Portuguese professional basketball team
Sport Lisboa e Benfica (Portuguese pronunciation: [sɨˈpɔɾ liʒˈβoɐ i βɐ̃jˈfikɐ] ⓘ), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional basketball team based in Lisbon, Portugal, that plays in the Liga Portuguesa de Basquetebol (LPB), where they are the current champions. Founded in 1927, it is the senior representative side of the basketball section of multi-sports club S.L. Benfica.
In June 2007, the club decided to leave the professional top league, then known as LCB, and join the Proliga, a league organized by the Portuguese Basketball Federation. From 2008 onwards, they returned to the LPB after the federation took over the realms of the competition.
Benfica is the most successful Portuguese club, having the record for most championships (29), cups (23), league cups (12), super cups (15), and other national competitions plus the Supertaça da Lusofonia, totalling 85 trophies. It is also the Portuguese team that advanced the furthest in the European top club championship, now known as EuroLeague.
Some of their most memorable moments were European victories against clubs that have won the Euroleague, such as Virtus Bologna, Real Madrid, Cantù, Cibona, Joventut Badalona, Panathinaikos, Partizan, CSKA Moscow, and Varese.[1][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]
Along with its several youth teams, which play in their respective top division championships, Benfica also has a developmental basketball team, Benfica B, that plays in the Proliga, the second highest tier in Portugal.[11]
History
Early years
Created on 20 March 1927,[1] the basketball team followed the steps of many other sports that were supported by the club, achieving great success almost immediately. The team established itself as a main contender by the 1940s and during the whole 1960s gained the status of championship favourite and was already the club with the most titles won. By this time the club had won eight national championships and eight cups. This dominating spell decreased the following decade until the early 1980s. In this time-span Benfica could only win two championships, in the 1969–70 and the 1974–75 season, but won four national cups, the second most prestigious Portuguese tournament, in 1969–70, 1971–72, 1972–73 and 1973–74. After these years, Benfica again dominated the national scene.
Golden years
The most successful period of the club was between 1985 and 1995. In eleven seasons, the team won ten national titles, seven of which in a row, five national cups, five league cups and six super cups, achieving the best season ever by a Portuguese basketball team in 1994–95 winning the Portuguese League, Portuguese League Cup, Portuguese Super Cup, Portuguese Basketball Cup and finishing the European Champions' Cup in the Top 16. One of the highlight from that European Champions' Cup season was a 22-point victory (102–80) against CSKA Moscow in Lisbon on 12 January 1995.[10] Benfica also made successful international campaigns in the other seasons considering the budget the team had compared with other European big teams. Some of the most successful of those campaigns include the 1993–94, when Benfica was close to reach the Top 8,[12] and for a third season in a row Benfica managed to reach the Top 16 again in the European Champions' Cup, in 1995–96, grabbing a win against Panathinaikos, the eventual champions.[13][8]
Decline in the late 1990s
This period was followed by a dark era in which Benfica was internally overshadowed by Ovarense, Portugal Telecom and FC Porto. Even though this period is considered to be a dark one, Benfica did manage to reach the LPB final once as well as winning Super Cups and finishing runners-up in the national cup and in the league cup. Also noteworthy is an away win against Real Madrid, in the 1996–97 EuroCup, the same season the Spaniards won the competition.[4] The team finally decided to withdraw from the top tier and applied for the second league, the Proliga, which was the highest division run by the Federação Portuguesa de Basquetebol. However the first division was folded and the LPB (league) was again being overviewed by the national federation. This allowed the team to make a comeback to the main league.
Revival in the late 2000s
After more than a decade without any titles and in the same season Benfica had made a return to the first league, the 2008–09 season, the team won the Portuguese League, with a perfect score of 100% wins during the regular season, becoming the second team in the world to do so, after Maccabi Tel Aviv in the 1970s, and thrashing Ovarense 4–0 in the best-of-four game final. Benfica won the championship again the following season with a 91% winning record in the regular stage and a 4–1 final against Porto. The recent success brought the team to participate in the EuroChallenge, thus marking the end of a mid-term long hiatus from Portuguese clubs in European basketball competitions. The following year, Benfica won the League Cup and the Super Cup but did not renew the championship as it lost 4–3 in the final to Porto.
Recent years
In the next season Benfica regained the title of Portuguese champion after defeating Porto in their home court Dragão Caixa (53–56) in the last best-of-five series game following a 2–2 playoff tie. Benfica retained the title the following season, having only lost two games, one in the regular season, and the other in the play-off final, which they won 3–1 against Académica de Coimbra, both defeats coming only in overtime. Overall Benfica won every title except the Cup, losing against Vitória de Guimarães in the final, amassing only three losses in the entire season in all competitions. On 23 May 2014, Benfica defeated Vitória de Guimarães (3–0) and conquered its 25th champions title (third consecutive), completing the domestic treble of League, Portuguese Cup and Hugo dos Santos Cup. In this season they won a total of 4 titles (including the 2013 Super Cup).
