S.L. Benfica

General

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Benfica
Full name	Sport Lisboa e Benfica
Nickname(s)	Benfiquistas Águias (Eagles) Encarnados (Reds) Glorioso (Glorious One)
Short name	Benfica
Founded	28 February 1904 (as Sport Lisboa)
Ground	Estádio da Luz (Capacity: 64,642)
Head Coach	Roger Schmidt
Current League	Primeira Liga
2021–22	Primeira Liga, 3rd
Website	Club home page

Sport Lisboa e Benfica (spɔɾ liʒˈboɐ i bɐ̃ȷ̃ˈfikɐ), commonly known as Benfica, is a Portuguese sports club based in Lisbon, Portugal. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Benfica are the current Portuguese champions, having won four consecutive league titles.

Founded in 1904 by a group of people led by Cosme Damião, Benfica is one of the "Big Three" clubs in Portugal that have never been relegated from the Primeira Liga – the other two are rivals Sporting CP and FC Porto. The team is nicknamed Águias (Eagles) for the symbol atop the club's crest, and Encarnados (Reds) for the shirt colour. Since 2003, their home ground has been the Estádio da Luz, which replaced the original one. Benfica is the most supported Portuguese club, with an estimated fan base of 14 million supporters worldwide, and the European club with the highest percentage of supporters in its own country. By the end of December 2016, it had 184,264 paying members. The club's official anthem, "Ser Benfiquista", refers to its supporters who are called Benfiquistas. Benfica is honoured in three Portuguese Orders: those of Christ, of Merit and of Prince Henry.

Players

First-team squad

As of 18 March 2023

No. Pos. Nation Player 2 DF Gilberto 3 DF Álex Grimaldo 4 DF Lucas Veríssimo 6 DF Alexander Bah 7 MF David Neres 8 MF Fredrik Aursnes 15 MF Gonçalo Guedes (on loan from Wolves) 19 FW Casper Tengstedt 20 MF João Mário (vice-captain) 21 MF Andreas Schjelderup 22 MF Chiquinho 23 DF Mihailo Ristić 24 GK Samuel Soares

No. Pos. Nation Player 27 MF Rafa Silva 30 DF Nicolás Otamendi (captain) 33 FW Petar Musa 61 MF Florentino 66 DF António Silva 73 MF Cher Ndour 75 GK André Gomes 87 MF João Neves 88 FW Gonçalo Ramos 91 DF Morato 93 MF Julian Draxler (on loan from PSG) 96 MF Diego Moreira 99 GK Odysseas Vlachodimos

Out on loan

No. Pos. Nation Player 11 MF Soualiho Meïté (at Cremonese until 30 June 2023) 38 DF João Victor (at Nantes until 30 June 2023) 39 FW Henrique Araújo (at Watford until 30 June 2023) 55 MF Paulo Bernardo (at Paços de Ferreira until 30 June 2023) DF Sandro Cruz (at Chaves until 30 June 2023) DF Tomás Araújo (at Gil Vicente until 30 June 2023) MF Gabriel Pires (at Botafogo until 30 June 2023) MF Julian Weigl (at Borussia Mönchengladbach until 30 June 2023) FW Haris Seferovic (at Celta Vigo until 30 June 2023)

Retired numbers

No.	Player	Position	Benfica debut	Last match
29	Miklós Fehér	FW	24 August 2002	25 January 2004

On 27 January 2004, Benfica retired squad number 29 in memory of Miklós Fehér, who had died while playing for them two days earlier.

External links

• Official website (Portuguese) (English) (Spanish)
• S.L. Benfica at LPFP (English) (Portuguese)

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