B plays its home games at the Estádio Primeiro de Maio, which holds a capacity of 30,000.[5] It inherited the stadium from the senior team who left there in 2003 following the construction of the Estádio Municipal de Braga.
History
Revival
Prior to the end of the 2011–12 football season in Portugal, seven clubs in the Primeira Liga announced there interest in constructing a B team to fill the six vacant places available to compete in the Segunda Liga for the 2012–13 season.[6] Of those seven, the six clubs which were selected to take part in the competition were the B teams of Benfica, Porto, Sporting CP, Braga, Marítimo and Vitória de Guimarães.[7]
The Portuguese League for Professional Football (LPFP), which organizes the professional football tiers in Portugal, announced that for the clubs to compete in the 2012–13 Segunda Liga, they would have to pay a €50,000 fee.[8] In addition, the LPFP would also require the clubs to follow new rules regarding player selection in which each 'B' team must have a squad of a minimum of ten players who were developed at the club's academy. The LPFP also went on to say that the clubs are unable to compete in cup competitions as well as gaining promotion due to the possibility of playing the senior team. Each 'B' team may have three players above 23 years old.
In late May 2012, it was officially announced that the six Primeira Liga clubs' B teams would compete in the 2012–13 Segunda Liga which would increase the number of teams in the league from 16 to 22 as well as increasing the number of games needed to play in one season from 30 games to 42 games.[9]
Players
Current squad
As of 30 January, 2024
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