In the 2014–15 season, Benfica returned to the European competitions, playing in EuroChallenge where they finished in third place of Group E. At domestic level, Benfica won all the five competitions.[14][15] Starting the 2015–16 season, they won their fifth and fourth consecutive António Pratas Trophy, setting a club record of ten consecutive Portuguese trophies won.[16] They achieved the domestic treble of League Cup, Portuguese Cup, and league title the next season.[17]
In September 2022, Benfica qualified for the regular season of the 2022–23 Basketball Champions League. It was the first time a Portuguese team entered the regular season of the league.[18]
Results in international competition
This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (June 2023)
Note: Benfica score is always listed first.[19]
Home arenas
Benfica played its home basketball games at the Pavilhão dos Desportos, from 1946 to 1965. The club then played its home games at the Pavilhão da Luz, from 1965 to 2003. Since 2003, Benfica has hosted its home games at the Pavilhão Fidelidade, which has a seating capacity of 2,400 people.
Players
Current roster
| S.L. Benfica roster
|
| Players |
Coaches
|
| Pos. |
No. |
Nat. |
Name |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Age |
|
| F
|
0
|
|
Francisco, Eduardo
|
1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)
|
|
20 – (2003-11-05)5 November 2003
|
|
| G
|
1
|
|
Broussard, Aaron
|
1.92 m (6 ft 4 in)
|
|
33 – (1990-04-14)14 April 1990
|
|
| F
|
4
|
|
Silva, José
|
1.94 m (6 ft 4 in)
|
92 kg (203 lb)
|
34 – (1989-04-16)16 April 1989
|
|
| G
|
6
|
|
Barbosa, Jose
|
1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
|
|
33 – (1990-10-18)18 October 1990
|
|
| C
|
11
|
|
Pavicevic, Ivan
|
2.06 m (6 ft 9 in)
|
|
21 – (2002-08-26)26 August 2002
|
|
| F/C
|
12
|
|
Ben Romdhane, Makrem
|
2.06 m (6 ft 9 in)
|
102 kg (225 lb)
|
34 – (1989-03-27)27 March 1989
|
|
| G
|
13
|
|
Gameiro, Diogo
|
1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
|
|
28 – (1995-08-13)13 August 1995
|
|
| F
|
15
|
|
Betinho
|
2.01 m (6 ft 7 in)
|
87 kg (192 lb)
|
38 – (1985-05-02)2 May 1985
|
|
| G
|
21
|
|
Barroso, Tomás (C)
|
1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
|
88 kg (194 lb)
|
33 – (1990-11-02)2 November 1990
|
|
| G
|
23
|
|
Douglas, Toney
|
1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
|
86 kg (190 lb)
|
37 – (1986-03-16)16 March 1986
|
|
| F
|
24
|
|
Diop, Mor Laye
|
2.06 m (6 ft 9 in)
|
|
20 – (2003-12-21)21 December 2003
|
|
| PG
|
27
|
|
Silva, Sérgio
|
1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
|
|
27 – (1996-03-05)5 March 1996
|
|
| C
|
32
|
|
Carter, Terrell
|
2.08 m (6 ft 10 in)
|
132 kg (291 lb)
|
28 – (1996-01-06)6 January 1996
|
|
| C
|
33
|
|
Zirbes, Maik
|
2.08 m (6 ft 10 in)
|
121 kg (267 lb)
|
34 – (1990-01-29)29 January 1990
|
|
| F
|
34
|
|
Ellisor, James
|
1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)
|
91 kg (201 lb)
|
33 – (1990-03-09)9 March 1990
|
|
| F
|
96
|
|
Almeida, Ivan
|
1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)
|
94 kg (207 lb)
|
34 – (1989-05-10)10 May 1989
|
|
|
- Head coach
- Assistant coach(es)
- Nuno Ferreira
- Luís Catarino
- Team manager
João Nuno Crespo
- Legend
- (C) Team captain
 Injured
Updated: September 26, 2022
|
Retired numbers
| S.L. Benfica retired numbers
|
| No
|
|
Player
|
Position
|
Tenure
|
| 5 |
|
Henrique Vieira[21] |
PG |
1981–1992
|
| 7 |
|
Carlos Lisboa |
SG/SF |
1984–1996
|
Former players
Players who won a league title with Benfica or who were picked in the NBA draft.
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